Audi and Its Communication Strategy in the UK - Essay Example

? Audi and its Communication Strategy in UK Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts (15, April, ) Introduction Audi has become a well known brand name all over the world for its luxury cars. The super mini car of Audi is a lifelong dream of every young and middle age man. The company has grown significantly in recent years and has successfully entered in many developing markets like India and Brazil. In United Kingdom the company has positioned itself as a premium brand that is well known for combining quality and luxury. The main target market of Audi is the young and middle aged men who like the thrill of sports car although the company has crossover SUVs too to target different clientele. The marketing communication of the company is tremendous and this is evident from the well established brand name of the company. In this report we will discuss the communication strategy of Audi in United Kingdom in detail. We will first briefly discuss the history of the company in United Kingdom. In the end we will comment on the efficacy of the communication strategy of the company in UK market alongside with some recommendations. Audi: A Brief History Audi AG is a German car manufacturer that builds a wide range of automobiles from super mini cars to SUVs. The company has a large global presence as it is operating in Europe, India, Brazil, and China (Audi Website, 2012). Audi has its headquarters in Germany and the company is the wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG. Volkswagen markets Audi as its premium brand for the upper income group market. The history of the company dates back to the 19th century when it was founded by August Horch (Audi Website, 2012). The first Audi car came out in 1909 and since then the company has not stopped. In 1964 it was purchased by the automobile giant Volkswagen which marks the new era in the history of the company. Volkswagen used the brand of Audi to market its best high class cars and therefore Audi competed against Mercedes, BMW, and Aston Martin in the luxury car industry. The famous Audi R8 is a very well known sports car both among young people and adults. It is an example of how Audi is positioned in the automobile industry promising both luxury and quality to premium customers. Audi in United Kingdom The operations of the company in United Kingdom are going extremely well. The company is growing in the country at a great pace and is pushing well known brands like BMW and Toyota behind. In 2011 Audi became the market leader in the premium cars segment of UK leaving behind the giant BMW (Cars Pages UK, 2011). From 2010 to 2011 the sales of Audi in the UK increased by 27.9 percent (2011) and this shows the pace of growth of the company. Seeing such growth the company is planning o introduce new models in the United Kingdom market to tap the potential offered by the UK market. It is amazing to see a premium car brand growing at such a great pace even in the times of recession and this depicts the brand value of the company. Communication Strategy of Audi in United Kingdom The marketing strategy of Audi has been greatly successful in the country because it has made Audi a market leader in its premium segment. In this section we will attempt to understand the marketing strategy of Audi in United Kingdom using different marketing theories. Audi derives its brand value from its rich history that expands over three centuries. The company uses it history as a mark of respect to show the world that it is a formidable force in the automobile industry. Audi uses its legacy to attract customers and build trust of customers on its products. The company corporate tagline is “Vorsprung durch Technik” meaning progress through technology (Audi Website, 2012). This shows that the company communicates itself as a brand that focuses on innovation in technology. The products of the company also follow this tag line as they are mostly a pioneer in their own respective size ranges. The use of this tagline is mainly to communicate that basic vision of the company to the customers. Audi has changed translated its tagline into “innovation through technology” but in UK it continues to use its German tagline. This is not merely a coincidence but through the German tagline the company is trying to communicate the customers about its German origin. The German car industry is considered the best in Europe and Audi is trying to capitalize on it German origin. The use of the tagline in German communicates the world about the roots of the company and quality it has to offer to its consumers. This is an important element of the marketing strategy of the company in United Kingdom. The main target market of the company is the young and middle aged people who look for luxury, comfort, and quality. It is mainly for people who are well established and are from the upper echelon of the society. Audi is marketed as a brand that will make people well known and respected since the name of Audi is famous and respected everywhere. Young men are also targeted by Audi in its marketing appeal but mainly the target market is that of middle aged men. Younger generation might like the care but they cannot afford an Audi therefore the focus is on established men who earn more than average. The company does not talk about prices or features of the car in its advertisements. This is because of the strength of the name of the brand Audi. Everyone can identify high tech features with just the name of Audi therefore there is no need for the company to use features to attract customers. Audi just tries to cash in the brand name it has established throughout the world over many years. The marketing communication is aimed mostly at reminding people about the brand of Audi so that brand image of the company is sustained among consumers. The advertisements of Audi are also aimed at communicating a subtle message that Audi cars define a person’s personality. This allows consumers to personalize the brand of Audi. The aim of the marketing campaign is to create an impression that Audi is the car of the people of good taste and personality. The impression that the marketing campaign is trying to make is also that world identify a person by the car he drives and Audi always makes a hell of an impression on everyone. This type of marketing strategy has made people long for Audi cars so that they can enhance their position in their social circle. Audi advertisements are also targeted against its main competitor BMW. The company in 2011 became the market leader in the premium car segment in UK surpassing BMW. Audi uses this extremely well in its communication strategy when it poses itself as a better car manufacturer than BMW. The comparative advertisements of Audi are showing to the world, especially the UK market (the competition between Audi and BMW in the fiercest in UK) that Audi is the better car (Young, 2010). There is also an important element in the comparative marketing strategy of Audi. The company compares itself with its biggest competitor while giving an implicit message that BMW and Audi are the biggest premium brands in the country. This is also a powerful statement to give through advertisements that no other brand is even near competing Audi, except BMW. This strategy seems to be working really well because the company surpassed BMW in the UK market making more sales in 2011than the rival company. Theory of comparative advertisement suggests that unique features of both the brands are compared in comparative advertisements (Cronley, Kardes, & Zhang, 2002). This is precisely that Audi is doing. The company is comparing itself with BMW but only on the basis of the unique feature of its products. Through drives and other tests the company is trying to make a statement that it is better than BMW. Audi is not comparing itself with BMW on the basis of prices because this is not a unique feature rather it is comparing on other grounds like design, conform, and drive. Audi also sponsor sports events on a regular basis. The target market of Audi is the young and middle aged men and they are mostly avid followers of sporting events. The company therefore aims to capitalize on this by giving television advertisements during sporting events. Audi is also online marketing campaigns to attract customers. The company is also using social media to its advantage. The social media strategy is to keep the name of the brand alive in the hearts and minds of people, to create a buzz in the market for new products. Automobiles are high involvement products and therefore people don’t buy them impulsively. This is why social media advertisement for Audi is mainly aimed at keeping the name of the brand alive. Audi in UK has also come up with internet TV campaign for its A7 model (Davies, 2011). In UK Audi has its own satellite channel named Audi Channel (Audi website, 2005).This makes it possible for the company to market itself easily and in a cost effective manner. The programs on the channel are aimed at presenting user guides for Audi products and to inform people about new Audi products. An important feature of Audi’s communication strategy is its consistency as the company has tied with one ad agency for around 30 years (Brownswell, 2012). This is why the marketing strategy of the company has stayed on the right track for years and there have been no shifts. This has allowed the company to grow in the UK market extensively and to develop its brand name. The aim of Audi’s marketing head for UK is to stay recognised and talked about in the market (Brownswell, 2012). The company also follows a long term strategy when it comes to its communication strategy. This allows the company to learn from the market and innovate accordingly. The future focus of the company will be on online marketing as it is planning to conduct its majority sales online (2012). Efficacy of the Campaign The company is doing really well in using its rich history and heritage to communicate with the customers. It can be termed as a successful branding strategy overall because people have positive image of the brand of Audi. Branding involves associating the name or logo of the company with something positive so that the name or the logo immediately brings the mind the positive element of the brand. Audi is doing this very successfully as it has associated itself with high quality luxurious cars for the premium market segment in the UK. The logo of the company is well recognised by everyone because the company uses it in every advertisement. Audi is also linking its brand name with its glorious past to show that innovation in design is an integral part of the brand. All in all branding strategy of the company is quite effective and the company has been successful in creating brand awareness among its consumers. Other parts of the campaign like the TV advertisements and sports sponsorship are also effective because they have increased the sales of the company significantly. This increase in sale was at a time when markets in general were not performing really well due to economic tough times. But even though due to good marketing the company was able to achieve high sales in UK. The comparative advertisements of Audi are also really effective. The company has to engage in comparative advertisements in order to communicate its superiority over its competitor. The two companies are going head to head and therefore such advertisements are the only way in which Audi can impose its superiority on its rival BMW. The advertisements are comparing the unique feature of the two brands which is in line with the theory of comparative advertisement. Recommendations One of the things the company can do vis-a-vis its communication strategy in UK is to target the minority groups like Asian and Hispanic communities. The company at present is aiming its communication strategy towards white males who have more than average income but the company should not ignore that there might be rich well to do people as well in the United Kingdom. Minority communities should not be ignored because they might also prove a source of marketing for the company when they go back to their native countries. The brand should be promoted as style statement that can change the personality of anyone no matter he is from which community. The company should also market its products in the university campuses all over the country. This might help the company in future because university students later on in their life will surely buy cars. Usually preferences are set at a young age and people decide which car they will go for when they have enough money. The company should advertise to the university students in such a manner that they long for an Audi. This will help the company create future markets for its automobiles. Students will aim to buy Audi in near future and this will result in future market growth. Conclusion Audi is a well known premium brand in UK and is currently leading the market in premium segment. The company uses a wide range of communication strategy that involves TV, internet, social media, TV internet, and sporting events in order to enhance its brand image. The main strategy of the company is to capitalize on the rich history and heritage of the company to build and sustain its brand image. The company has been a pioneer in technology innovation and this is communicated effectively through their advertisements. Bibliography Audi tops the UK Premium Car Segment. 2011. Car Pages UK. Accessed on April 15, 2012, from < http://www.carpages.co.uk/audi/audi-sales-06-04-11.asp> Brand Family Tree. 2012. Audi USA Website. Accessed on April 15, 2012, from Brownswell, A. 2012. Audi's new marketing boss Dominic Chambers on keeping the brand in the fast lane. PR Week. Accessed on April 15, 2012, from < http://www.prweek.com/uk/features/login/1115658/> Cronley, Kardes, & Zhang. 2002. Comparative Advertising: Effects of Structural Align ability on Target Brand Evaluations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 303-311 Davies, J. 2011. Audi launches UK's first internet TV campaign. Marketing Week. Accessed on April 15, 2012, from < http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/advertising-bmw-audi-media-plan/145990/> Young, A. 2010. BMW vs. Audi: The Best Media Plan on Four Wheels? Ad Age Media Works. Accessed on April 15, 2012, from < http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/advertising-bmw-audi-media-plan/145990/> Read More