Features of Mini Cooper, Marketing Strategies - Case Study Example

Mini Cooper Samson Varghese Mini Cooper The famous automobile giants BMW has revolutionized automobile marketing world with the innovative tacticsvehicles in marketing. The BMW has created waves of innovation in marketing and advertising strategies adopted for their car Mini Cooper which is being sold in almost 70 countries. Designed in 1959 by Alex Issigonis - a Turkish-born émigré to Britain who also designed the Morris Minor, another iconic small car, the Mini Cooper has captured the present US market. ”The modern Mini, a reincarnation of the Swinging 60s car that was a hit in its native Britain but never really caught fire abroad, has been hot ever since its reintroduction in 2001 in Europe and 2002 in the United States and Japan. Demand in the United States, especially, has taken off, thanks to a marketing strategy designed to build mystique through stealth advertising and limited distribution”.( Micheline Maynard- Can the Mini stay up to speed?) Features of Mini Cooper From the toggle switches for the windows and fog lights to the rocker buttons for the fan-speed controls, every switch and dial in the Mini feels of a piece with Mini and only the Mini. In truth, some of the components are gently massaged BMW parts, but thats not really obvious. And besides, BMW is a prestigious brand, so its not as if youre getting second hand Daewoo stuff in your Mini.( Michael Frank- Test Drives 2004 Mini Cooper) Minis hatch layout is Mini Cooper 2 actually quite well thought out, with a low well for groceries and with seat uprights that flip forward 50/50. That makes the Mini Cooper much more useful than other cheap sports cars. As far as safety is concerned Mini cooper went miles ahead from its competitors.. Mini Cooper gets excellent marks across the board in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash tests. The Mini comes standard with six airbags (front, side, headliner), while its competitors only has standard front airbags. And for $500 more, you can get a Mini Cooper with stability control that will help keep the car on track in an emergency manoeuvre. Besides, Mini Cooper is a much more capable car, which means it will be safer in most circumstances that require the driver to avoid an accident in the first place. Marketing strategies Mini Cooper top five markets are Britain, with around 45,000 cars sold in 2005; the United States, with 41,000; Germany, 29,000; Italy, 22,000; and Japan, with 13,000. No other automobile companies have enjoyed such a huge success in the above countries. When we analyze the reasons for such a brand success we can see that apart from the brand value of the parental company BMW, there are so many other reasons like new marketing techniques, the name itself, etc. As everybody knows, BMW is an attractive automobile brand in all over the world because of their product quality, and the belief in German technology. But that doesn’t mean that whichever the products coming under BMW brand will be a success. Tight competition makes it difficult for the success of a new brand. Customers are interested in benefits rather than features Mini Cooper 3 or brand name of the company. I have purchased a car recently. Before purchasing it, I have visited as many suppliers of different brands and collected all the information about the vehicle. Then I took a decision about what all facilities I required and then based on that I made a list of 4 brands and the Mini Cooper was also in my list. Out of those 4 brands I again collected data from the users about the price, reliability, fuel economy, resale value, maintenance etc… Then I finalized the decision to the specific one, the Mini Cooper and I am happy with the decision so far. Of course the advertisements regarding the efficiency and performance of different brands encouraged me to enquire about those brands. But I have given more Importance to the feedback I received from the users. The words like Mini, Midi, and Micro usually associated with computers and the general public think of highly sophisticated and technologically advanced machines, when they come across with such names. The word Mini is too cute and sexy and nobody can avoid having a look at the brand even if they are not interested in it. But at the same time though the meaning of the word Cooper may not be sound, but the careful mix of these two words makes the name more attractive. “The marketing plan should be the essence of simplicity. When your en—ployees read the plan, they should understand your goals immediately, because your strategy is clear and direct. The briefer your plan, the easier it will be to follow”. (Jay Conrad Levinson) A simple marketing strategy always works better than a complicated one. The complicated strategy may no t be suitable for a lay man. It can complicate the things further in some case. The strategy should be understandable for a lay man. BMW has focused mainly on the strategies of micro Mini Cooper 4 marketing instead of the mass marketing for Mini Cooper. The micro marketing strategies of Mini Cooper were supported by the new technology, an overcrowded market, scrappy media and confused minds. We are going through the advertising activities of millions of brands in different categories and the automobile sector also no exception. Our minds were confused with the traffic jam of such brands our brain is blocking out such mass advertising. In fact a lot of people were fed up with the amount of advertisements. Instead of going for the mass, micro marketing focuses specific marketing segments. For example, Mini Cooper aims to draw the attention of mainly young drivers aged 20 to 34. Even the corporate giants such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s have also started to follow the strategies of micromarketing successfully adopted by Mini Cooper. In an overcrowded market place, it is economical to spend more money on targeting specific market segments rather than the mass marketing. Mini cooper has used Magazines, News papers, Television, and internet like sources to reach the specific market segments. They also utilized sports areas with digital billboards, and also spend more money to put their brand names in popular sports stadiums to attract youths as well as the old. They also utilized cell phones with instant messaging “The key to Corporate prosperity New Product Development is one of the riskiest, yet most important, endeavors of the modern corporation” (Robert G. Cooper -Winning at New Products) As a starting point to develop a product development strategy, the company must determine its primary strategic orientation. A company must recognize that it cannot be all things to all people and that it must focus on what will distinguish it in the market place. There are several new product categories. Some may be new to the market and the company, while the others are completely new and will create totally new markets. Mini Cooper belong to the second Mini Cooper 5 category, completely new. When we analyze deeply we can see that some new product concepts are merely minor modifications of existing products while some are completely innovative to the company. Mini Cooper is a careful blend of traditional German technology with the modern technology. How does the new product like Mini Cooper screen against the marketing strategies of BMW? Will it dilute the focus of the companys overall plan? Is there a danger that it will drain valuable resources from other more profitable ventures? The top management of the organization should decide up on such issues. The Mini Cooper, manufacturing and marketing has been done in such a way that it does not affect the existing products of the company. The focus on the existing products should not be reduced for the sake of new product Mini Cooper. The new Mini Cooper should be developed and implemented in such a way that it should not cause any negative impacts on the overall performance and reputation of the company. The BMW has succeeded in all the above aspects and the success of Mini Cooper shows that. An important aspect of New Product Development is the Advertising activities. The success of a product often related to the influence of the advertisement performed. Sometimes the lack of advertisement will kill the product. So the planning of different types of advertising activities through Medias such as Television, Print media, internet, etc is very important. People respond to new products in different ways. Brand managers should be concentrated in developing brand awareness among the customers. Sales Promotions, Exhibitions, etc should be organized. A carefully designed logo will be an added attraction for the new brand. Mini cooper has succeeded in all the above respects. Mini Cooper 6 Pricing of the product is another important factor. Estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback. The selling price should be adjusted after getting the feedback from the market. Mini Cooper has targeted mainly the middle class. They concentrated more on the requirements of the middle class. The initial period after the launch of the product is important. Sometimes some fine tuning will be required in overall characteristics of the product which should be done in time. Mini Cooper has done all such home works and the product success really speaks volumes about it. “One study reveals that for every seven new product ideas, about 4 enter development, 1.5 are launched, and only one succeeds”( Robert G. Cooper -Winning at New Products- Page 11,). So the importance of planning can be understood from the above data. The success of a new product in the market also depends upon the competences of the team of people working on it. Proper planning, supervisions, promotional activities, quality of the product, proper communications and discussions between the team will lead the product to a success. The Mini Cooper has been left nearly unchallenged in the section of the small-car market of "personality cars." The buyers get a chance to express themselves, through both the cars appearance and the features they load inside. Mini buyers have a similarly free reign: they can select from among 372 interior configurations, from fabric or leather seats to the steering wheel cover, and 319 exterior options, from the type of engine to whether there are wide racing stripes on the hood. That works out to 15 trillion variations, making the Mini the closest thing to a custom- built car in its size and price range - about $18,000 for the entry-level Mini Cooper, Mini Cooper 7 stripped, and $26,000 for the top-of-the-line Mini Cooper S convertible. (Micheline Maynard- Can the Mini stays up to speed?) Mini Cooper was not a big success initially in US and The Minis re-entry in to the United States market in 2002 was carefully planned. The unusual marketing strategies made the car a success in US market today. The Mini remained on the market for more than 30 years in Britain, but only 20,000 were sold in all that time in the United States. For its reintroduction to the U.S. market, BMW’s marketing strategy was hard to believe. It deliberately limited American sales to about 25,000 annually, out of the 200,000 that are produced each year. BMW has promoted the car through internet rather than the television. They have stopped all the advertisement on national television and concentrated heavily on internet, in ads painted on city buildings and on baseball-type cards handed out at auto shows. To intrigue passers-by, BMW put Minis on top of sport utility vehicles and drove them around 24 cities. “Mini is sending owners a "covert" kit -- mocked up as a wizened-looking book -- that will include special glasses, a decoder, and a "magic window descriptor." Using those, owners will be able to find Web addresses in the ads that lead them to free prizes and invitations to events. Non owners will just have to feel slightly jealous that theyre out of the loop. (Business week) The strategy is to get owners active about the brand while developing the curiosity of potential buyers. Its a covert and an overt campaign at the same time. If you get the kit, youre rewarded. If not, you get the essence that owning a Mini is like being in a club. Mini Cooper 8 Another marketing strategy adopted by Mini USA begins delivering custom messages to Mini Cooper owners on digital signs which the company calls “talking” billboards. “The boards, which usually carry typical advertising, are programmed to identify approaching Mini drivers through a coded signal from a radio chip embedded in their key fob. The messages are personal, based on questionnaires that owners filled out: “Mary, moving at the speed of justice,” if Mary is a lawyer, or “Mike, the special of the day is speed,” if Mike is a chef. (The New York Times - Media & Advertising Billboards That Know You by Name). These talking billboards created enormous interest among the people in US. The messages are customised and related to the customer survey questionnaire. After running through three personal messages, the sign switches back to the standard Mini advertising. This innovative marketing strategy attracted many in US. As per the United States of America (Press Release) January 22, 2008 -- The 7th "Nevada City Adventure" for Mini Coopers is set for Saturday, May 17th, 2008. Held annually in heart of the gold country, this event celebrates both the Classic Mini as built by BMC (and Rover) and the latest MINI Cooper as built by BMW. Planning is now underway to insure this will be the biggest gathering in the history of Mini Mania in the Gold Country. “Events planned include: -Vendor Arcade- Numerous aftermarket supplies will be present to demonstrate product and answer questions.- Peoples choice car show with awards in a multiple of classes! -Nevada Country tour- see some of the best of the Gold Country -Vtec Mini Encounter- see the largest ever gathering of Vtec powered Mini in the USA -Silent Auction- Great products at only the price you want -Raffle- Take your chance and win your choice of great products-Free Grand Prize drawing- Every entrant will be eligible for some great prices!-Mini Mania Open House- Mini Cooper 9 15,000+ parts, 10% Discount on most parts.(Free Press release MINI Cooper Nevada City Adventure 2008) During the production of first generation MINI, as a joke and undoubtedly as a part of Minis viral marketing approach, purchasers of the Mini convertible were asked to sign a "contract" promising that they would drive the car with the roof open at least 90% of the time. Mini also set up a telephone hotline which one may call to report convertible owners who are driving with the roof up inappropriately. MINI Coopers has included testimonials from previously defrauded consumers as part of its marketing strategy. A man with his face obscured and voice altered admitted, ‘‘I bought a MINI for $1,200 bucks. ‘Let’s Motor,’ right?’’ To which the voice-over answered, ‘‘Wrong!’’ The commercial continued with additional humorous footage of counterfeit MINI Coopers, followed by beautiful images of the real thing. The commercial ended with voiceover explaining, ‘‘to order Counterfeit MINIs, visit CounterfeitMINI.org or send a self-addressed-stamped envelope to the Counter Counterfeit. Some analysts criticized the campaign’s deceptive quality, which could leave its target audience feeling betrayed. Also, for consumers to experience the full breadth of the campaign, they needed to visit the website, an extra step that complicated the campaign’s message. Many advertising agencies, fearful of the strategy’s overall risk, avoided such ‘‘call to action’’ campaigns. We can’t just push things into enough eyeballs anymore. It has to be so much fun filled which worth their time, that you’ve entertained them and taught them about the product at the same time. The success of Mini Cooper marketing strategies proved the above philosophy. Mini Cooper 10 Sources 1. Jay Conrad Levinson- Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Page 45 Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business by), Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1 edition (May 22, 2007) 2. Micheline Maynard- Can the Mini stays up to speed? International Herald Tribune – Retrieved on 16/1/08 http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/06/business/wbmini.php?page=1 3. Michael Frank- Test Drives 2004 Mini Cooper Retrieved on 16/1/08 http://www.forbes.com/2004/08/16/cx_mf_0816test.html 4. Robert G. Cooper Winning at New Products: Accelerating the Process from Idea to launch, Third Edition, Page4,by. Publisher: Basic Books; 3rd edition June 5, 2001). 5. Business week JULY 31, 2006 –For Your eyes only Retrieved on 16/1/08 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_31/b3995091.htm 6. The New York Times - Media & AdvertisingBillboards That Know You by Name Retrieved on 16/1/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media/29cooper.html 7. Free Press release MINI Cooper Nevada City Adventure 2008 Retrieved on 16/1/08 http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200801/1201039939.html Read More