Promotional Strategy for Automotive Industry in UK - Essay Example

The paper "Promotional Strategy for Automotive Industry in the UK" is an outstanding example of an essay on marketing. This IMC strategy project analyses the automotive industry particularly paying much attention to the United Kingdom marketplace. Besides, Toyota will be significantly assessed on the grounds that it will be the main firm from which the new vehicle will be initiated into the United Kingdom market. Nevertheless, the international market will be analyzed in order to establish current concerns, as these will eventually impact on the United Kingdom market. In addition, the anticipated new product will need to be sold in other markets other than the United Kingdom as to recover the cost of development, therefore the significance of understanding the global market.

After the project analysis is made this report will then outline a promotional entry strategy using an inclusive integrated marketing communications (IMC) plan that will facilitate a successful launch at the same time achieving other synergistic effects on Toyota as a brand. The promotional campaign launch will attract a budget of £12.5 million and this is projected to achieve a revenue of £85 million in excess. Since automobile industry functions with small margins the promotional campaign expenditure is approximated to exceed profitability, though this can be vindicated due to raising brand awareness levels and residual effect the promotional campaign is expected to have on other brands during the promotional campaigns.

Executive Summary

The automotive industry is very competitive with continually squeezing margins. The automotive industry is also going through considerable change, where the western big firms are experiencing financial difficulties. It is the number of brands and their size within their portfolio which is sluggish their ability to establish their unionization of the workforce as well as to change. Moreover, due to the increasing fixed cost nature of their business that they must maintain the metal moving and thus bid large discounts to make sales. Toyota manufacturers in Japan have radically changed the industry with effective technological advances, efficient production techniques, and organic growth; they are currently coming up as the world’s biggest car producers and the most profitable in the industry.

As automotive consumers continue in fear over increasing fuel prices they are in search of other alternatives. One of the first cars that offered an actual satisfactory solution was Toyota Prius. While brand awareness of its technology is still low and misunderstood, this will begin to change since other manufacturers are entering the market. This IMC strategy project proposes extending the latest second-generation Prius to a third extra economical Prius being fuelled with biodiesel or diesel and will be called the Prius D3.

The Prius D3 model would act as an extension of the range and be an inspiration from Toyota’s operational business objective of offering greener solutions. The target psychographic should uncover green technology the most appealing, nevertheless, they will be more influenced by the substantial savings this brand can bring, as will the profitable in renting, leasing and corporate car market.

In launching the Prius D3 model in the United Kingdom market 2 main aspects need to be noted, to begin with, all the consumers wish to downgrade cars to smaller and thus more efficient cars and again the skepticism of the brand hybrid technology from the targeted 35 to 64 demographic. As such the Public Relations and Direct Marketing promotional campaigns have been intended at establishing awareness and appreciation of the concept. The anticipated advertising campaign will embrace consumers' fear both to the environmental and monetary costs of running a car. For this rationale, the slogan that will be utilized to connect the entire campaign together will be ‘Dare to drive’. According to research, consumers' initial qualms will varnish if they test-drive the hybrid brand.