Volkswagens Big Creative Marketing Idea - Report Example

Big Creative Idea

Introduction

Manufacturing companies face numerous challenges that affect their daily operations and as well, their income. However, with the right strategies, these challenges can be overcome and the required targets achieved. The aim of this report is to suggest ways in which the Volkswagen Company can overcome its current difficulties and resume the good business trend it once enjoyed. The proposal aims to achieve a sale increment of 5% for the sale of e-golf in the next 18 months and to alter the perception among its potential customers.

The Product

Over the past few years, Volkswagen has faced a hard battle relating to the diesel emission. At some point, the company had to buy back some of its cars from its customers. For example, the company agreed to pay up to $10.03bn to buy back cars from the US customers and a fine of $2.7bn to environmental authorities (McGee 2016, n.p). As a result, the company has registered losses and decrease in sales, which has led to its competitors like Toyota overtaking it in sales for the first time in history (Béndek 2016, p. 48; McGee and Campbell 2016, n.p). To maintain its market share and also play by the environmental rules, the VW Company has launched the e-golf model. E-golf is an electric five-seater medium hatchback car. It is ranked among the best electric vehicles (Carbuyer 2016, n.p). The e-golf boasts of 0-62mph in 10.4 seconds, five doors. It uses a chargeable lithium battery which can cover up to 118 miles before it is charged again.

Target Market

E-golf is a model for fashionable young men and women. It is well suited for use in the city centers where charging is not a problem. The car can be used both for sporting activities as well as for official purposes. My target market for this proposal is, therefore, the young generation who are also city dweller. The project will target young male entrepreneurs between the age of 20 to 34 years, who are probably buying their first cars and are keen on smartness as well as fashion.

Positioning Strategy

Unlike other mini cars, e-golf is the only electric car priced under $30k that can travel over 100miles before being charged. It is also the most spacious compared to the other mall electric vehicles, hence, it provides the best handling drive. The VW Company offers free charging services at their location and the customers also have the privilege to use the free wi-fi at the charge stations. Nonetheless, e-golf is manufactured by a company that has been in the manufacturing industry for decades, thus, have experienced employees who can be relied on for quality products.

Communication Message Proposed

Volkswagen is a trustworthy and reliable automobile manufacturing company. We produce several model quality car models with a ten year power train warranty. We put the interest of our customers first and value their option. That is why we have launched the e-golf model to cater for the entrepreneurial community. E-golf, a convenient electric car reflects our company’s good knowledge and respect for the environmental policy.

E-golf transforms the way people travel from point to point, especially in a busy city. Every occasion has the car model that best suits it. For example, a race car may not be suitable for work. At young age, it is normal to choose to be fashionable. Customers often focus on factors that have an impact on ego (Store.mintel.com 2016, n.p). For entrepreneurs who want to arrive at their business meetings in style, then e-golf offers exactly that. For customers looking for an efficient and effective car that can be used for family outings, and also for other business activities, E-golf comes is the solution. The VW Company has produced an efficient and reliable car that can be used both within the city and for far distance outings. It has a chargeable lithium battery which can cover up to 118 miles before being charged, therefore, no worries of getting stuck (Volkswagen.co.uk 2016, n.p).

Family love is paramount especially in young families. They always desire to be together. E-golf offers the users up to five spacious seats, hence, the owners can board together with up to four other family members. The flashy pure electric car also has a cargo space where the passengers can place their luggage. If you are a retail minded individual who has made some millions in your business and looking for a car that will match your worth, then the solution is here. E-golf lets its customers prove their worth. Moreover, no more worries of fuel shortage since e-golf owners have the privilege to charge their cars even from home. All cars can get you to where you want, but only e-golf will get you there with maximum comfort and enjoyment from its classy music system.

Communication Objective

Our objective is to perform a marketing activity that will increase the number of sales of the e-golf car model by 5% over the next eighteen months. We shall achieve this by raising the awareness on the e-golf model to make it known and memorable. The sales will mostly be made to the male entrepreneurs who are of age bracket between 20-34 years. Moreover, the sales will target city dwellers. We shall also use a driving brand switching by persuading customers who use competitor’s products to switch to ours.

Another objective of this marketing proposal is to have a mass market appeal to increase the perception value of the e-golf car among the young male entrepreneurs in the long-term campaign. The company shall clear any misconception in the market about its product and services. We also aim to motivate the customers to buy our products so as to boost its sales. We shall ensure our customers know the quality of products they should expect and also know what is expected of them. Also, we shall develop a relationship with our customers and ensure they get an opportunity to share their needs with the organization. Moreover, we shall provide regular information and gather feedbacks from our customers.

Strategies

The company will increase the market penetration to achieve the increased number of sales of e-golf cars by 5% over the next eighteen months (Shimp & Craig 2012, p. 222). The corporation will also launch an advertisement campaign to encourage repeat purchase behavior. Through direct marketing to young entrepreneurs, we shall stimulate impulsive buying. We shall also develop sales lead and stimulate interest to encourage people to make their purchases. Also, the company shall conduct personal sales to establish product image, and customer relationships to increase their perception about the e-golf and the Volkswagen brand. To improve the public relations with our customers, we shall establish, modify, and reinforce attitude, as build support and acceptance among our target customers and also establish an understanding with them.

The Big Creative Idea

The two most important objectives of our marketing include to achieve increased sales and to change people's perception about our products, given the bad publicity we have had from the diesel emission scandal. The increased number of sales can be achieved by increasing awareness about our products. To achieve the desired level of awareness, we shall use tools such as social media, blogs, press release, and online videos to make our advertisements (Trott 2016, p. 34). However, we shall rely more on social media and blogs since our target market is young entrepreneurs who still have high affinity to socialize. Various social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn shall be used to enhance reach, increase visibility, and frequency, and to involve our audience in the conversation about the product. In addition, all the advertisements will be accompanied by the slogan “Volkswagen” as a way of creating awareness about the company as a whole and not only the e-golf brand (Rodriguez 2016, n.p).

To increase the market share, we shall aimt to conduct major campaigns and promotions to increase the market penetration (Lamb, Hair & Mcdaniel 2012, p. 44; Henry 2011, p. 288). This will have the existing customers purchase the new brand and persuade other customers to switch product. As Mason (2015, n.p) found in his research, internet played a major role in boosting sales in the year 2014. We shall, therefore, take our advertisements and sales to the online platform. This shall also increase our chances of finding our target market since most of them transact their businesses online. Also, given that internet marketing have been reported to be on the rise (Chaffey et al. 2012, p. 477). Further, persuasive advertising which emphasizes on the e-golf’s superior benefits to its competitors shall be used to influence the purchasing intent of the customers (Winston & Granat P. 2014, p. 53). The adverts shall present the benefits of e-golf over the other electric motors by our competitors.

Volkswagen has a strong brand image and is present all over the world. Therefore, carrying out product promotion will be eased by having customers to visit the stores (Bhatia 2008, p. 163; Belch & Belch 2012, p. 5). Through promotions, the VW Company shall speed up buyer decision-making, retain the existing market, and reduce distributor risk. Our sale promotion shall be conducted in all the major cities and discount given to instant purchasers. To stimulate trial purchase, we shall offer free trials to persuade new customers to try our products (O'Guinn et al. 2014, p. 309; MüHlbacher, Dahringe& Leihs 2006, p. 639). The promotion shall also be used to relay more information to the people about the quality and availability of the e-golf brand. Moreover, we shall use the opportunity to educate our customers about the features of the e-golf and answer their questions to clear any misunderstanding. The company shall also offer interest-free credit payments. Finally, to further encourage people to purchase, we shall offer our customers buyback options in cases where the car is found to lack the features described in the brochures.

After the diesel emission scandal, people have developed a wrong perception about VW vehicles. However, our aim is to change this perception to retain our customers and even increase our market share. We shall do a thorough advertisement of the electric car to change people’s perception of any possibility of any flaw, like was the case with the diesel cars. We shall incorporate the environmental representatives in our advertisements. This way, it will be easy to convince the public that the vehicle model has been tested and approved to be environmentally friendly (Fill 2009, p. 17). The advertisements shall be done using mass media such as radio, televisions, and local dailies. Moreover, there shall be mass market appeal through the mass media and social media for our loyal customers to disregard the negative publicity and focus on the new features of e-golf. Advertisement through mass media will also help built the brand of VW Company (Clow& Baack 2010, p. 448).

To stimulate repeat purchase, group purchase or mass purchase, the company shall award gift coupons to the customers who have influenced the repeat purchase. For example, if a customer refers another customer to make purchase, he or she will be awarded points which he or she can later use to service the car after the warranty period is over. The same shall apply to a customer who makes the second and subsequent purchases either on behalf of a company or as an individual (O'Guinn et al. 2014, p. 309). Through this, we shall build the customer loyalty and encourage them to bring their friends and relatives to make purchases. We shall also utilize the social media platforms to share more information about e-golf and create a platform where we can interact with the customers. Nonetheless, the company shall also rely on the loyal customers to share the information on the social media for their peers and friends to see. Advertising through the social media will be a success since our target market is young entrepreneurs who use the social media on a daily basis.

Implementation, Control, and Evaluation

The most important thing after all these activities is to register a success. The promotions shall be done in all the major cities in which our offices are and shall run for eighteen months. An evaluation will be done after every four months to determine whether to continue or change the strategy. We shall consider the results positive in an indication of increment in sales. Moreover, we shall consider the whole exercise a success if after eighteen months, the increase in sales has reached the 5% mark.

The change in people’s perception shall be evaluated using their responses to the free trials and on the social media. The marketing department shall be responsible for the creation and administration of the social media pages, thereby, answering all the questions by our customers. The number of response in the social media and people’s comments shall be used to gauge people’s perception. We shall also pay attention to the suggestions by our customers and conduct a poll after every six months to determine the change in people’s perception.

Although we anticipate that our marketing strategy will work, our greatest challenge will be to change people’s perception about the Volkswagen over the diesel emission scandal (Store.mintel.com 2016, n.p). As discussed earlier, this challenge will be resolved by using the environmental representatives in our advertisements. There is also a likelihood of the competitors being vicious about our advert portraying the e-golf as the best. However, this shall have no major harm as there will be no mentioning of the competitors by their names.