RE: Marketing matters: PH Blog

[Maldini35]

AdamV8V said:

Andy JB said:

I drive an audi primarily for its germanic build quality, & blend of driveablity in the real world, intending to keep it for many years.

Andy JB said:

Brand was very much down there.

Wow, as a Marketer, the above insight is fascinating. As is a lot of this discussion.

Could it be possible that Audi have crafted (and heavily invested in) a brand strategy over a long time that makes sure you buy an Audi for exactly the reasons you state?

Everybody responsible for any consumer touchpoint at Audi, be it the dealership experience, the way the cup holder slides out, their motorsport strategy or their advertising will have a set of brand attributes they need to uphold. Not knowing Audi's strategy from the inside (but having owned a few, and with a level of professional insight), I would imagine "Germanic build quality" and "Drivability in the real world" would feature somewhere.

They don't invest millions running 3x LMP1 cars every year at Le Mans for the love of motorsport. They do it to demonstrate things like their Germanic build quality (and more lately diesel tech innovation) by showing that their cars can drive around for a whole day, averaging something silly like 130mph, and not (on the whole) break down.

They have built, and continue to build, a massively powerful sub-brand called 'Quattro' because you want a car that is "driveable in the real world". Even if your particular model happens to be 2WD, Quattro is so inextricably linked to Audi that you feel comfortable driving a car from "the people who do Quattro" (they also won a few WRCs to prove the point).

I know we feel we're all very smart and "immune" but, I'm sorry to break it to you, but you bought an Audi exactly because of the brand and what it stands for.

The best way to not feel bad about it is to accept the fact that us so-called "Marketing Men" are not out to "dupe" you. You bought the right car for you, and you seem very happy with your decision. You knew what you wanted, and Audi (and the evil Marketing Men therein) is the company that has understood the market potential of that need. They've engineered cars to meet that need and a brand that acts as a mental or emotional short-cut between your need and their offering.

What I'm not saying is that Marketers are some kind of philanthropic match-makers, going out of their way to generously create and communicate products so everyone in the world is a happier, better person because they bought the best bread / cola / car for them. No, they are men and women paid by companies to help them sell more stuff.

And the best way to sell more stuff is to understand what stuff people like and why they like it, work with designers / developers / engineers to make that stuff, make sure it's realistically (yet profitably) priced and then tell them about it in a way that will make them want to find out more and eventually buy it.

Note only the last bit is really about advertising (including the banner ads that help Haymarket fund this site) and PR (the cars that Messrs Prosser et al get to drive, the fancy launch events etc), so to say successful marketing is just good advertising is like saying Usain Bolt is so fast because he has the best 'dip' at the line.

VAG is full of very smart people (some of whom will work in Marketing) and has a massively complex product line-up and brand family. This article, as Dan alludes to, is to show their mastery in consumer insight and segmentation, product engineering (from the likes of RacerMike) and brand management. And this is all before an ad has been written.

By making the Golf 'feel' better and the Leon more powerful and cheaper (and therefore have greater perceived 'value' for those who seek that), VAG will NET sell more cars than by only having the Golf in that class, by taking market share from the likes of BMW (in the case of the Golf) and Ford (in the case of the SEAT).

And that is where Marketing earns its salt. No conspiracy, no duping, just people doing a job.

Edited by AdamV8V on Thursday 4th September 21:09

Spot on. Great post.

Marketing has always been seen as the shallow, ignorant, and cynical side of the industry constantly battling against the honest engineers.
The truth is you need both strong marketing & engineering to make a successful & profitable car company.
That's not to say that marketing (done badly) can be cringeworthy and superficial but then poor engineering can draw similiarly negative reactions.

It feels like we're in a golden age right now with a huge choice of high quality, genuinely interesting cars.
As AdamVAV so eloquently put it, marketing just helps people differentiate between products and make the right choice for them.

[nickfrog]

AdamV8V said:

Great post

It is a brilliantly eloquent post. I admire marketing too. Genuinely.

When it comes to cars, the marketeers, however talented they clearly are, work on the perceived, not necessarily the actual.

Why? Because 99.99% of road drivers use 25% percent of a car's dynamic ability, at best. Or scare themselves at 50% of it. Nothing wrong with that. But it means that grabbing the low hanging fruits (like the impossibly well damped grab handle) and therefore spending so much of the money in making people feel good about their purchase is great but it inherently means that it's at the detriment of the bits that really matter to the tiny minority of enthusiast drivers who care more about stuff like low COG or a lower polar moment of inertia or quite simply a balanced chassis.

What does it matter if most of the engine of an Audi is ahead of the front axle if you drive at 5/10ths ? At least, space is optimised. Brilliant. Job done.

There is really nothing wrong with the VAG way per se, it's quite clearly very successful. But it leads to compromise elsewhere.

Quattro is totally in-keeping with that choice btw, again nothing wrong with that. Why bother with the finesse of rwd when all you have to do it point and squirt to get somewhere quickly in all weathers. That's what the majority want. That's what the brilliant Audi marketing men give them.

It's like the (perceived) Germanic build quality. That's what the majority think. Again, perception vs reality.

Edited by nickfrog on Monday 8th September 21:01