Bmw

1. Assess BMW's position in the North American market? How healthy is the BMW brand relative to previous years? What are the weaknesses in the BMW brand? What is the growth strategy for BMW in the North American market?

BMW is a relatively small company, and had small market share in the North American market, compared that in the Europe market. BMW runs in the premium category, luxury/performance segment, and focuses on quality, instead of volume.

In North America, people considered BMW as a niche foreign car manufacturer, and associated it with Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Cadillac, which convey more conservative and stodgier image, before mid-1970s. However, after BMW launch "Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign, which featured young urban professional driving BMW, and showed the high performance of the BMW along with superb handling and German engineering. This whole new campaign started to catch the eyes of young urban professionals, pursuing design, style, and affluent in North America.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, BMW sale suffered a significant decline due to its new competition, luxury brands from Japan. These new coming brands distinguish themselves by offering high quality, reliability and service at lower price points than BMW. Besides, they sell cars through a relatively small number of exclusive, high quality dealerships, providing better service, and ensuring customers' satisfaction.

In order to keep its lost market share, BMW started several new strategies. It introduced new design, engine in its core Series with premium price for retaining its high-end brand image. In addition, BMW reconceptualized its dealer operating system (DOS) to ensure consistency in the customer experience across dealerships with high satisfaction. Furthermore, BMW innovate new several Series, roadster, sports utility vehicle, for driving and reaching different needs of more extensive customers. In order to better satisfy North American market specifically, BMW make everything simple, like one -touch windows which it never thought before.

In order to increase its market share, BMW constantly innovate design, and technology for driving the needs of its target market. Besides, BMW continually conducts market research to track demographic profile of its target customers, and make its product better reach consumers' niche need. The most important reason why BMW can be so successful in North America is its BMW Films, innovative IMC plan, integrating a marketing campaign with TV, print, and the internet to maximize audience reaching.

2. Analyze the BMW Films campaign giving attention to the motivation behind the idea and the target audience. Describe the typical BMW customer and analyze how well the BMW Films campaign might be in reaching and influencing them.

In early 2000, both of BMW sales and brand are very strong without introduce of any new product, however, competitors with bigger marketing budget start to copy BMW's marketing strategy. BMW realize if it keeps marketing itself through traditional media, itself would become invisible among competitors. Therefore, for BMW, who has relatively small marketing budget, it needs to make sure it has a strong brand voice, premium image and high performance to differentiate its own product.

In order to maximize the impact and exposure of the BMW brand to its target market, it started its non-traditional campaign with Z3 campaign along with traditional campaign. Z3 campaign was very successful, which give BMW confidence of keeping using creative leverage in the new media environment, BMW Films, to build brand awareness with consumers, and demonstrate the capabilities of its products.

Furthermore, the marketing research, BMW conducted constantly, showed that its target market are increasingly using the internet to research their next car purchases and BMW was tops among car brands in terms of frequency of buyers using the internet. This trend makes BMW believe that its customers would be receptive and appreciated to this whole new advertising campaign for internet.

Most of BMW customers work hard, and have little free time, so they are very particular about what they do in their little free time. At the same time, these people are very active, like sports, and enjoy driving experience, which gives them a good feeling of personal expression. They consider the driving time as the most pleasurable time in their day. In addition, these people are high educated, with a median income, and technology is very important for them.

Though, a series of short Films through internet cannot reach as many people as ads through television, since television has mass coverage, attention getting and favorable image advantages. However, internet gives viewers higher selectivity, involvement, and interaction. Through internet, viewers can download Films, which allows people collect, and share the films they like with friends. For BMW target market, energetic, technology oriented, and enjoying excitement, this unprecedented new communication way would definitely engage them in expected, exciting, entertaining ways. Since BMW has the first mover advantage, which let viewers associate this new, creative, innovative, unbelievable adventure with "BMW" brand. Undoubtedly, the MBW Films for internet indeed catch its target market, BMW owners, luxury seekers and tech-savvy, enhance its brand awareness, and customer loyalty.

3. Evaluate the success of the BMW Films campaign giving attention to the types of metrics that can be used in assessing its impact. What would you conclude about the success of the campaign?

BMW consider BMW Film as a legitimate entertainment. In order to make them worth seeking out, the films must have high quality, and customer wouldn't consider it as a conventional ad, but a high budget Hollywood production, BMW partner with Anonymous Productions, well-connected within the Hollywood community, and give them complete freedom without any limitation, which are usually used in traditional ad campaign.

"The Hire" includes five short films, feature action gunfights and chase scenes with its several newest BMW models, which attract not only its target market, but also action-movie fans who would seek out the movies and help spread it out. Each of these short films starred the British actor Clive Owen, accomplished and mysterious, as a professional driver who survives in every impossible scenario with few words and unbelievable motion. BMW films use the driver to personalize the performance of its product.

Each film showed the high performance of vehicles through variety scenarios. In Ambush, Chosen, and Powder Keg films, the stories were about how Clive Owen committed his mission helping someone out of the dangerous situations. He reacted instantly to unexpected