Automotive branding in the digital era
The role and importance of brands is increasingly recognised.
Senior management is realising that brands are a means to a more successful business end, and yet that it is only by placing the brand at the centre of the company’s agenda that this better result is achieved.
Effective branding will play a central role in the car market in the digital era. The requirement for differentiated and motivating offerings is greater than ever – in terms of the cars themselves, and all other aspects of the marketing mix. However, despite the increasing need for potent brands, the means to establish and develop them are being squeezed.
The fragmentation and proliferation of the media as well as greater inter-activity are making it increasingly difficult to communicate with target audiences as regularly and for as long as has been the case to date. The car manufacturers have been big investors in advertising for decades.
The car brands that have invested most in their brand equity in the past – even if not by design – are the best placed for the digital era. It is not only the car market that faces this dilemma. Even the likes of Procter & Gamble, pioneers in many aspects of marketing and branding, have been forced to radically change their approach as a result of globalisation and the digital revolution.
The brands in the traditional premium automotive sector tend to be those that have focused more heavily on their brand, or marque, values. For example, premium manufacturers have tended, albeit not exclusively, to launch models and variants with letters and numbers to label them.
Jaguar SS100, Mark II, E-Type, XJ6. Mercedes 190SL, 220SE, CLK, A-Series. BMW 2002, 3, 5, 7 Series, Z3, X5. Audi 80, 100, A2, A3, A4. Volvo has a long history of similar labelling.
This is not to say that many of these have not become powerful brands in their own right, but compared to the mass market automotive sector, there has tended to be more marque emphasis.
In the mass market sector, the tendency has been to focus more on creating sub – brands which are clearly badged as from a certain stable, but are designed and promoted in a way to build appeal to the model’s specific audience.
Ford Cortina, Ford Capri, Ford Escort, Ford Puma, Ford Ka. Vauxhall Victor, Viva, Vectra.
Volkswagen Golf, Polo, Passat.
This is more badging than branding.
Communications activities have reflected this emphasis.
Whilst the mass manufacturers have traditionally had more distinct target audiences to cater for, this approach has arguably left them with less defined and less motivating core brand identities.
Now that the premium brands are entering mass market sectors with the move towards smaller cars, the mass manufacturers face new, strong and intense competition.
Whilst the premium marques must be careful to devise strategies that retain and still develop their premium status, the market is more complex than it was. The digital revolution is also making communication with audiences more difficult.
Premium and mass car brands are faced with more complex consumer decision-making processes. The internet has added to the complexity, as have new e-tailers and the furore over pricing. More media choices are available to manufacturers and their audiences alike. Communications planning is more difficult.
People can increasingly edit brands out of their lives if they want to. So brand communications have to become more focused on dialogue, building relationships with people rather than targeting consumers with communications activity. The need for relationships is crucial to help retain customers when you have persuaded them to join the fold. Retention is more important than ever.
How can Occam Insight help?
By helping brands become one-thought driven.
Companies must focus their efforts on crystallising the brand down to its DNA. This is a process of convergent thinking. The one thought that focuses all company activities behind it. The consumer and all stakeholders become familiar with a distinctive and motivating brand identity. This helps secure dialogue with audiences and greater cumulative effect from all activities. The single thought is the means to relationships with people.
How do you distil down to the single thought? By interrogating your brand and your target audiences. What territories could the brand lay claim to? What is its history? What do people value your brand for now? What do staff think encapsulates the brand?
The candidate territories must be analysed to identify those that are ownable, believable, motivating, differentiated – or provide – the scope to achieve it. The chosen territory must also be rich enough to allow distinctive and motivating communications activity.
Once identified, the thought informs all company behaviour. Everyone sings from the same hymn sheet. Then the divergent process begins, where the single thought is brought alive in a way that engages and involves customers and prospects in continuous, dialogue – nurturing them from prospect for the brand to advocate of it.