BMW DriveNow – CarSharing von BMW i, Mini und Sixt
BMW reagiert auf die zunehmende Tendenz weg vom eigenen Auto hin zu Mobilität auf Abruf (on demand) und startet unter seiner neuen Submarke BMW i und in Kooperation mit Sixt das Mobilitätskonzept DriveNow.
Hier der Introfilm:
Und hier ein Trailer zu BMW i:
Nissan/Renault eMobility: one idea two TVCs
Just recently I saw a really nice Renault commercial for their electric vehicle model range:
To be honest, it is a very creative approach which really opens our minds to the fact that in every aspect of our daily life things are being run electric, except for the car. And it is exactly here that it takes a lot of marketing dollars to persuade and convince us that the future of driving will be electric.
Now it is no secret that Renault Nissan are cooperating. Still I was surprise to see this Nissan TVC here which closely draws on the Renault spot. I can only guess that maybe the Nissan spot was there first, but maybe it is no coincidence but a shared marketing campaign to promote electric vehicles for both brands…
Here is the Nissan version (for the US market and also showing the Chevy Volt which is being blamed for not being 100% electric:
RTT Excite 2011, Munich
The Munich-based RTT AG is a pioneer in 3D visualization and maintains offices around the world and employs more than 450 experts. Each year RTT invites its clients and prospects to the RTT Excite, a standout event which showcases the latest technologies across the industry and their diverse areas of application in the world of 3D realtime visualization.
The lectures and breakout sessions included speakers from companies such as Siemens, Adidas, McKinsey, Opel, Ford, Porsche, Pixar and of course RTT.
3D visualization offers huge possibilities to reduce costs and increase time-to-market in a number of industries. Up front of course is the automotive sector which still has some of the biggest expenditures when it comes to developing new parts or even entire vehicles. This became obvious when looking around in the audience. Almost every major automaker had sent staff to the RTT Excite to learn about the latest trends and the new opportunities in this fast developing field.
The case studies nicely explained the strong need for 3D visualization, the various usages and the cost effect visualization has compared to producing real models – whether of cars, Atomic ski boots or fashion. In the product development process visualization enables to quickly change product features and immediately send a new model to team members all around the world in order to decide how the next car, shoe or connector should look like.
Once a product has been finalized, 3D visualization makes it available to a gigantic audience – for example online in a car configurator, a virtual online shop, or at the POS. We live in times of huge product ranges. Premium brands such as BMW or Audi fill up every product niche out there which makes it harder every day for the consumer to decide what product fits best. At the same time this is also a challenge to the POS: The model range of an automaker often grows faster than the showroom capacity and the number of possible configurations are enormous. Thus auto showrooms increasingly rely on visualizers to show the customer in a most realisitic way, how his dream car would look like. CGI materials are often faster to produce and cheaper than entire photo shootings for a new campaign.
3D visualization increases time-to-market, allows to react faster to changing customer needs, supports the customer purchasing process and make shopping more interactive and more exciting.
Sixt Guerilla Marketing at Airport
A nice example of a guerilla marketing campaign. The good thing about it: it finds a unique channel or way to address the key target group which is most likely to be interested in this offer: professionals. We all know the situation: when you are not in the office and have entire teams working back in the office, your laptop or mobile device is the link to the crew back home or to the client out there. As there is barely internet on planes, the waiting time at the airport becomes crucial. And when time is short, fast DSL is the key. Thus offering free WLAN is always appreciated. In this case the WLAN ID transports the marketing message which here is the special airport fare for the SIXT BWM 3-series rental offer. A nice solution! So if by contract you are not binded to a special rental agency, this nice little favor by SIXT may have a positive influence on you.
Keep in mind: the worst situation you can be in when renting a car is an airport where you quickly need a ride – they usually charge a lot.
Nice little campaign!
MINI Connected
Having previously worked together with colleagues from BMW ConnectedDrive, this commercial caught my attention.
So much has changed since the early days of ConnectedDrive… It is amazing to see what cars today are capable of, leaving aside the drivers distraction discusscion…
2011 Mercedes SLK – a viral??
A former colleague found this on YouTube. The video looks like a client preview version of a new commercial. Although it is somewhat too long for a TV commercial it raises the question whether it was posted on purpose or is intended as a viral.
At the moment the video has 782 views on YouTube, let’s watch how it performs…
Reinventing the Automobile
Automakers are making great profits again.
Who would have thought that two to three years ago. Back then consumer spending was down, economic crisis a global headline and automakers were piling up cars they could not sell.
What happened in between? Well to cut it short, the economy found back on track, automakers learned from their mistakes and focused more on what customers really need instead of selling them illusions which could only be sold thanks to massive marketing efforts. The result: smaller, more green vehicles which more and more are built on interchangeable platforms and which share parts with a large number of cars.
Yet some fundamental problems remain.
Other than 30 years ago auto brands have moved closer together in terms of product quality. This is due to technologial advances but also to the consolidation among suppliers. Today you barely find a „bad“ car which has the reputation of spending more time in the shop than on the street (old Mini Cooper legend).
What counts today is price, efficiency, how green the car is and of course its design. And increasingly another virtue is developing: interaction.
It may not be critical yet, but in the future, autos will continue to become more similar. Already today you can buy almost identical cars which are offered by three different brands. How shall a consumer decide which of the three to buy? In such a case what it boils down to is brand. Or some small features which make one of the three unique, more customizable, more entertaining.
This points to an interesting phenomenon.
Basically cars have a transportation function, second they are fun to drive or provide roles or an image (such as a Porsche as a symbol of success, reward for hard work) you can transfer to yourself.
The brand facet „sporty“ today is closely connected to efficiency. This is something even Porsche has discovered and it proves to be good for the brand. Technological excellence no longer means to get the most power out of a certain engine size but rather to get more power out of the car while at the same time reducing emissions and gas consumption.
What consumers in the future will be calling for is more interaction with the car. More possibilities to customize the car (trend towards individualism). This may no longer mean body work such as in the 90s when tuning your car was the big thing. We are less extroverted today. What counts is the inner values. This can also be oberved with luxury goods. Excessive consumption is considered stupid and unsophisticated. Luxury today is more complicated and less superficial. Sense and context matter.
In terms of cars you can see this trend by the fact that we no longer care about RDS Radio but rather on the need for an AUX interface so we can connect our iPod with our very own, individual taste of music with the car. In the future customization will much more take place on the inside than on the outside of the car.
This tendency can also be oberved in other fields of technology. Mobile phones are not only bought because of the design (let’s not discuss the iPhone now, yes it does look okay) but because of what you can do with them. Today the number of available apps plays a major role in the purchase decision for a mobile phone. Or rather which OS to choose. Windows, Symbian or Android. Manufacturers who opted for Android are highly successful today. Altough 80% per cent of the apps may be crap, it does not matter. There is something for everyone. It is not about what you have but about what you do with it. Finding the best apps to reach your customer needs is a characteristic of cleverness.
I have mentioned this in a previous article, digital to some extent replaces the automobile today. In short, less and less people in Germany and the US have a driver’s license and the automobile is constantly losing its importance. What can be done? Well how about the auto becoming more digital? This may of course not collide with safety on the road and the basic transportation function. But if you today have two similar cars – say an Audi A4 and a 3-series BMW, two of the best cars out there, and one offers entertaining and helpful additional digital features – the tough decision of which one to buy all of a sudden become totally easy!
Outlook:
Automakers will have to find ways to make cars more interesting, more capable to provide answers to consumer problems we usually do not associate with the car. Cars have to become more entertaining, more customizable, loaded with additional features that provide additional sources of utility.
Another thought would be to enable the car to communicate. Here is one: More and more people today are single. Many would like to have an animal to reduce the feeling of loneliness but do not have the time for it. Wouldn’t it be nice to somehow communicate with your car? To constantly check how it is doing, to get notifications from the car directly to your phone? If the car would enable us to serve as an avatar, but not in the digital but the real world. If the car enabled us to get in touch with other drivers? Think back that a car offers an image or a role. Thus dricing the same car could imply that two people share the same value set, world view, political view, etc. What if the roads out there were a social network which enable you to stay in touch with friends, find people with similar interests. What if the car would provide you with information about the area that is specifically designed for you? What if the car becomes a means to transport electricity from A to B? What if you could already from the office or the couch configure which music to be played when you enter the car?
What if your car is always reborn with new software updates and thus new features you can explore? Thus you would have a car you are familiar with and that keeps surprising you with new features – it would never get boring. Sounds like a really good human friend, doesn‘ it?
There is so much the car of the future can do for us. And the better it understands our needs or problems the more we value the car and the more desirable it becomes. And the more loyal we become.
How do you make sure people stick to one software or operating system?
Updates, features, applications, relevance,.. It is so simple.
How do you change the game?
With a new operating system that simply rocks, grows fast, and allows your own developements (open source)…
Sounds familiar?
Autohäuser 2010: Service oft nicht gleich Service
Heute beim Sonntagsfrühstück bin ich mal wieder über ein VW Prospekt eines regionalen Händlers gestolpert.
Man ist innovativ und preist Intervallservice Angebote und Jahresinspektionen an. Gleichzeitig der Hinweis „Warum wo anders mehr bezahlen“ und „bis zu 20%!“ sparen. Sogar auf Leistungssteigerung bei MTM gibt es im November „10% Nachlass“.
Und dann entdecke ich auf dem selben Prospekt, den Hinweis auf ein „Werkstattersatzfahrzeug ab 10 €/Tag“. Also wie jetzt? Hier 10% sparen und dort 10€ wieder drauf? Und das wahrscheinlich für einen nackten 70 PS Polo V…
Wieso sollte ich denn für ein Auto auch noch was zahlen, wenn es schon in die Werkstatt muss? Und wieso nutzen Hersteller den heutzutage seltenen Moment dass der Kunde tatsächlich mal wieder im Autohaus vorbeischaut nicht um ihm neue Produkte und AfterSales Angebote anzupreisen? Durch die verlängerten Wartungsintervalle distanzieren sich Autohaus und Kunde immer weiter voneinander. Gleichzeitig steigt die Bedeutung von CRM-Maßnahmen um den Kontakt zum Autohaus und letztlich der Marke nicht völligst abbrechen zu lassen. Deswegen sollte man dem Fahrer eines 5er BMW beim unfreiwilligen Werkstattbesuch nicht gegen Entgelt einen Mini (immer mindestens selbe Fahrzeugklasse) anbieten sondern ihm freiwillig das aktuelle Modell in seiner Wunschaustattung zur Verfügung stellen (soweit verfügbar). So kann der Kunde ohne aufwändigen Probefahrttermin am Wochende vereinbaren zu müssen (das Wochenende gehört der Familie) das neue Modell im Alltag testen (Wochenende ist nicht gleich Alltag). So entsteht bem Konsumenten nach kurzer Zeit das Begehren nach den Annehmlichkeiten des neuen Modells und er spürt die Wertschätzung als Kunde. Bei frisch auf den Markt gekommenen Produkten trägt das Werkstattersatzfahrzeug sogar dazu bei, dass das neue Modell sich im Stadtbild zügig etabliert. Ob eine Aufschrift des Autohauses nun eher vorteilhaft für das Autohaus oder negativ für den Fahrer (man sieht sofort, dass der Fahrer nicht Eigentümer des Autos ist sondern das Autohaus) ist, kann man sich streiten.
Natürlich muss man hierbei aber auch die Situation der Autohäuser sehen. Knappe Margen, hoher Kostendruck,.. lassen vielen Autohäusern nicht viel Spielraum für großartigen Service. Doch genau das spürt der Kunde, wenn bspw. keine Probefahrtfahrzeuge verfügbar sind, eine Probefahrt auf wenige Stunden begrenzt ist, oder eben ein Werkstattersatzfahrzeug auch noch was kosten soll. Will ich bei so einem Autohaus Kunde sein und Fahrer einer solchen Marke sein? Und ist das die Art und Weise, wie ich als Kunde behandelt werden möchte? Sicherlich nicht.
In Zeiten, in denen die Quailtät der etablierten Marken sich immer mehr annähert (Wissen sie in wie vielen Fahrzeugen ihr aktueller Motor verbaut ist?) und gleichzeitig andere Faktoren wie Design, Markenimage oder Preis eine immer wichtigere Rolle bei der Kaufentscheidung sprechen, steigt auch die Bedeutung der Loyalisierung. Deswegen sollte man seine bestehenden Kunden entsprechend betreuen und ihnen in jeder Kontaktsituation das Gefühl geben sie seien etwas Besonderes. Es gibt nicht umsonst einen Markenwechselbonus für die Verkäufer, denen es gelingt einen Fahrer einer Konkurrenzmarke für die eigene zu gewinnen. Dieser finanzielle Spielraum wird dann gerne auch mal ein Stück weit an den Kunden weitergegeben.
Dem Kunden das Gefühl zu geben, dass er wichtig ist, dass die Marke sich immer besser auf ihn einstellen möchte, sind zentrale Elemente von Social Media Strategien. Der (potentielle) Kunde wird ernst genommen, nach seiner Meinung gefragt, und eingeladen mit der Marke zu interagieren. Die Hersteller erhoffen sich hierdurch vieles. Eine stärkere Kundenbindung, wertvolle Consumer Insights und die Marke persönlich erlebbar zu machen – auf Arten die früher undenkbar waren.
Deutschland ist nicht umsonst der härteste Automobilmarkt auf der Welt. Wer hier dominieren will muss in allen Facetten gut aufgestellt sein. Das gilt nicht nur für die Produktqualität sondern auch für den Service.
Wenn mir heute jemand erzählt, er hatte seinen 3 Jahre alten Mittelklassewagen in der Werkstatt und musste für das Ersatzfahrzeug etwas zahlen, so würde ich klar sagen: „Wechsel die Werkstatt oder gleich auch die Marke!“ Und teile deine negative Erfahrung anderen mit.
The competition among electric vehicles is just starting…
Here is a very recent commercial for the Nissan Leaf in U.S. featuring a trained polar bear. Obviously the only trained polar bear available… However, TBWA produced a really nice story dealing with the causes of the climate change which in this case force a polar bear to leave his natural environment. His journey takes him through typical scenes of American landscape (even the inner city) and lastly to a typical U.S. suburb where he finally encounters something he can relate to, something that may not be as truly natural as he is, but that respects nature and helps to preserve it – the Nissan Leaf.
While electric vehicles until today have been luxury goods such as the sporty Tesla Roadster or the little cheaper Prius and Honda Insight, the new EVs will hopefully be more affordable and more efficient. When critical volumes are reached, electric vehicles may even bring in more profit than their gas-powered brethren. It remains open when the final big bang comes and every manufacturer will have his EV on the road. As of today, Opel, Renault, GM, BMW and many more already have promising vehicles in the pipeline. And time is on their side. Day by day, technological advances are being accomplished: better batteries, faster charging, more charging stations, less weight, or completely new concepts such as the E-REVs Opel Ampera or the Chevy Volt.
We may not be able to imagine a world dominated by electric vehicles but the time will come.
And other than hybrids which usually take more gas than high-tech diesel engines, electric vehicles definately consume less.
One thing is for sure: this new segment will require large marketing budgets. Not only because the technologies require explanation. But as Nissan show its not only about tech stuff….
