Quote:
Originally Posted by ThatKrazyPolak
I'm just asking out of curiosity since we've all seen the marketing campaign and are confused. What age group / demographic are going to buy these cars? Are the customers going to be younger or older? I'm just curious because they are not cheap cars and given today's push towards the electric market and the younger generation I was wondering.
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If you have been following all of bmws global campaigns they have been focusing on projecting a younger, hip, tech forward brand identity. (With the notable exception of the X models in North America, they will not fuck with the soccer mom/dad targeting)
This serves a couple goals, you can decide for yourself if it works for you or not I'm just going to tell you what I am thinking they are going after from where I sit in my day to day (not at bmw) these are not in order of magnitude but in order of "distance from core enthusiast"
1. Core BMW Enthusiast - do you really need an M commercial? Ads will be basically a non factor in this customers decision tree
2. Car enthusiast open to shopping around - same as above, not buying for brand image, will be focused on specs and capabilities, ads serve no purpose (many who cannot actually afford the car fall into this or above bucket but the use case is the same)
3. Target financial demo. likes "nice" or "special" cars, but not a true enthusiast (that excludes anyone on this board, if you are chatting about this car, following the level of detail on dedicated brand fan sites you have crossed over) - Brand image is critical here, probably the most important component, it's true bmw is not projecting executive express and this would be where I see the most risk.... however their agency and internal folks are convinced rightly or wrongly the below #4 will pull along #3 or more than cover any sales lost from #3
4. Target financial demo, likes being trendy or leader of the pack, likes to stand out. Is strongly influenced by younger trends to stay "cool" and has the financial means to buy into brands that let them walk that line (or are actually in that age bracket and have means, think Silicon Valley type or other). Technology forward and self expression are the two largest driving components in this followed closely by fashion (and remember folks, on trend fashion is often jarring to the avg joe/jane, think met gala red carpet not boardroom meeting)
5. out of target financial demo same needs and desires as #4 but without means for an M, oh hey have you seen this 330, if following the 330 ads, 4 series ads generally fall into this same mission of expressiveness, hip, tech forward so it completes the circle
If I had to summarize the hypothetical last slide in the hypothetical presentation at the pitch meeting years ago: BMW wants to be the brand for successful tech and entrepreneurs, the "grey suits" more often than not wish they could be them so they will also be enticed"