Beemer B773ER

OK. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
This article's solely focused on the US market, and incase you missed the thread titled "US sales April 2006: Audi, BMW, MB, Porsche, VW", i'll quickly summarise BMW compared to Audi for you.
BMW sales: April: 25,250 +19.8% .... Year-To-Date: 88,353 +15.6%
Audi sales: April: 7,412 +2.9% .... Year-To-Date: 25,296 +5.2%
So to summarise that for you, BMW sold more cars in that one month of April than Audi has in the past year. So, 15 years till Audi takes over BMW? ... well, as I said, if it helps you sleep at night.

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OK, I'm done there, back to the article now.

This is a perfect example of a company which does not believe in standing still. The automotive industry is continually changing. Most people get fooled into thinking that its not a dynamically changing industry as vehicle life-cycles last about 5-8 years, but as you can see here, eventhough BMW's on top globally in this segment, they are still reassessing themselves to find gaps, ..and this 'creative class' in one such gap.


In one ad, for example, it asserts that BMW's designers and engineers answer only to BMW, while cheekily reminding readers that Volvo and Jaguar are owned by Ford (F ), that Audi is but a unit of Volkswagen (the People's Car), and that its nemesis, Mercedes-Benz, is all merged up with -- gasp! -- Chrysler.

Good on BMW for emphasising their innovative spirit, their value for independence abd their unwillingness to 'become part of the crowd'. They should also emphasise a specific point in their history where Daimler-Benz offered to buy-out the company, but their Board of Directors voted against the move, opting to stick it out alone. The set of values instilled throughout BMW Management, its employess, its daily operations, its marketing and also its vehicles are very clear-cut, defined and becoming increasingly dynamic as most of its competitors dilute their values in favour of corporate goals (Eg: Audi being bought about by VAG, and Daimler-Benz compromising its core values so as to take over Chrysler and trying to "all things to all people").


COOL BUT INHUMAN? In another ad, it brazenly spotlights the rear end of its 7 Series flagship sedan, the very design element that was lampooned by journalists in 2001 when the car debuted. But since then, Toyota (TM ) and even Mercedes have copied the so-called bustle-like "Bangle Butt," named for BMW chief designer Chris Bangle. The headline: "Not taking risks is risky."

REAL Happy to see BMW stick to other car makers and let everyone know who had the balls to take on such a design risk. Many people here criticise BMW's bold styling philosophy, but what they refuse to realise is that BMW has paved the way for new design acceptance. You see Bange-like butts everywhere now. Mercedes, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, as well as a host of other car markers. Whether they like it or not, people have to come to the realisation that BMW were the ones who had the guts to dive into deep-waters knowing full well that sharks in the form of car journalists would be relentless in their criticisms of such a daring design stance. The unjust thing is that nowadays such design languages are near commonplace, yet BMW have not received acknowledgement for pioneering such a design language in the passenger car market. We see this nor only with the design of the car, but driver features such as I-Drive and the driver-friendly position of the screen, both of which have been adopted by Audi and Mercedes.


BMW's research shows that despite record sales in the U.S. last year, a shocking 75% of luxury buyers aren't even considering a Bimmer.

Wow.. that is an alarming figure, ..but what it also does is speaks volume of how well BMW is doing considering it's still setting all-time sales records. 75%..!!!! ...convert half of them to even considering BMW and the company's got a lucrative market to target. If BMW do this right, then BMW USA will leave Lexus in their wake let alone Mercedes, ... and if there's one thing BMW can do competently it's advertising and promotions. The success of their "The Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign has shown this, although, yes, this article states, it has alienated "creative class" buyers. It will be great to see BMW shift its promotional message away from their cars per se, and to the values that are present in their cars, their work culture and every strategic decision that is made. You can see how meiculous BMW are when it comes to marketing, advertising and the value of a brand name when they scrapped the 4er tag in favour of the 3er coupe simply because the M3 brand name carried too much value to be superseeded by an M4.


It's easy to take a strategy like this and execute it badly. I point you to the current stilted Ford Motor ad campaign that dryly and without any wit trumpets Ford as a company driven by innovation. Running a bunch of TV and print ads telling people that you're innovative just doesn't sound very, well, innovative.

Hahahaha... glad I got a laugh out of such an article,..but that is so true. During my time in USA, I saw Ford's "innovative" ad campaign, focusing on innovation for the consumer's benefit and so on...but the article hits the nail on the head by suggesting that the way they implemented and executed their 'innovative' message wasn't innovative at all. That I feel is a perfect example of why BMW is BMW, and unlike any other car maker, doesn't just come up with any old strategy, but considers all factors, all costs, all benefits and then aligns the final strategy to the company's core values before implementing the strategy.

In simple.... it's not longer safe to be safe. The automotive manufacturers operate in a dynamic environment know which is continually changing, continually progressing and becoming increasingly competitive. Most manufacturers have compromised their brand and their values in favour of corporate goals, but to succeed in this environment, the car maker needs to focus on its customers, creating value, instilling customer loyalty and attachment to the brand, and over the long-term staying committed to a set of clearly defined values which reflect what the company stands for.
(An excellent article relating to this new Strategic Marketing Management approach is Styles and Goddards: Spinning the Wheel of Strategic Innovation. (Link to the article:http://www.marketing.unsw.edu.au/HTM...ddard03_04.pdf)