Consumer Behavior Cast Study
In the modern digitally connected world, the choice of kind and content of marketing campaign is rather a complicated task. To become the number one automotive brand is the vision of Audi. Its main competitors are Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW. Audi positions itself as the premium brand with the unique attitude towards technical excellence and emphasis on sophistication, sportiness and progressiveness. This paper critically analyses Audi’s marketing campaign “The Next Big Thing” as the key driver for its repositioning strategy. Audi succeeded in meeting the targets of its marketing campaign attracting attention to its new model Audi A1 and outperforming the main competitor Mini.
Target Customer Group
Quester, Pettigrew, Kopanidis and Hill (2013) point out that segmentation is the division of the total population into the smaller groups of customers that can be more easily targeted. The target segment for Audi’s marketing campaign “The Next Big Thing” conducted in 2010 was lifestyle-oriented urban youth. For them Audi is the part of customers’ status in the society: they buy Audi primarily because it is so called “must-have” for those being successful. It is also connected with its sporting driving performance and emotional design. The target customers receive high income because new Audi A1, a centre of the marketing campaign “The Next Big Thing”, was priced 25 percent over the cars with similar characteristics at the market. The target market for this campaign was the European countries. It is also needed to state that Audi tried to persuade this target audience that Audi A1 not the standard Audi but less in size. Audi A1 was positioned as a premium car which has all core valued of Audi but is more affordable for the younger generation.
Testimonials in Promotions
As Audi appeals to emotions, the task for communication message delivering was to choose appropriate entertaining way of delivery. Thus, for its marketing campaign Audi chose TV and internet-based programs. Moreover, the company used testimonial for this campaign. Justin Timberlake was chosen as the most appropriate celebrity fitting the perceptions of the younger target audience. He was not involved in serious scandals worsening his reputation. Olenski (2016) emphasizes that “people idolize celebrities, so when famous people are seen in advertisements promoting a new product, audiences are prompted to buy that product.” He writes that celebrity involvement magnifies the marketing campaign effect as well as inspires consumer confidence. It is believed that if such a famous personality backs up the product, then it is worth to be bought.
Such a choice to use celebrity requires serious preliminary work in matching the celebrity and target customers’ profile. Ang (2014) warns that celebrities often distract customers’ attention from the brand itself resulting in lower product preference and low persuasion rates. It is also argued that, indeed, advertisements with celebrities attract more attention but “do not necessarily increase the recognition of the brand and nor motivate them to read further” (p. 197). Ang (2014) points out only forty one percent of all advertisements …
