“You buy luxury goods to reward yourself,” says Christian Saffer, Director of Marketing, BMW India, as he talks about the luxury segment in India, the launch of the new BMW series and how Indian marketers need to be more focused
Q] How would you compare the Indian luxury market to the global scenario?
The luxury market in India is a relatively young market, which started consuming luxury around 20 years ago. That is why, it is a hungry market. In Europe and other continents, the consumption of luxury has taken place from the early 60’s and 70’s. Luxury plays an important role for Indian consumers to differentiate themselves, which is why when luxury brands come into the country, more and more consumers are ready to buy them. The time of conformity in India is over. We also see this trend in the automobile segment; more players will come to India in addition to existing players Porsche, Audi, Mercedes and of course BMW. At BMW, we understand the Indian market; this is not a new business for us.
Q] Is this segment affected by looming recession?
We were growing last year at around 50%, which is a relatively high figure when you compare it to European markets like Italy and Germany. We see recession every few years, it is not a new phenomenon. It does affect the luxury market, but this market is more stable than any other non-luxury market , because the people who want to consume luxury will do so whether you have recession or not. They might defer their decision, but they will buy, some will buy while some others will wait. Sentiment is very important in the luxury sector. Why do you buy luxury goods? Because you want to reward yourself. You want to feel good. It is a lot about brand image. That is why a lot of people are buying a BMW… because they feel the joy while sitting in the car and driving. This is untouched feeling.
Q] Sachin Tendulkar unveiled your new sports series. Is there an upcoming commercial tie-up in place as well? Are you looking at Tendulkar as brand ambassador?
Sachin Tendulkar has been a fan of BMW since the 90’s; he put it nicely when he said at the launch of our new series that he did not have such deep pockets and purchased a second-hand BMW to begin with. He fell in love with BMW, which is why we felt it was so apt to have him here. He was more than happy to unveil the sports line, being a sportsman and an enthusiastic fan. He has affection for the brand, and a natural passion towards it. His wife and brother too drive BMWs. He is not the brand ambassador; BMW does not need a brand ambassador nor does Sachin need to endorse it - he speaks for it himself. We have a strong relationship with him, which is why he was here to unveil the new series.
Q] The brand does a fair amount of in-film branding, has this brought you adequate returns? What is the budget allocated to this medium?
We have an agent in the US who does this for us; we have done it for Ghost Protocol – Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise, which was complimented by a huge screening in India. Via this medium, viewers in the cinema are identifying themselves with the character in the film, and subsequently the brand, which is quite important. But we are not spending a lot on it; if a production company asks us to provide cars, we evaluate the script and plot with our agency, and make a decision. We want to be seen in the right environment, we don’t do it randomly, we don’t need to. We come from a position of strength and tell production companies that we don’t need visibility, everyone knows BMW as a brand. We need to be seen in the right context. We don’t throw money like others, who don’t have such a strong brand and image. Recently, we had an extremely successful association with Cocktail.
Q] How does the brand reach out to its target consumers? Can you explain the communication strategy used?
To market a car brand like BMW, it is important that you get in touch with your consumers. They expect this from you; moreover, they want to be in touch with you. You could do this in different ways to make them feel special, like a wine-tasting event. It is really important to do a lot of customer relationship management and it starts before the customer buys the BMW. We have our targets, and we know exactly how the purchase funnel works. You accompany your customer till the next purchase and so the cycle goes on.
To give you an example, what we did with the all-new BMW series - we started with a pre-launch campaign two weeks prior to the launch. This was meant to pre-inform customers and prospects about the new series. We created a very nice website, which spoke about why these cars are so special, giving a history of the brand. We then left it open to consumers. If they were interested, they had to leave contact details and receive ongoing information. This was done in an exclusive closed room manner. We also provided test drives. Everyone knows BMW, but you need to touch and feel it, to feel the sheer pleasure of driving which the car delivers.
Q] Does a specific medium get priority for communication?
The print medium is very relevant in India as compared to European countries. In fact, in India, print readership is increasing, and we use a fair amount of print keeping our target group in mind. Our media mix is decided on the basis of the product model, and an analysis of our target audience, whichever works best for the campaign. This includes social and digital media as well.
Q] What do you think of the marketing scenario vis a vis the global scenario?
What I perceive is that the knowledge of marketing is still relatively low in India, compared to mature markets. Of course, you see international brands doing a decent job, but with upcoming Indian brands, I sometimes feel they lack a clear vision and focus. One day it is this and tomorrow it is that; whereas we have a clear plan and strategy, everybody knows what we are doing and we strictly follow the plan. We analyse it, discuss success/failure of previous campaigns, do debriefs and spend a lot of time in preparation.
Q] BMW has become the Number 1 player in the luxury car segment. Do you expect this successful stint to continue this year too?
It will not be surprising. In the last three years in India, we have been Number 1. We are going to keep this position. With the all-new series, we get even more swing.
Q] We do not see a lot of creative communication from the automobile segment. What are the reasons behind this? Is BMW doing anything in this direction?
It has to do with the infrastructure in India; it is not that the ideas are missing. Whenever you do something new, you have to get the people and knowledge from outside India, which makes it relatively expensive. For example, what we did for our new launch was project-mapping. We got people from Italy to do it; this is sometimes required but it makes an effort like that expensive. Last year, we did the ‘experience’ event, which was unique. We thought about something no one had thought about before - to go into a hole in a construction area and set up a trek, where we showed the capabilities of our models. It was relatively simple, but you have to have the courage to do such things because in that hole, you don’t have any infrastructure. You need the right people to execute it.
Q] Do you think communication with shock value is needed in this market?
I don’t think you need shock value in India; there are so many channels that are untapped here. I think customer relationship management needs to improve here. I won’t name a bank, but just get in touch with your bank and the customer service is horrible. Indians are always curious about technology; my question is why should I resort to shock value communication when I can create value through customer relations?
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