Getting the BIG Picture: perception, reality, and what's important to prospects and buyers

Opportunity

Change the US western region ($1.1 billion in revenues and 77 BMW dealerships) from selling cars off the lot to pre-selling cars to order. (Increase inventory turnover.)
Discontinue emphasis on cheap leases and focus communication message on overcoming obstacles to purchase.

Bottom-line

Went from last place in inventory turnover to first place: 56 day supply to a 16 day supply in 3 years.
Doubled dealer operating profit
Highest market share in the country, largest increase, and outsold all other competitive brands.
Dealer profitability 38% higher than any other BMW Region.
Highest brand awareness, advertising recall and overall opinion of any BMW region, as well as of any competitive brand within the region.

Approach

"Safety" Campaign

Performed Purchase Funnel Research that showed the prospect's perception of safety was that BMW was ranked 2nd to last of all luxury cars; behind only Porsche. In this case perception and reality were not the same.
In 1997 the 5 series BMW introduced the world's first head protection (air curtain) system. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tested a 5 series and pronounced the BMW the safest car ever tested.
Research showed that when BMW owners were asked about their most important reasons for purchasing a BMW, 3 of the top 5 reasons were safety-related.
The "Ultimate Driving Machine" had been firmly established, i.e., the brand was firmly positioned as sporty and good handling, which allowed a communications focus in another direction without losing the overall brand positioning.
The Answer: we knew that safety was an important incentive to purchase. BMWs were safer than other cars, yet prospect perception placed BMW safety second to last. Resulting ad campaign used TV, radio and print to deliver the safety message.

"Young at Heart" Campaign

As a follow-up to the "Safety" campaign, we conducted psychological research to find the next "lever" to drive prospects to purchase BMWs. We discovered that California luxury car buyers -- most of whom were baby boomers -- were very age-conscious. And many of them seemed to stop counting once they passed age 40.
We also discovered that BMW buyers were younger than the buyers of competitive brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Lexus, and in cases where they weren't in fact younger, they acted younger. Call it "Young at Heart."
The resulting ad campaign via TV, radio and print hit home the fact that if a buyer bought a Mercedes-Benz or Lexus they must be "old," and if a buyer bought a BMW, they must be young at heart.
Mendelsohn Zien Advertising : Learn more about the award-winning advertising agency behind these and other ads.