Premium Cars need Advertising on TV, Print, Radio - Rajat Jain

Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Cadillac, Bentley, Porsche, Rolls Royce…..the list goes on! There are several ‘premium’ car brands in the automobile world and all of them hold the opinion that India is the next frontier where demand will rise sustainably for the next century and therefore, they must have a presence here.

The sheer number of such car makers makes it imperative for them to differentiate themselves. The customer of such products is not overtly cost-conscious and hence cannot be marketed on price affordability. The service needs of such machines are far and few and therefore, a service network such as Suzuki India’s can’t really be an effective differentiator. Exterior looks and interior design are so amazing in each of them that they are nearly homogenous across. Each premium brand has a variety of models with different engine mechanics and as such, design marketing is more dependent upon the model rather than the brand.

In such a situation, the positioning and brand communication becomes the only differentiator. Volvo positions itself as Safe, Jaguar and Porsche on sports, the Big Three Germans bank on luxury and the Bentley’s on luxury. In such a market, any new entrant, say Lexus needs advertising across TV, print and radio to communicate its positioning to the target market.

The choice of communication should be aligned with the image of the brand and is hence an important communication and positioning factor.