In my earlier post, I suggested that BMW seemed not to be sticking to a coherent brand positioning. Admittedly, this rather stark hypothesis was based on several pieces of TV advertising, not on the wealth of marketing data we would normally be reviewing. Nevertheless, I felt that there was something not entirely in order with how BMW was joining all the marketing dots.

I wasn’t hugely surprised, then, when Campaign recently posted news about BMW calling a pitch for its advertising, digital and direct marketing accounts. The article stated that “the review is part of a statutory process that requires its accounts to be pitched every five years”. It so happens that the review will also include their UK advertising account led by US agency, GSD&M Idea City, appointed earlier in the year and responsible for their latest TV campaigns.

It looks as though BMW also think that brands like theirs deserve a robust, coherent and joined-up marketing plan…

You might have seen the latest BMW TV ad. Narrated by Patrick Stewart it strikes me as a rather bold departure from the ‘ultimate driving machine’ narrative. It ties with the new Z4 ad and goes beyond BMW as luxury, male-focused product. Is this a sign of some potentially long-term brand strategy shift? If so, is it a good idea?

A colleague of mine, Ned Colville, commented that it also marks a shift away from BMW’s traditional “Power Brand” approach to communications (i.e. communicate the top of the range models in the knowledge that you’re going to sell  whole load of mainstream 3-series) to more of a “Brand Portfolio” approach to communications; which although not unheard of, is relatively rare. See this recent Toyota ad:

What we are most likely seing is a shift in brand essence or meaning – i.e. what the BMW brand stands for in consumers’ minds. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you read into it.

Drum roll please…an Aston Martin you can buy for £20,000. Unfortunately underneath it’s a £10,000 Toyota.
 
The ultimate luxury supercar, the brand I once most wanted to own and was even proposed to in, has just made the most audacious move in brand extensions. You may have thought the Cayenne frog-like 4 x 4 (which is really underneath a VW Touareg) was a dangerous move by Porsche, but at least they kept to luxury and status. But did you even think that Bond might be seen in the big sister of this…

 
Why, you might ask, would Aston Martin want to risk their status and elite credentials with this? The experts hypothesise;
 
1. To lower their average CO2 to meet EU emissions targets (Aston Martin are no longer owned by Ford so can’t average it out using lower-emission cars such as Fiestas)

2. Because they are struggling to make money in the teeth of a recession 

3. It’s 2009 and all you make is thirsty big-engined, luxury sports cars, whilst the world is getting excited about hybrids and electric cars..
 
So will revamping the Toyota iQ work? Well BMW’s Mini Cooper is still going strong, and Mercedes were eventually successful with Smart, but neither of them did it with such blatant exploitation of their current brand equity, neither used their hard earned design cues with their premium badge on the front! This is unique, no one’s done this before. In the words of motoring journalist Colin Goodwin, “This is the Rolling Stones cutting an album of choral music and being serious about it” .
 
Ferrari wouldn’t do it. In the early seventies they launched the ‘cheap’ Dino, with no trace of the Ferrari brand logo or name. It had its own unique Dino brand identity.

We watch and wait for Cygnet to sink or swim at it’s launch next year!