Chapter 17 Advertising and Public Relations

Audi, like most other luxury car brands, is very specific when it comes to who they advertise to. Their target market are only middle upper class people, who can afford a car that cost anywhere from  $60,000 to $150,000. Therefore, they cannot really advertise to anyone else but that one particular group. This makes it easier for Audi, and  allows them to concentrate more on the style and execution of their advertising as opposed to their target audience. Audi is well-known for its innovative advertising. In the past numerous Audi commercials have caused a sensation both among customers and in the creative industry. They imploy  humorous entertaining commercials, for example the new Audi commercial where a girl thinks her father is a alien and believes his Audi A6 is a spacehip because of its technology and brand new features.

Audi and BMW have long been in an advertising war that pitches each company's new car against the others, mainly their sportier cars. Below is a billboard they made in response to BMW saying they had just won World Car of the Year. Audi has won the "GOLD EFFIE 2002", the measure of all things in terms of advertising efficiency in Germany.

In terms of public relations, Audi is very active in positive promotion for their brand while also showing their belief in social responsibility. Audi has been a strong supporter of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and recently put up two Chrome Audi R8's, their most expensive and prestigious model which brought in almost $1 million. Last year they teamed up with Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, and the Best Buddies foundation. They managed to raise about $350,000, a sizable contribution to the $36 million the pairing has amassed in the last 4 years. 

Chapter 15 Retailing

Since I wasn't planning to buy an Audi it made no sense to visit one of their dealerships , so I picked a retail store that would best correlate to Audi's dealership and was convient for me. In this case I went to Foot Locker. Foot Locker retail stores are all owned and operated by Foot Locker, they are chain stores. Foot Locker is the worlds leading athletic retailer with over 3,600 stores in 21 countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. There are 100 Footlocker reatil stores in both New York and New Jersey.  The stores offer a good level of service,  one to one membership service, and good selections on sneakers and other clothing accessories. Foot Lockers online store is also very popular, as it is accessible worldwide and convenient. Online or by phone one can pre order sneakers and other clothing products.  In Foot Locker retail stores consumers usually consider price to be secondary in specialty outlets. Instead, the distinctive merchandise, the store’s physical appearance, and the caliber of the staff determine its popularity which can be classified as specialty stores. Foot Locker stores are tuned to cater to the sneaker consumer  and to embody  the company brand image and ethos. The Foot Locker  stores’slogan is: “I run because I refuse to sit” this slogan has stood with them forever and has been endorsed by many famous athletes such as Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders, and Micheal Irvin. Similar to the marketing mix, there is a retailing mix the 6 Ps: product, place, promotion, price ,presentation, and personnel.
In the store you can find all brand and type of sneakers whether it is running shoes such as Nike, basketball shoes such as Jordans , and clothing for sportswear. They also sell accessories, such as headbands, and wristbands for basketball and socks for other sportswear. All Foot Locker stores in NYC are conveniently located, none being more than 3 blocks from a train stop and also in high traffic areas. The flagship store is at 34th street and 5th Ave. The store has so many options of what to choose for your footwear and other accessories. All employees wear a black and white striped shirts to be easily recognized. The personnel at the stores is very attentive and knowledgeable.

Chapter 6 Consumer Decision Making

The consumer's decision making process might be the most intense and detail-oriented process out of any other product when buying a car.  When it comes to spending that much money on a product , the consumer  will carefully examine every pro and con that the car has to offer. If the consumer knows what he or she is looiking for, Audi makes this process quite easy. In the intiaal stages, the consumer will most likely test drive an Audi.  Audi's new Quattro system allows the driver to have an almost velcro-like grip on the ground, while they're new emission-reducing engines still create the same amount of raw power that a normal, environmentally harmful engine would. Social class obviously has something to do with the process, as someone who makes a six figure salary probably wouldn't want to drive a Honda or Toyota, as they are not appropriate signs of ones social status.   When it comes to post purchase behavior, the consumer will be extremely pleased with Audi's top of the line customer service who always take great care for the customer if there is an issue. Also, to match up with their competitors, Audi has begun to give their cars a better resale value. Audi's focus on the consumer has become one of the most important priorities to them, and is part of the reason that keeps the company successful.

Chapter 5 Developing a Global Vision

Audi's global vision has always been to bring about a luxury car brand worldwide and create the best models of cars to compete with other luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz, Bmw, and Lexus. Through global marketing Audi has developed one of the most luxury car brands in the world. Though Audi's revenues and vehicle sales still lag behind those of German premium-car rivals BMW and Mercedes (DCX), its engineering edge and design savvy have polished Audi's premium-brand image to a high sheen. Now, global market-share gains and profit improvement are narrowing the gap and transforming Audi into an ever more powerful rival. In 2006 it was projected Audi's sales would sprint from 924,085 cars in 2006 to 1.5 million by 2015.



Audi's widening product palate and huge global marketing push is finally giving it traction in the U.S., where sales are much weaker than those of BMW and Mercedes. Audi  posted record sales in 2011 as demand for luxury cars in China and Russia helped it gain ground on bigger rivals like BMW and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz. Audi wants to dethrone BMW as the world's number one premium car maker by 2015 through powering ahead in China and the United States, the world's biggest luxury car market. One of the reasons why Audi is doing so well is because since 2002 VW Group has invested no less than $25.6 billion  in its premium brand. Audi has now 12 model lines, as opposed to 2003 when they had only 6. Audi managed to overtake Mercedes-Benz last year and wants to take the lead from BMW by 2020. Audi reported its 13th straight record-setting month of sales with 9,354 vehicles sold in January 2012, topping the 7,812 vehicles sold in January 2011. Year-over-year vehicle sales increased 19.7% over 2011, the previous record set a year earlier. For the record-setting month of January 2012, four Audi models recorded year-over-year sales increases of 15% or more, including the Audi A6, the Audi Q5, the Audi Q7, and the Audi TT model range. Audi wants to continue its dominance as the world's best luxury car brand and continue to expand its globalization.

Chapter 4 The Marketing Enviorment

 

The Marketing Environment for car companies is always extremely competitive. With people who can afford other luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz, BMW and Lexus, car companies like Audi have to find new innovative ways to grab that customer's attention and draw him away from  other car competition.  First they have to look at the kind of people they are trying to attract and what values these people possess and how does it fit into their lifestyle. People who want an Audi want a car that shows their style, wealth, that luxury brand but more importantly something that will satisfy them in the long run. Audi advertisements can be seen almost eveywhere , they are always being sponserded by the New York Yankees for example when you tune in to watch the yankees you will see behind home plate the Audi symbol, they are  in the newspaper, and TV commericals. In a TV commercial, they don't target their ads towards only the upper middle class but to the average person. Their commercials are mostly entertaining and funny , so it won't alienate anyone and appear as this car is only made for the rich  and also make them think, they cant afford this type of car because they don't have the luxurious life style as the upper class and won't be able to afford such a luxury car. For example, Audi recently released one of its newest commercials for its newest model the S8 the commercial was titled as the "Suspect". The main theme of this ad was bascially to show how a driver in his S8  and how he thought he was part of a bank robbery but wasn't as he was using his imagination. The whole purpose wasn't focusing on the the car but the inspiration the car gives its owner. The commercial made people laugh, and makes a consumer realize just how precious and luxurious the car really is and the attention it grabs. Audi got their point across without making it seem like a normal person can't afford to buy their cars. Instead they created a welcoming atmosphere into which regular people can afford their brand cars and look at other models if the specific one you want is to much. Audi creates these commercials and ads so that even if you can't afford a 100k car you can still walk into their dealership and look at something more affordable and towards your price range. This is all part of the marketing enviorment.

Chapter 3 Ethics and Social Responsibility

At Audi social responsiblity and business ethics is a matter of regular practice. Some ways in which Audi has exhibited their understanding and value of social responsibility is by trying to reduce their carbon footprint on the world. In order to reach a solution Audi has been involved in forums such as the Bavarian Enviorment Pact and the National Electromobility Platform, Audi contributes its expertise and assists in finding solutions for the future. The Audi foundation for the enviorment is involved in projects for enviormental protection and education, and Audi promotes a large number of initiatives to increase the attractiveness of the Ingolstadt location-for its employess and their families. Audi is involved in the working forums IPP and resource Efficiency" and Management Systems . The goal of working in these forums is to ensure that the experience aquired by Audi. This is the only way to achieve the aim of enhancing the power of innovation and bringing about sustainable growth. Motivated and committed employess secure the success of the company. Employee identification with the brand is very high at Audi. In the Universum "ideal Employer" Audi has been voted into first place by engineering graduates. Among students of economics, Audi ranks second place. When choosing an employer, key factors include a good working atmosphere, fasinating products, market success and intresting work, as well as secure employmnt and personal development. Audi offers its employees a large number of training and educational oppurtunities, maintaining a dialogue with highly respected universities and other educational institutions. Audi makes an active contribution to enhancing the attractiveness and quality of life of the Ingolstadt location. This involves things such as secure jobs and employee profit-sharing.Audi is intensively involved in the immediate, regional surrounding its plant in Ingolstadt. its objective include a high level of innovation in research and devlopment in the region for visitors, future residents  and employers. At the ned of 2009 AUDI AG reinforced its commitment to enviormental protection issues. Audi has also established the "oak forest project", the project investigates factors as the interactions between planting density and carbon dioxiode on one hand, capture potential and biological diversity on the other. Audi consumes energy,water and raw materials in vechile production. water materials, wastewater and emissions are created in the progress. Both input and output are continously reduced by the Ingolstadt plant. the recycling of materials is having a decidedly positive effect, resources are reused or recovered multiple times. It is a primary principle at Audi to foresee and prevent enviormental pollution. This is how Audi meets its ethic and social responsibility.

Chapter 2 : Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Since 2008, Audi’s marketing objectives have been to increase brand awareness and sales in a down economy, taking advantage of the fact that most marketers cut back on marketing during a recession. To do this, Audi has used several unorthodox viral marketing campaigns worldwide. These include the Stolen Audi miniseries TV and YouTube video spots and Meet the Beckers videos aimed at Audi’s competition. Both campaigns were instant hits online and offline. Viral marketing works for Audi because it is perceived to be unorthodox which matches Audi’s brand position in the marketplace. The viral marketing campaigns have succeeded to slow declining market share compared to other car brands in the current recession and have actually increased Audi’s brand awareness over its competition

Audi is launching the new A6 in the United States in late 2012. This marketing plan is designed to create awareness and impact around the A6 launch also to increase the market share by selling new cars. With this campaign, Audi will focus on affecting the target audience, driving quality user generated content, leveraging social media platforms and having a high impact launch that will generate buzz around “Audi Envy” The creative and media strategy is designed to position A6 as the most modern, innovative and luxury product in the marketplace. Media budget part will provide A6 dominance especially in Q3 around product launch.

While others follow convention Audi leads the way. The revolutionary racing innovating technologies on the track, breaking new grounds with advanced engines that produce more horsepower with smaller displacement. Pioneering S tronic transmissions that shift instantly, transferring power in a few hundredths of a second, adding new dimensions to the quatro all wheel drive boosting grip and control. Advancing Audi ultra lightweight technology to make the cars responsive and agile and efficient.

Their newest model the R8, provides the surefooted traction a super car needs while the Audi magnetic ride and the stability enhancing ASF aluminum space frame contributes to the feeling that your connected to the road.

The revolutionary ASF aluminum space frame reduces the vehicles weight and provides extremely rigid cases that help increase stability and enhances its performance.