I think it should be “its’ rivals”…showing possession

Anybody remember Rampenfest ?

Sure BMW doesn’t have Superbowl adds, but look at BMWWebTV/ BMW SauberF1Team on youtube. They have loads of videos, like all those videos where the designers talk about their cars.

Audi are trying to put across the idea that they are better than the rest (BMW, Mercedes & Lexus primarily) therefore Audi obviously believe they all share the same customer base (or they wouldnt need to compare themselves to the other brands)… they are trying to sell cars to people by making them feel inferior/un-cool/old/stuffy/arrogant for not buying an Audi (this is reflected by ‘meet the beckers’ and the SuperBowl Ad). They’re not trying to appeal to a different market, they are trying to appeal to the same one – but trying to instill a feeling that buying anything other than an Audi would reflect badly upon YOU! Kind of “come and join our club, we’re much cooler than those ones”

Although you can argue that this is a well thought out agressive strategy that may work… it also comes across as incredibly arrogant and mis-educated. Audi hid under the banner of “Progress” by comparing different era’s but, ignore the styling of each decade and you have them simply saying “Merc’s will crash, BMW’s will crash (faster) and Lexus’ are for boring old people!”

I like the idea of the advert alot, if they had made the cars look like generic automobiles, or used older Audi’s then it would have been entertaining, I love car chases! I don’t recall in the ‘Hire’ series BMW doing the same with any other brand (except maybe the muscle car that Gary Oldman drives as the Devil!).. they used other BMW’s for chase cars etc.

So in ‘meet the beckers’ they (Audi) insulted the drivers/owners (of other brands), and in the SuperBowl ad they slammed the products…

Audi have the attitude of a company that wants to play hard ball.. except it seems they only want to do it on their own terms, when the competition has no obvious re-course without stooping to as low a level as Audi… 2 examples (very wide)
1) “Meet the beckers” how would BMW respond, without lowering themselves to ‘name-calling’ also.
2) (off topic) Anyone remember when Audi pulled all their cars from a DTM race because they thought Audi were being too aggresive!!!!!!!!! !!! HAVE THEY NEVER WATCHED THEIR OWN KRISTIAN ABT DRIVE!!

The odd tongue in cheek pot-shot is as much a nod of respect as it is an advert.. such as the adverts that came out with BMW and Audi congratulating each other for various ‘Car of the Year’ awards.

If it weren’t for this attitude they have, I would come to respect them, as I did with Mercedes. Getting away from Stereotypes, all three of these marques focus on the same things, quailty and performance.. they are also all exclusive (to a certain degree – as this is dictated by the price). They all offer a wide, well structured range of well-made desirable cars, Lexus will join the party, but they are maybe a few years off in terms of global markets and breadth & depth of product range. Audi should sell their product using positive promotion, not negative name calling.

I’ve ranted a bit! but it does p*** me off!

Now, can we focus on the subject? Here is one thing I learned in marketing: Ads do not ALWAYS reflect the reality. They are used mostly to illustrate a certain image or to give a biased impression.

The debate between Audi vs BMW can go on and on and ON. I said it many times, Audi has come a long way, their latest designs are great, they improved the quality of their engine…but you can’t really say that they are up there yet.

Are they considered a luxury car in Germany? This is a serious question, and if someone that lives there can answer it, I would appreciate it.

Well, I my mind I’d take a BMW over an Audi any day but I do give them credit for being a somewhat well-rounded company in their product line and attempts at clever advertising. The ad doesn’t bother but it just tells me that Audi intends to take BMW out at the knees to pull ahead in the US market.

+1

Zannibar Red…? Surely that’s Zinnobar Red…?

As for the Advert, IF I could ignore the BLANTANT PROPOGANDA that Audi have woven through nearly every second of this advert (and the trailer for it), then I might quite enjoy it. It’s not only Pathetic that Audi fan boys see this only as an innocent avert, but infuriating that Audi are stooping to these childish tactics of slagging of other brands in their advert, it’s arrogant and cock-ish… “Yah, ve are better zan zem, yes, look at zer inferior cars zat leave ze road if it is vet, ha ha ha aren’t ve just so Klever!” Audi… I hate ‘em!

BMW and Audi use two very different advertising strategies. Audi’s media presence is like a Mark McGwire- it’s all about the homerun – the big showy gesture. Audi books advertising in the US on the gigundo spectacles….Obama’s Inauguration, the Super Bowl, that aim at events where there is an audience….multiple viewers in one location and banks on there being a conversation amongst the audience who might (or might not) be paying attention when the program cuts to commercials.

BMW targets the internet and to a lesser extent the print media…they want the digital buzz. And they work it like no other car company. BMW employs 2 people who schill the marque on the internet (Scott and Eni over on GCZ). BMW leaks spyphotos (most of which are carefully timed releases orchestrated by the company) that pop up on the web almost immediately. I’m sure Horatiu could have a lot to say on how this actually works because he scooped the internet with debut Z4 photos).

BMW goes to the incredible trouble of cladding its test mules in those fiberglass fat suits- & it’s not about disguise…c’mon…it’s about a slow strip tease to ratch up desire on the part of aficienados who are web-savvy. Who spread (via internet) these photos to friends and who basically become part of the advertising process.

BMW’s investment in targeting the internet has helped foster a climate to create sites like this. They have a deep understanding of 21st Century communication in a way that hasn’t even occurred to Audi. Go to any Audi site- there’s no news…or what passes for news is the republication of official press releases.

At BMW you have a company controlled by the Quandt family and run on an everyday basis by Suzanne Quandt who has multiple degrees in marketing. BMW has invested in design with probably the most talented people in the field. Audi design on the other hand has brain-drain…basically you serve your time in Ingolstadt and use those creds to cop a better (or higher paying ) job. JMays, Peter Schrier, Freeman Thomas are examples of very good lead designers who jumped from Audi’s autocracy in the past 10 years.

Who buys BMW? Who buys Audi? The profiles are similar and different. And within those brand profiles are differences. Audi has chosen a more conservative manner to push brand awareness…one that, (imho) doesn’t have the payoff that BMW’s strategy has.

which can go many different ways

Funny, I was just on the dealership lot of my local Audi dealer…which is a pair of converted double-wide trailers (truth) where the sales staff changes by the month and whose ownership has changed hands 3 times in the last 15 years. This is in a metro area of 2 million plus people.

I have a friend who looked into investing in a dealership couple years ago- hired some merchandising people and found that Audi, at that time, was projected to capture 8-9% of the foreign premium automobile market in the US…my dealership was pulling in between 5-6%. Underperforming. Not only that- but Audi dealerships nationwide widely vary in their local market segments in percentage of market share. Not so BMW nor Mercedes. I’m sure there are people who read this blog who could really offer up some accurate figures that are more recent than mine.

Bottomline: If Audi wants to seriously compete in the US they are going to have to standardize the quality of their dealerships, strengthen the resale value of their cars, and offer up better financial deals for new models. As is, I still see Audi being more of a boutique brand than a real mainstream BMW competitor.

But, they do make better commercials than BMW.

Anyway, in the commercial the red BMW looks like a fun car to drive. It seems more like the driver didn’t know how to control the turn properly.

I love you guys… and this blog!

Instead of “roll” it should be “role” and instead of “hay day” it should be “hey day”.

Also, an apostrophe should not be used to denote the plural of a number, such as the 1970s, or an abbreviation, such as “CDs”. However, an apostrophe should be used to indicate the missing numbers in “the ’70s”.

Why is it that the bad guys always ride enduro/motard bikes now-a-days?