Marketing Luxury Car Brands

ACURA . . . LEXUS . . . VOLVO . . . JAGUAR

It's not always obvious who owns which car brands marketed in the United States, which is why Consumer Reports recently published a listing indicating ownership, brand by brand.

Take Acura, the luxury car brand owned by Honda. The separate brand was designed to differentiate those luxury vehicles from other cars and SUVs marketed under the Honda brand. And, in fact, Acura has proven to be a success, with solid sales figures for new crossover vehicles in particular.

Similarly, Lexus is the luxury car brand owned by Toyota, again differentiating those upscale vehicles from the rest of the product portfolio. And again, Lexus has proven successful, currently diversifying its targeting through product placement in Black Panther and through other marketing initiatives.

Volvo has been owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, a Chinese firm, for the past decade. It's an established upscale brand with vehicles made in Sweden, China, and the U.S. With record sales so far this year, the company's largest market is, actually, China.

Owned by Tata Motors, Jaguar is another well-known luxury brand, currently trying new product ideas for the next generation of "green" car lovers. The Jaguar I-Pace is all-electric and styled differently from other vehicles in the brand portfolio. Will it resonate with consumers who know the traditional Jaguar luxury brand image for elegance and performance?

Most Reputable Brands in 2018

Which brands came out on top in the recent Harris Poll consumer survey about reputation? Harris asks about six dimensions affecting reputation, including products, social responsibility, emotional appeal, workplace environment, financial results, and vision/leadership.

Hint: The same company has topped the list for three consecutive years. In other words, this company's reputation has remained the highest among surveyed consumers.

Here's the list of top 10 most reputable brands in 2018:

10. Aldi (deep-discount grocery retailer)
9. Patagonia (retailer of outdoor apparel and equipment)
8. Publix Super Markets (major grocery retailer)
7. UPS (package delivery service)
6. HEB Grocery (Texas-based grocery retailer)
5. Walt Disney (entertainment company)
4. Chick-fil-A (fast-food restaurant chain)
3. Tesla (automotive and solar energy firm)
2. Wegmans (grocery retailer)

and the top firm in this year's poll is . . . . . .

1. Amazon (pioneering online retailer)

Super Bowl Ad Preview 2018: How to Stand Out

How can a brand stand out during the Super Bowl's commercial-packed ad schedule? This is a high priority issue, given the multimillion dollar cost of the commercial time, not to mention production costs and sheer "noise"--meaning the number of ads packed into a commercial break during the big game.

One strategy being used to stand out in 2018: Publicize NOT running an ad during the Super Bowl. No, this time it isn't the classic Go Daddy technique, as in 2015, when the web hosting firm was "forced" to pull an ad at the last minute due to protests about content. At the time, the CMO said: "Now we are at the point where we don’t need to grow brand awareness domestically any more. A platform like the Super Bowl is really not something that’s necessary for us." Lots of publicity about not running a Super Bowl ad!

This time, the company that is NOT running a Super Bowl ad is Skittles. The candy brand had run ads in the past, but for 2018, it's telling the world that only one viewer (a teenager in California) will be able to view the Skittles commercial starring David Schwimmer. One viewer, one time.

The world will be able to watch the viewer's reaction via Facebook Live (the brand has 23 million likes and 22 million followers). No commercial, just the viewer's reaction. Oh, Skittles is using teaser ads, starring Schwimmer, to publicize the lack of a Super Bowl ad and the exclusivity of the audience. And watch for a "documentary" about the one ad/one viewer experience, right after the big game.

Skittles is highly social, with an active Twitter presence and 393,000 followers, plus 40,000 Instagram followers...among other accounts. Lots of David Schwimmer teaser images for the non-Super Bowl ad.

The Unboxing Craze Puts Packaging in the Spotlight

Unboxing is a big deal on social media. By one estimate, videos of kids and adults unwrapping all kinds of products attract as many as 10 billion views every month. That's a lot of eyeballs and a lot of marketing impressions for the products and brands coming out of boxes--brands as diverse as Disney, L'Oreal, and Apple, to name only three.

In fact, unboxing videos have been on a sharp upward trend since 2006, reflecting consumer appetite for an inside peek at something new. What's really inside the box when you buy that new product? What accessories are included? And what does that new product actually look like?

Even before unboxing begins, the spotlight is on product packaging. And that's why brands are paying even closer attention to this key marketing element. Sure, packaging is meant to protect the contents and keep the product intact during shipping. But in today's marketing environment, packaging highlights a brand's image and reflects personality as much as functionality.

Toys are being designed to specifically incorporate the element of surprising during unboxing. At left, one of the LOL Surprise Pets, marketed as having 7 unboxing layers to hint at which pet is inside.

Increasingly, toy unboxing is big business as manufacturers court social media stars (AKA opinion leaders) to unwrap their products. Kids like watching the hot "must have" toy of the season being unboxed...and marketers want their toy to be inside that coveted box, attracting millions of eyeballs.

Brand Rankings in 2016

So many ways to rank brands! Some authorities rank on the basis of brand value, some on the basis of performance, and on and on. In Fortune's recent listing of world's most admired companies, the top three were well-known US brands:

1. Apple
2. Alphabet (you know, Google's parent)
3. Amazon

Here's a selection of how other sites rank US brands of various sorts.

• Consumer Reports ranks vehicles here.
• US News & World Report ranks vehicles in four categories (cars, trucks, SUVs, luxury) here.
• Kelly Blue Book ranks car brands on the basis of image and value here.
• Laptop magazine ranks the top laptop computers here.

Cruising into History: Marketing Cruises to Cuba

Fathom's Adonia, a Carnival cruise ship, has put into port at Havana. Adonia is the first ship to sail from a US port to a Cuban port for more than 50 years, making it a historic marketing occasion. News organizations worldwide covered the docking...a lot of free PR for Fathom, which is a fairly new brand for Carnival.

Fathom sails to other destinations, and its unique selling proposition (remember that  buzzword of the last century?) is that passengers can choose to participate in volunteer projects. In the Dominican Republic, for example, passengers can help school children practice their English or work for a few hours on water filters, among other possibilities.

A report last month said Royal Caribbean will base one of its ships (Empress of the Seas) in Havana. Royal Caribbean can promote its Cuban trips and also carry passengers to Caribbean destinations from there.

Permission from the Cuban is needed before cruise ships can dock in Havana or other Cuban ports, but the process is far from routine or speedy, as Pearl Seas Cruises learned. Pearl had to cancel its first 10-day cruise to Cuba after failing to receive permission on time.

Expect more cruises to and from Cuba as the government acts on applications and demand increases.

Panera at Home Meets Consumers in Grocery Stores

Starbucks did it. Dunkin' Donuts did it. Now Panera Bread is putting branded consumer packaged products on supermarket shelves.

Panera has high brand recognition and positive associations with tasty, wholesome foods. Known in particular for fresh-baked breads and imaginative soups, Panera has adapted and packaged some of those products for retail grocery distribution, marketed through its Panera at Home division. Above, one of the packaged breads that Panera is selling through major grocery chains such as Stop & Shop.

The idea is to leverage "brand credibility" and expand beyond the restaurants into packaged goods, catering, and delivery. In today's highly competitive fast-casual restaurant industry, additional product/distribution plans are a plus for reaching more consumers and increasing revenues for the long term.

Panera also has been polishing its reputation for healthy foods by removing artificial colors and other "no nos" from its soups, including the packaged soups sold in grocery stores. This process will be complete by the end of 2016.

The firm developed a special video to explain Panera 2.0 (digital initiatives and more) to its employees and other stakeholders. You can view it here.

How Brands Stand the Test of Time

Visiting a historical society near the Ohio headquarters of Procter & Gamble, I noticed this wooden crate that once held 100 "cakes" (bars) of Ivory soap. Since the Ivory brand is more than a century old, it's hard to know when this label art was in use. But Ivory still embraces the image and personality of its early days. If you click to the Ivory Tumblr page, you'll see the brand's intro:

This isn’t your grandmother’s soap. This is your great-great-grandmother’s soap! For 130 years, we’ve brought simple, effective cleaning products to families everywhere. If it’s good enough for your Nana, it’s good enough for you.

How does a brand stand the test of time? Year in and year out, Ivory stays true to its brand roots while updating the way it reaches out to customers. For instance, Ivory's Facebook page has more than 50k likes. P&G Canada's Ivory web page includes a detailed history of how the soap was developed, starting in 1878.

Distribution is critical, and Ivory is represented in hundreds of thousands of grocery outlets all over the planet. However, Ivory's market share has been moving lower as consumers shift their buying behavior to body washes and liquid soaps and also try specialized personal cleansing products.

Will P&G sell Ivory as it reduces its brand portfolio? Even if it does, Ivory should be able to maintain a core customer base who believe in the brand and its benefits.

Airport Kiosk Closeup: Benefit

Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland is home to a cute cosmetics kiosk from Benefit, based in San Francisco. The kiosk is eye-catching because it's pink, retro, and markets its beauty products with a touch of humor. In fact, retro whimsy is integrated into the brand personality (as is the color pink)--even throughout the company's HQ. For differentiation and image purposes, sometimes it helps to not take your brand too seriously--a marketing approach that appeals to certain customer segments.

Here's the kiosk's appeal: If you're running for a plane but need to refill your beauty bag or you forgot a staple item such as mascara or face cleanser, just watch for Benefits' "Glam Up & Away" automated beauty kiosk "loaded with jet-setting beauty problem solvers" in Cleveland, Baltimore/Washington Intl Airport, Logan Airport in Boston, and other gateways for jet-setters. A touch on the screen, one swipe of your plastic, and you're on your way with what you need.

Benefit does distribute via traditional retail establishments like Macy's and Sephora, of course, but the nearly 40-year-old company (now part of the luxury marketer LVMH) also operates dozens of its own-brand stores in the US and internationally.

Brands Step Up for MiLB Sponsorship and Merchandise

Dunkin' Donuts is the latest big-league sponsor to step up to a marketing deal with a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team. This week, it agreed to buy naming rights to a new 9,000-seat MiLB stadium being built in Hartford, CT for the Hartford Yard Goats. 

The VP of field marketing for Dunkin' Donuts says: "We didn't need sabermetrics to evaluate this opportunity. Simply put, baseball is known as America's greatest pastime ... now we're ready to say, 'Play ball, Hartford.'"

Sponsorships with MiLB can build brand awareness and image, strengthen associations with sports and family activities, enhance community relations, and open new cross-promotion opportunities. All kinds of businesses are doing business with MiLB, from banks and stores to toy companies and--yes, wine.

MiLB doesn't just attract big brands. Local businesses are also involved, for the exposure, the build-up of trust, and the positive associations. The Reading (PA) Fightin Phils have a hot dog vendor who's so popular that he gets his own bobblehead. When a Phil is walked, the scoreboard calls it a WaWa Walk (WaWa is a sponsor, get it?). The Indianapolis Indians have set out to consciously develop such a close integration with the game, to attract and retain solid sponsorships.

Anyone who has attended a MiLB game knows that the sale of hats and other merchandise is part of the experience, as well. Annual sales of MiLB merchandise throughout the US and Canada hit a new record high of $60.3 million in 2014. And the Indianapolis Indians are among the teams hitting a home run in merchandise sales.

Marketing to Girls and About Girls: Always

Procter & Gamble's Always brand of feminine hygiene products has been running an ongoing girl empowerment campaign in broadcast and digital media.

The campaign includes such hashtags as #LikeAGirl and #BanBossy, among others, to echo the main messages of boosting girls' confidence.

Some of the messages refute the idea that doing things "like a girl" (throwing a baseball, running) is an insult. Others encourage girls to stand up and be leaders, changing the perception of girls as "bossy"when they take the lead.

The brand's Super Bowl #LikeAGirl ad received many positive comments and the campaign has won a number of awards. With partners like the Girl Scouts of America and AARP, among many others, Always is showing its social responsibility strength and building its brand in a meaningful way.

Positioning Shinola vs Apple

Positioning means using marketing to create a unique image or position for the product or brand in the minds of the target market. Positioning is a kind of short-hand that helps prospective buyers understand what the product or brand is all about and what makes it different from others in the same category. Differentiation is the name of the game in brand marketing, distinguishing a product from others in a way that is meaningful to buyers.

Sometimes a marketer positions a product as being similar to another product--and sometimes as being dissimilar to another product.

On the very day Apple announced that it would start accepting preorders for its much-anticipated Apple Watch, Detroit-based manufacturer Shinola positioned its analog watch against the Apple smart watch. The ad, shown at right, cleverly tells the entire positioning story in a single headline that also conveys Shinola's brand attitude:

A watch so smart that it can tell you the time just by looking at it.

Shinola placed its advertising in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and online on the company website. As long as the spotlight was on wristwatches, why not shine some of that light on the traditional analog watch that also happens to be hand-made in America? So Shinola's ad tells buyers a lot about the brand and the product by reminding them that this is not a new-fangled, feature-rich, bells-and-whistles kind of watch for the 21st century. No sirree.

For a glossary of marketing terminology, click here.

Virgin Sets Sail with a Cruise Line Marketing Plan

Virgin Group--the UK-based company which has its brand on all kinds of products, from airlines to trains to financial services and more--has a long-term strategic plan for entering the cruise industry.

Virgin's brand is internationally recognized for its youthful energy, value, entertainment, and (watch out, competitors) industry disruption.

Because of the lead time in planning and building cruise ships to meet Virgin's specifications, the new venture won't be introduced until the end of this decade. The new line will be headquartered in Florida.

But as always, Virgin's marketing plan calls for disruption. Sir Richard Branson, founder, says:

"We plan to shake up the cruise industry and deliver a holiday that customers will absolutely love. They’ll be sailing on the latest ships offering a great quality, a real sense of fun and many exciting activities all delivered with the famed Virgin service."

Given widespread consumer perceptions of cruising as a vacation for older people, and perhaps a passive holiday at that, Virgin's marketing plan is likely to focus on younger target markets, highlighting the "sense of fun" for which Virgin is well known. 

Meanwhile, the three major cruise companies--Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line--are prepping their own marketing plans to attract Millennials and defend market share. In 5 or 6 years, the cruise industry will be making marketing waves with many more choices and price points for consumers of all ages and interests.

Uniqlo's Logo Makes the Front Page

Kei Nishikori is playing in the U.S. Open tennis tournament finals--and that's front page news for his sponsor Uniqlo, the Japan-based clothing retailer that's been expanding worldwide. With the goal of becoming the biggest clothing company on the planet by 2020, Uniqlo's marketing plan includes opening dozens of stores in America and other areas outside its Asian home region.

Uniqlo also sponsors Novak Djokovic--so when they played each other in the semi-final match yesterday, spectators saw Uniqlo's brand logo on the clothing worn by both of these top-notch tennis players. Uniqlo's chairman characterized the contest this way: "It's a dream match."

Above, today's cover photo of Uniqlo's US Facebook page (770,000+ likes). Both of these outstanding athletes are shown in photos all over the newspapers and magazines today, not to mention Web news pages and TV sports news. Uniqlo is reinforcing those images and the positive associations with its very visible red-and-white brand logo.

As of today, Uniqlo lists four names on its list of "Uniqlo Sponsored Athletes" page: golfer Adam Scott, tennis stars Nishikori and Djokovic, and wheelchair tennis star Shingo Kunieda. Watch for more sightings of Uniqlo logos as the brand continues to implement its marketing plan for growth.

Pop-Up Shops Are Mainstream Marketing

Pop-up shops are no longer a passing trend--they're a mainstream marketing method used by brands, businesses, and even government groups to achieve one or more of these objectives:

• Increase brand or product awareness
• Introduce or test a new brand or product or line
• Reinforce brand image associations
• Reach new markets or segments
• Communicate brand benefits
• Provide a tangible, tactile brand or product experience

With the exception of seasonal retailing, such as stores selling Halloween costumes or Christmas products, pop-up shops are not necessarily aiming to make sales. Instead, communication and branding objectives usually take priority, even when revenue is involved.

For example, Kraft in Canada has planned a series of pop-up shops to reinforce the emotional connection between customers, Kraft dinner products, and fun family times. For three days, Kraft will operate pop-up shops in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, bringing the "fun" aspect of the brand to life. "It’s not enough to tell consumers to go out and have some fun," explains the brand director of Kraft Dinner. "We also want to create experiences that enable them to do so."

When the owners of Parlor Blow Dry Bar wanted to launch their new business in the Raleigh, North Carolina market, they began with a pop-up shop in a high-traffic area. "A pop-up is not something for financial gain," says one of the owners. "It’s a great way to introduce a concept and get to know people." Now the owners have a better idea of which customers prefer which services, an invaluable element in crafting marketing strategy for the new business.

The Canadian government has even used the pop-up shop concept to open a temporary office in Pittsburgh promoting trade between Pennsylvania and Canada. The space was called "Pop-Up Canada!" and remained open for four days, inviting local businesses to learn more about trade, energy, and investment. The opening featured, naturally, a hockey face-off, and the Stanley Cup made an appearance. The point was to highlight close economic ties between Canada (Canada as a brand) and U.S. businesses and of course to encourage more trade.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/12/3999999/triangle-pop-up-stores-proliferate.html#storylink=cpy

Brand Vision and Living the Brand

Here, in their own words, are the mission and core values of three major brands. Notice the emphasis on brand image/personality, as well as on connecting with customers and other stakeholders (investors and the world at large).

Staples, the office products retailer (with 1.1 million Facebook likes and 267,000 Twitter followers), says about the values of its brand:

• When you buy our brand, quality is more than expected — it’s guaranteed. We source durable materials, develop premium features and conduct rigorous tests to make affordable products you can count on. Because high quality doesn’t have to come at a high price. 

Coca-Cola (with nearly 3 million YouTube views and 176,000 Twitter followers) says its mission in the beverage segment is:

• To refresh the world...
• To inspire moments of optimism and happiness...
• To create value and make a difference.

Brother, which makes printers, sewing machines, and other items, says its corporate vision:

• places the customer first in all activities and in many ways. Moreover, the Brother Group is a company that provides good values obviously to our "existing" customers but also to potential "future" customers.
• Our goal is to ensure the customer perception that Brother is a "trustworthy brand."