BMW Keyword Marketing Campaign

    The widely known car brand BMW used a new-era marketing technique to reach its customers about a new convertible this last summer. The technique closely relates to many of the new marketing rules found in the "New Rules of Marketing and PR 8th edition by  David Meerman Scott.  For many years now I've always had a deep personal interest in BMW along with my desire to learn about the company's marketing strategy. Senior year of high school I got my first BMW and since then I have learned vast amounts of information about all types of BMWs as well as my own. I consider myself a BMW fanatic and will probably own one for most of my life.  

    The article goes into much more detail, however, there were a few takeaways I got from the article. BWM has adopted a new way of reaching its consumers that have proven to be quite effective. The campaign is called "Hug the road, Hug the Sky" with a subheading on the sign saying "Text BMW LAX to 33992, because the car won't tell you where to go". As just described it involves placing shortcodes in the form of 5-digit phone numbers on signs at 14 major airports nationwide. The person who types the code is directed to a mobile application promoting BMW's new 3 series convertible and directs them to the closest location for a test drive. Along with the link directing the consumer to a promotion it also embeds a deep link that contains campaign-specific segmentation and tracking parameters. An example of this would be a simple top-level URL, www.bmw.com. This was the first time BMW had done a campaign like this and based on the performance statistics, they continued to do this technique with two other BMW automobiles. 

    BMW's value proposition that everyone knows is "The Ultimate Driving Machine." This phrase gives off a vibe of discrimination against other less superior car brands and they understand that the readers value that. It creates a culture of loyal customers that value luxury and performance. 

    The marketing relevance behind this genius marketing campaign involves the use of many New rules of marketing explained in "The New Rules of Marketing and PR 8th edition" by David Meerman Scott. Such examples of these new rules are the use of People wanting participation, not propaganda; delivering the Content, just at the precise moment that the audience needs it and using social networks to connect and communicate with people and companies. The whole idea behind this marketing technique is to get the public aware of the new 3 series convertible BMW and put the idea in their head to go take a test drive.

    The challenge BMW faces is getting more eyeballs and attention towards their ad campaigns. The interactive side of this billboard in airports causes their consumers to participate and make a better transition toward the dealership showrooms after seeing the ad.  When it comes to their ad campaigns, people see them but get sidetracked by something else and don't take the steps toward making it to the showroom.  By making participation a possibility for the consumer it grabs the consumer's attention in a stronger more effective way. 

    This form of marketing in the airports directly targets high-income travelers with time on their hands while waiting for flights or baggage. A decent amount of BMW's ads in the past have targeted younger more youthful customers. This type of marketing approach isn't new to the marketing industry, however, is new to BMW and its marketing approach. I have personally seen other companies advertise their products using a QR code or this same method of texting a keyword to a short phone number. Some example from the article of other companies doing this form of advertising is Bank of America and the US Airforce. BMW recognized these companies' strategies and decided to give them a try. 

    I believe this marketing approach was a good avenue for BMW to go down because playing it safe and continuing to market towards their usual target market can be risky. The safe thing to do now is to be risky/remarkable. Another technique I feel was a good approach was how they put these ads in a location where it is more convenient for their consumers to engage and take an interest. 

     If I was the brand/product manager I would do the same thing except use the same marketing strategy towards more demographics of people than the ones who are sitting and waiting at an airport. I feel this could be effective with younger tech-savvy people as well. 

    Doing this blog post assignment allowed me to learn about what other companies are doing to reach their target market and how well these strategies work. Clearly based on the article Bank of America, the US Airforce and BMW have all had success in this type of marketing. It also showed me how the placement of your marketing in the right place and time can boost consumer awareness.