BMW Marketing Mix

The BMW marketing mix is about the various marketing strategies adopted by the BMW brand to create high worldwide customer demand for luxury vehicles, expand its global presence and maintain continuous brand awareness in the automobile industry. An important aspect of the business strategies of the BMW Group is to provide customer satisfaction because it will lead to customer loyalty and worldwide sales.

The world-renowned vehicle manufacturer BMW Group has created a comprehensive marketing mix that focuses on product innovation, product offering, joint ventures, product strategy, technological advancement, distribution channel, pricing strategy, advertising strategy, direct marketing and promotion mix. BMW invests in these marketing strategies because it wants to boost the brand image of the luxury vehicles brand in key markets.

Introduction of BMW Group

#BMW Group

• Origin Country: Germany
• Founders: Camillo Castiglioni, Karl Rapp, Franz Josef Popp
• Founded: 1916
• Headquarters: Munich, Germany
• Employees in 2023: 118,909
• Annual Revenue in 2023: 141.884 billion USD
• Net Income in 2023: 2.801 billion USD
• Market Cap in 2023: 62.01 billion USD

The world-renowned vehicle manufacturer BMW AG (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG) is a German brand that deals in motorcycles and luxury vehicles. BMW Group started its journey as an aircraft engine manufacturer and produced them from 1917 -1918 and 1933 – 1945. Currently, the product offerings include cars, motorcycles and financial services.

Product innovation and technological advancement have played an important part in the rise of the premium brand as one of the top luxurious vehicles manufacturer in the world. The reliable automobile brand is known to provide drivers with sheer driving pleasure with the ultimate driving machine.

BMW cars are marketed under several brand names like BMW, Rolls-Royce and Mini Cooper and BMW motorcycles under BMW Motorrad. The owners of the company are Public Float (50%), Susanne Klatten (21%) and Stefan Quandt (29%).

BMW AG is one of the largest producers of motor vehicles based on production output. In 2021 the production output capacity of the reliable automobile manufacturer was 2,521,514 BMW cars and 194,261 BMW motorcycles.

Target Market: Marketing Mix of BMW

The world-renowned vehicle manufacturer BMW targets the upper class in urban cities as its target customers. It is a premium brand that focuses on technological advancement and product innovation as part of an effective product strategy. This leads to high production costs and ultimately premium product prices.

BMW projects itself as a reliable automobile luxury brand that offers sheer driving pleasure that no other cars can. This is why its target market is the upper class in urban cities who can easily afford the high prices levied by the BMW Group.

As part of its product strategy, BMW Group targets young and affluent customers in the age group of 25 – 45 for whom money does not matter but what matters is perceived quality, performance, safety, design and style.

BMW Positioning: Marketing Strategy of BMW AG

BMW plays an important role in the automobile industry. Continuous brand awareness of its product offerings has been an important reason for luxury cars to be known as the ultimate driving machine.

BMW Cars like Rolls Royce and Electric Cars are luxury cars that every upper-class individual and families covet over any other car or brand because the riding experience is sheer luxury. BMW has positioned itself as a brand like no other.

BMW Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)

The BMW marketing mix and business strategies have laid down the groundwork for the BMW Group to become one of the reliable companies with continuous brand awareness in the car industry. The perceived quality of BMW Cars like Rolls Royce and Electric Cars has led to high worldwide customer demand in the target market.

The marketing strategy of BMW plays an important role as it has helped the company to maintain core values and make strategic decisions about product offerings, innovation, reliability, performance, customer satisfaction, pricing strategies, creating new opportunities, global expansion via strategic locations, aggressive advertising strategy and competing successfully in key markets.

BMW invests in marketing and business strategies because the luxury brand wants to meet the high worldwide customer demand successfully with help of BMW products and gain a competitive advantage over rival brands in the automobile industry.

Product Strategy: BMW Marketing Mix

The product strategy in the BMW marketing mix puts the onus on product offerings, innovation, development, premium parts and technology advancement. The company wants to give a dynamic look to the brand and its products and keeps on introducing the latest versions and new models to keep the customers hooked.

Product offerings from the BMW Group are sold under the brand names of BMW, Rolls-Royce, Mini Cooper and BMW Motorrad. BMW plays an important role in the automobile industry as it is one of the prominent manufacturers of both four-wheel and two-wheel automobiles for the worldwide market. The products are manufactured at strategic locations so that the high production cost could be lowered.

The four-wheel BMW cars are luxury cars with a high brand image in the car industry. Some of them offer high personalization whereas others are standard across all continents.

Product Mix in the Marketing Strategy of BMW

BMW Group is associated with the automobile industry and deals in BMW cars (mini cars and other cars), motorcycles and financial services.

BMW Group started its product portfolio with the manufacture of aircraft engines which it discontinued later on. Until World War II, the portfolio of BMW AG included automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft engines.

In 1962 BMW New Class, a compact sedan gave a new lease of life to the company and resulted in worldwide sales. The company expanded its offerings to include the luxury sedan and coupe models.

BMW 1-Series, 3-Series, 7-Series, 2-Series, 8-Series, 6-Series, 4-Series and 5-Series, X-Series, Z-Series, Mini Countryman (Mini Cooper), BMW Roadster are some of the most popular series of the brand.

In 1972 the first electric car was produced by the BMW Group called 1602e.

The Z-Series are plug-in hybrid vehicles and all-electric cars sold under the BMW brand.

The product mix in the marketing strategy of BMW Group includes SUVs, sedans, sports cars, electric cars, mini cars and premium parts etc. it has also a motorsport history in Isle of Man TT, sports cars and touring cars.

The Motorrad brand is used by the company for motorcycles. Some of the important ones are K-Series, G-Series, F-Series and K1200S sports bikes etc.

Currently, the company has entered the electric car and hybrid motor vehicle market to meet the changing needs of the customers.

The services of BMW Group over the years include a car-sharing service called AlphaCity in Europe and ReachNow in Brooklyn, Portland and Seattle. The company also launched a subscription service for a pilot car called Access by BMW in 2018 which was suspended by the brand in the year 2021.

In the year 2022, BMW launched M760Li xDrie, a limited edition called The Final V12. It is the last production and manufacturing unit of the BMW Series to be fitted with the engine V12. Both Toyota and BMW Group are planning to sell hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that they have jointly developed.

BMW offers after-sales services to ensure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The financial network and product strategy along with customer services plays a vital role in boosting the brand image and maintaining continuous brand awareness in the car industry.

Some of the most popular BMW vehicles are-

• WRAITH KRYPTOS – ROLLS ROYCE
• i4 D-SEGMENT COMPACT LIFTBACK – ELECTRIC CAR- POWERED BY ONE OR TWO ELECTRIC MOTORS
• PHANTOM SYNTOPIA – ROLLS ROYCE
• MINI CONVERTIBLE SEASIDE EDITION – MINI COOPER
• iX3 D-SEGMENT – COMPACT SUV – ELECTRIC CAR- POWERED BY ONE ELECTRIC MOTOR
• MINI CONVERTIBLE – ALL-ELECTRIC CAR
• GHOST ZENITH – ROLLS ROYCE
• BMW iX – FULL ELECTRIC CAR
• M3 -FOUR-DOOR SEDAN
• MINI DAVID BOWIE – MINI CARS

Place in the BMW Marketing Strategy

The place marketing strategy of BMW Group uses segmentation to target industrialized areas like South Africa, China, North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. The company has manufacturing plants in Brazil, China, the USA, Germany, India, Austria and South Africa etc. It has local assembly operations with help of CKD components in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Russia and Thailand.

Besides the production and assembly plants, BMW AG has research and development, financial services, dealership and agency network and sales subsidiaries across the world.

The marketing strategy of BMW Group focuses on spreading its global presence far and wide. The company started its operations via strategic locations in the Indian market in 2007 and has opened a manufacturing unit in Chennai and a warehouse for parts in Mumbai. The BMW Group has also developed a dealer organization across metropolitan cities to capture the Indian market.

BMG Group operates in the world market with help of its subsidiaries like BMW, Rolls-Royce and Mini Cooper for cars and BMW Motorrad for BMW motorcycles.

The Chennai manufacturing unit in the Indian market produces 11 models like BMW 3-Series, BMW X3-Series and BMW i4-Series.

The BMW marketing mix and marketing strategies focus on industry collaborations with other car manufacturers. The BMW Group was the designer and producer of the V12 engine for the McLaren F1. In joint ventures with Daimler Benz, BMW Group produced a hybrid drivetrain used in ActiveHybrid and developed Fuel cell technology with Toyota.

Place and Distribution Strategy in Marketing Mix of BMW

The place strategy in the BMW marketing mix makes sure that the vast distribution channels of the brand are utilized fully so that the vehicles are produced and sent to the showroom dealers efficiently. BMW Group dealer/agency network includes manufacturing units, automobile distributors, authorised showrooms, showroom dealers and sales representatives.

The BMW Group takes the help of the following distribution channels to spread its global presence in global markets-

Manufacturing Unit

The first manufacturing unit was in Bavaria and since then the company has set up production and manufacturing units in several cities from where it produces Mini, Rolls Royce, BMW and motorcycles.

Automobile Distributors

The automobile distributors handle the sales and transfer of the vehicles from the manufacturing units to the showroom dealers.

Authorised Showrooms

Only the authorised showrooms are franchised to sell the BMW vehicles and parts and provide after-sales services for the BMW vehicles.

Pricing Strategy of BMW Marketing Mix

The pricing strategies in the BMW marketing mix are dependent on the product strategies. The financial network and worldwide sales also play an important role in creating the pricing strategy of BMW Group.

It competes with other car brands and has to keep its product prices at par with the perceived quality of the product. The pricing strategy of BMW Group includes the following

Premium Pricing Strategy

The marketing strategy of BMW Group ensures that the brand has adopted a premium pricing strategy for its products because BMW is a premium car brand with a high production cost. Innovation and technology are the tools that have helped the brand in maintaining its premium pricing strategy successfully.

BMW vehicles are luxurious cars created for the luxury segment. Rolls Royce is priced even higher than the other BMW cars to maintain its exclusivity. Buying a Rolls Royce is a status symbol because everyone knows that it comes with a very high price tag.

BMW offers financial services like loans and EMI so that people can buy luxury vehicles easily.

Promotion Mix in the Marketing Strategy of BMW

The promotion mix in BMW’s marketing mix has adopted an aggressive advertising strategy to boost brand image, visibility and awareness in the global markets. The brand offers premium high-quality products and hence releases the importance of maintaining an aggressive advertising strategy that will substantiate its claims of perceived high quality.

The promotional strategy of BMW Group includes print ads, digital marketing, social media marketing, sports events, rally racing events, sponsorships etc.

Traditional Media

The promotional strategy of BMW Group and its marketing mix ensures that the brand uses traditional media like electronic and print media to its advantage. Print ads via print media include showing through premium sports magazines. The ad campaigns are also shown on television and billboards.

Slogan

The most popular slogan of the luxury vehicles brands BMW AG is the “Ultimate Driving Machine”. It was first used in the year 1974 in North America and is still used by the company along with the slogan “Sheer Driving Pleasure” as part of its advertising strategy all over the world.

BMW Brand Image

The marketing strategy of BMW Group is to boost its brand image in the car industry. BMW targets potential and existing customers with promotion strategies because it wants to maintain continuous brand awareness amongst the customers.

Sports Events

BMW has been closely associated with sports events, sports teams and rally racing events. It has a history of motorsport events including Formula Two, Touring Cars and the Dakar Rally. BMW Group has sponsored sports events like PGA Championship, BMW Masters and South Africa National Rugby Team.

Brand Ambassadors

Brand ambassadors like Alessandro Zanardi and Sachin Tendulkar have boosted the image of the brand in the global markets.

Sustainable Efforts

BMW Group is a charter member of EPA and has been named “World’s Most Sustainable Automotive Company” many times by Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The company is researching hydrogen, hybrid power and electric power for future models to minimize vehicle emissions.

Social Media Platforms

Direct marketing via social media platforms has become important for every brand as it gives them ample opportunities to connect with existing and potential customers and provide details about the brand and its current and new products in the market. BMW Group is active on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and has managed to create strong brand visibility in the market.

Digital Marketing Strategy – Memorable Digital Marketing Campaigns

Designed for Driving Pleasure

The campaign “Designed for Driving Pleasure” focuses on BMW features and design with help of the BMW Concept 4 Series Coupe

BMW Congratulating Audi

In the year 2006, BMW Group launched an ad for the 3-series where it congratulated its rival brand Audi for the “South African Car of the Year Award”. The punch line was from the “Winner of the World Car of the Year Award 2006”.

Makes You Envy

The print ad “Makes You Envy” showed how people would feel if others owned a BMW.

Key Takeaways in BMW Marketing Mix

The key takeaways from the BMW marketing mix are-

• Focus on product strategy, innovation, design and style to impress the new generation
• Base the pricing strategy on key trends
• Capitalize on the opportunities in the emerging markets
• Maintain an aggressive promotion strategy

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