When a marketing communication plan report has been prepared for a specific car brand like Mercedes-Benz, with a focus on the “SELL IT TO US” promotion, it should be done in such a way that the chosen strategy and execution perfectly follow the core theories and notions provided in marketing communications and correspondent textbooks. I will enable cutting details of the campaign tactics, my attributions towards the course, and the lessons acquired throughout this hard work.
The Mercedes-Benz “SELL IT TO US” cause marketing shows how this strategy can be advantageous in the face of growing competition in the automobile industry. Through the exemplary portrayal of the IMC concept, Mercedes-Benz manifests an undotted line of Attention to luxury, development, and sustainability(Li et al., 2021, p. 645). Steadfastness in such positioning of openness ensures consistent publicity of the Drift Show event in London, either through electronic ads, social media content, or even live presentations like Drift Show. By applying the IMC framework, marketing channels are synchronously aligned for a coherent delivery of the brand’s perception and the trademark’s message of perfection, fascination, and social responsibility. However, uniformity is critical, as it fortifies the consistency of the brand’s voice, resulting in higher impact and memorability among the customer base. Overall, the demographic target set not only reflects the same social groups that echo the values and practices of brands but also is the precise target group for the campaign, aged 25 and 45. With environmental protection as a growing concern among this demographic and a high-tech carry-all in such tablets, Mercedes-Benz can expand likability and increase ties with customers that attach extra significance to green living and luxury.
Beyond this, the “SELL IT TO US” advertising also highlights Mercedes-Benz’s capacity to anticipate and seize on developments such as cause marketing. It is an effective advertisement above the traditional advertising strategies and is ideal for forging emotional ties with the target groups. Partnering up with Google represents an innovative choice, centralizing around the recipients, technology, and sports entertainment to render brands’ values digitally(Junior et al., 2020, p. 16). With this strategy, the campaign’s impact would also grow as it will create many listeners and have a lasting effect through the generations to come who closely relate to the campaign’s arts and values. With the campaign, Mercedes-Benz masterfully navigates through the waters of today’s fiercely competitive marketing arrangements using traditional and digital communication, thus targeting a vast population of diverse clients. The homogenizing of the message at all advertising platforms that a characteristically IMC approach is based on guarantees the campaign’s principal themes of luxury, invention, and sustainability are accentuated and leads the brand to be more qualitative and appealing to consumers nowadays who use to make (or are likely to make) buying decisions about ethical considerations and brands values.
In the “SELL IT TO US” campaign, the strategic underpinning of perfect marketing communication usage is also evidence of how theories may be applied, with the AIDA model used extensively. A traditional model of the consumer’s journey, which is represented through the proper phases: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action, is a foundation stone of our campaign’s strategy. With the opening of the Drift Show in London, the Drift Show was a high-profile collaboration with an agency like Google. Thanks to Google, the brand could attract the target audience’s Attention in the early stages. This exhibition, an ever-developing engine room that showcases just how marvelous automotive technologies have grown, affirms industry supremacy, and motivates new adoptions. A brand so associated with luxury and technology cannot put its foot wrong. The spectacle of Mercedes-Benz cars performing precision drifts showcases the vehicles’ high performance and design. It fits perfectly into the brand’s image, which is already setting up the franchises for the subsequent consumer journey stages.
Besides the initial attraction, the campaign also moves into the ‘Interest’ phase, allowing the audience to get complete details about the vehicles’ features, environmental sustainability, and technological advancements that come with driving an electric vehicle. It is essential to remember that consumers have a distracted attention span. Therefore, it is critical to impress them from the very start so that the brand and its products acquire an excellent reputation (Meziane et al., 2020, p. 801). Via Mercedez-Benz exploiting a wide range of communication channels, i.e., social media, digital advertising, and interactive platforms, rich content is produced that is educational and stimulating; thus, it shows the specific features of the luxurious cars brand. The strategic nature of content distribution here exhibits the maturity of this interest into a strong desire for the product, which explains why customers will settle for nothing but the best in the market.
Once the ‘Desire’ stage begins, Mercedes-Benz shows its strategic strength as the campaign shifts its Attention to starting an emotional bond and building brand loyalty with its customers by way of storytelling and immersive experiences that Mercedes-Benz will exhibit beyond the features of just the vehicles but also of the lifestyle and the values the brand represents (Järvinen, 2021, p. 830). The specificity is the main thing that elicits the need for consumption in the audience to move from casual interest to a strong desire to own a piece of the incredible luxury and cutting-edge brand’s reputation that Mercedes stands for. The applicability of specific messaging, tailor-made experiences, and exclusive previews represent another significant factor in that quest to which somebody would prefer Mercedes-Benz not only to be a perfect car option but mainly to satisfy his/her identity or at least support his/her values.
This culminates with ‘Action,’ which is buying the products or services desired by the buyers after being emotionally aroused by previous stages. This is where Mercedes-Benz utilizes strategic calls-to-action, special deals, and smooth buying processes to provide effortless gratification when desire meets action(KALAISELVI, 2021, p. 1286). The brand ensures that the inclined potential customer population is sufficiently led to fully owning Mercedes-Benz vehicles through barrier-free purchases and enhanced customer experience. The sustenance of the journey above, as one’s sole inspiration is marketing communication theories and the AIDA model coming into play, proves how those theories of marketing communication can be effectively used to design a meaningful campaign that enthralls the audience and urge them to deliver action, thus achieving the result of improving sales and enhancing brand loyalty. By “SELL IT TO US, “brand equity, Mercedes-Benz stands still and guides other automotive companies with pleasure in using marketing communications to achieve strategic and impact goals.
A thorough brand audit of Mercedes-Benz, the competitive feature of the “SELL IT TO US” campaign, highlights that the brand is far beyond the strategically advantageous positioning within the luxury car market. Conducted in the audit of the company and its history, a neverending quest for leading innovation and sustainability, which is the very essence of what modern consumers stand for, shall be uncovered. These essential assets of Mercedes-Benz comprise, strengthen, and flourish the brand equity as the luxury brand model is designed on uniqueness, relevance, esteem, and involvement. Mercedes-Benz indirectly improves its already present brand when applying these dimensions to the tiniest detail. It strategically develops an image that it hopes will represent a broader and more diverse audience. This extension is novelty-focused, explicitly targeting younger consumers who excellently influence the whole luxury market and place much value on various qualities such as innovation, sustainability heritage, and luxury.
Through the “SELL IT TO US” campaign, the latent advantages of Mercedes-Benz’s powerful brand equity are creatively used to simultaneously appeal to younger consumers without hurting the brand position favorably for the long term (Andreeva et al., 2022, p. 41). By recognizing the fact that the brand exists in a highly competitive market—a market that is characterized by a rich heritage as a forerunner in the automotive field, and at the same time by a pro-active and modern approach to sustainable practices—Swedish Electronics demonstrates a clear vision of where the brand is heading (and how it will get there). The fact is that the campaign will ensure that the brand resonates with existing users’ societal values and aspirations, which, in turn, will boost its standing and attract new customers. Secondly, the campaign also incorporates the knowledge bank that includes the legacy of Mercedes-Benz, innovations, and sustainability efforts of the vehicle manufacturer into its highlighted points, making such information readily available and exciting for the audience. This tactic ensures the brand’s appeal among this younger demographic and enables the consumers to become more “fully aware,” relate, and be loyal to this brand. In the latter end, they become true enthusiasts. The campaign, which looks into a delicate touch of brand bulwark, pushes the boundaries of how luxury automotive brands can maintain their relevance and respect in this rapidly budding market.
As a marketing team member, my position was the critical link between deliberate brainstorming and developing and implementing the digital marketing strategy in the national promotion campaign “SELL IT TO US.” This implies collecting online content for social media, improving the online brand presence via SEO, and engaging the audience through effective targeting through digital advertising. My project’s purpose was to fully integrate digital elements of our IMC system to provide a smooth and enjoyable customer outlook as they navigated through all digital touchpoints.
I participated in an interactive task under the core “SELL IT TO US” promotional campaign for Mercedes-Benz. It provided me with the most valuable educational material, emphasizing the vital role of teamwork, strategy, and tact and adapting within the marketing communications framework. Working in a team of people from different backgrounds was a great learning experience because it had all the fabric of different perspectives and scenarios that brought to the fore the impressive synergistic capabilities that happen when varied skills and creative thoughts cooperate towards a common aim. With the joint effort of the whole team, the environment became fertile. It encouraged us to create a campaign that showcased the precious brand of Mercedes and connected to the new generation in a better way. The implementation of the exercise emphasized the necessity of the strong alignment of all the elements of marketing efforts, making the brand values of luxury, innovation, and sustainability sound from all marketing sides. It was a hands-on display of working in sync with a brand’s ethos and the audience’s driving interests, particularly in sensitive areas like the environment and digital marketing, by which the visibility and effectiveness of the campaign can be significantly enhanced.
This experience finds me in a better position because the mission assigned to me was an essential platform that led me to a decisive point of adaptability that keeps me on the move in the volatile field of marketing communications. These days, we have a faster digital world than ever imagined. Therefore, customer expectations and market requirements have reached a degree we can hardly imagine; thus, we need an innovative and flexible marketing strategy (Enríquez Azcárraga, 2021, p. 92). It is our team’s expertise that we can adjust what we do at a particular moment; modern tools for digital engagement and sustainability narratives not only affected the new campaign’s hold but made it at the same time more effective among a broader audience that needs to take action. The fact that we could then quickly adjust as the market was getting more complex ensured that our efforts to communicate our drive toward sustainability and innovation were well received. Learning about marketing communication through touching means gaining knowledge from a new experience, which helps you get involved in practice and understand the details. It has given me the strength to stay up-to-date with market trends and consumer behaviors. As such, it has prepared me better to face future challenges and take advantage of new opportunities coming out of marketing.
I devised the central theme of my reflection paper.
The application of “SELL IT TO US” by MB, who uses a suit of marketing communication tools to promote the luxury brand and appeal to an audience that appreciates sustainability and innovation, is patently evident. The campaign presents a bright and clear example of how powerful marketing communication, grounded in the same theoretical principles and led in a collaborative, strategic way, can lead to a brand’s market dominance and an emotional touchpoint for consumers.
The “SELL IT TO US” campaign by Mercedes-Benz is an excellent example of the advantage of well-coordinated and knockout marketing communications that drive a brand story deep into consumers’ hearts. Learning about the digital marketing campaign took me one step ahead in understanding the importance of digital marketing strategies in customer outreach and engagement in the luxury automotive sector. Such knowledge profoundly broadened my perspective on marketing communication complexities our modern consumers have to deal with. This encounter has deepened my knowledge and appreciation of strategic expenditures and showcased the collaboration efforts needed to make a campaign successful. This is a significant step forward in my professional career.
Andreeva, S. and Petikhin, D., 2022. Research on marketing technological innovations for car safety: case company: Mercedes-benz.
Enríquez Azcárraga, B., 2021. Millennials and Mercedes, Friends Forever?.
Järvinen, J., 2021. BUSINESS PROJECT: Mercedes-Benz AG.
Junior, R.F. and Scur, G., 2020. DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEM BUSINESS MODEL: a study at Mercedes-Benz Brazil (No. 2019-36-0093). SAE Technical Paper.
KALAISELVI, S., 2021. SOCIAL MEDIA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF MARKETING: A STUDY OF AN INDIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY. GIS SCIENCE JOURNAL, 8(12), pp.1289-1301.
Li, Y. and Wang, Y., 2021, December. What Marketing Strategies Did Mercedes-Benz Use to Succeed in the US Market?. In 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021) (pp. 649-654). Atlantis Press.
Meziane, A. and Bouarour, G., 2020. A Social Semiotic Analysis of Advertising Posters of Car Dealerships: The Case Study of German Brands: Audi, BMW, and Mercedes (Doctoral dissertation, Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou).