Audi focuses its marketing on quality, performance, and luxury targeting middle to higher income individuals. Its advertisements emphasize the vehicle's technology and design without mentioning price. Ford historically focused on price but is shifting to also emphasize quality to appeal to more customers. Both supermarkets ASDA and Marks & Spencer's target different demographics - ASDA focuses solely on low prices to attract budget-conscious customers while Marks & Spencer's stresses quality even if it means higher prices and appeals to those prioritizing product quality. Apple emphasizes innovation and quality rather than price in its brand marketing to cultivate an image of its products as premium technology.
2. Audi
Here I am looking into Audi and Ford. I will explore the differences in their marketing and PR. It is by looking at the car
market that you can see the varieties in approach, you can start to see the differences in audience.
Audi focus on the quality of the product and how smart their latest models look, their advertisements are slick, clean and to a
professional standard. It is from this where you instantly know who the car is targeted for. Audi’s main objective is to be
premium car brand by 2015.
Audi's corporate tagline is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning "Progress through Technology” suggesting that it is for the
modern audience, those middle to higher class families that have the disposable income to spend on luxury cars.
The target market is of the 25-60 age range and aims towards a more male demographic. The drivers of these cars are
looking for something that expresses their wealth.
The idea of focusing on Quality
becomes clear when Audi Korea head
Johannes Thammer said they will look
more into the quality side after
explosive growth in the local market in
the past few years.
"By expanding showrooms, staff and
workshops, we expect to not only boost
quality but also customer satisfaction
through fortified after-service.”
The adverts reflect the message. The
use of black and silver within the advert
keeps to the house style set from the
metal rings.
The adverts do not mention the price
as the audience are not interested in it.
They are not looking for the cheapest
alternative but the look.
3. Further Audi advertisements that show what their focus is on. The images below demonstrate what Audi have looked at and
what they believe their customers or potential customers will like. Ways in marketing towards a wealthy audience have been
looked at here.
The line on the image below reads ‘Slow traffic keep right’ this again is looking at the performance and how quick the car can
go. It does not touch on the price, how much money you can save or mention competition anywhere.
The second image has the text ‘Enough said. The Audi TTS’. The advertising remains the same throughout each piece of
promotion. They do not try to grab the readers attention through flashy imagery or discounts. The audience know what they
are getting when buying this product. They want something of value to represent them. If they wanted to save money on a
car they would go for something more like the Ford. Money is no issue with this demographic.
The idea of not having much text reflects the companies approach, they do not want to advertise in a way which makes them
look desperate. The use of the ‘Enough Said, The Audi TTS’ represents what they are trying to get across to the
customer.The price will not change as you are here to buy something of great quality and to boost your own image.
Each piece of promotion from the car company forms the same idea. That of something stylish and clean. The imagery has
been well thought about, sentences that are well thought through or lines that are very simple yet effective.
The photography is of a high professional standard. Keeping to
the same colours and compositional features helps you instantly
know that it is Audi every time you see the advert.
4. Ford
Here you can see contrast between Audi, aimed towards middle to higher class families and the use of advertisements that
reflect it and the Ford that use the price as a form of advertising the product. Audi do not use any signs of price due to their
audience not being affected by it.
Ford are concentrating on giving the customer the ‘Sale of the Century’. This is so they can compete with their competitors
and add an incentive to purchase their car instead of another. By offering their audience (More of a working class family car
rather than one aimed towards an older male) a deal gives them the feeling of value for money.
By showing the audience how much they are saving, provides that information that they are looking for. As they are more of a
working class demographic, both a male and female
audience they will be very concerned on how they spend on every
aspect to their shop.
The image below again looks into the price and how it is concerning
the audience targeted.
The difference with this and the Audi advertisement is the text
content. Here the audience gets to see all the benefits of buying this
car. The monetary benefits are the main concerns to the audience so
this is what the company focuses on.
The ‘Enjoy now’ side again reflects the audience. The idea that
finance is a concern for many of the demographic. This is aiming to
reassure to customers and that they are getting value.
5. Ford have recently designed to start focusing on more quality and start to reduce the ‘price’ led forms of marketing. They
believe that the aggressive ways of pursuing the price have started to “undermine the value of cars in the mind of
consumers”.
To highlight the brand’s quality and heritage, Ford of Britain is rolling out a campaign that will centre on its ‘Ford Standard’
quality promise. The ads, which use the endline ‘More. As standard’, aim to convince consumers that Ford offers cutting-edge
motoring at an affordable price. (Marketingmagazine.co.uk)
It is by doing this that the car company can reach to a larger portion of the market. People are now after quality in what they
are buying, and by just focusing on price you are not pointing out the quality of what they are buying.
Another example in learning the different materials involved with marketing and PR is that of supermarkets. ASDA is a great
way in explaining price further. The store’s central focus is to make sure they offer the customer the best deal in relation to
the market. The tag line of ‘Saving you money every day’ is something of a unique selling point and want to keep that edge
over their competitors.
This image on the right is a good way of attracting customers as
well as attempting to take out the competition. By showing the
amount of products cheaper, the audience start to reconsider to
stay loyal to ASDA.
This is a clever piece of advertising as it is using TESCO’s
clubcards and special schemes against them to make the point of
‘just low’ prices.
They want to appeal to their audience by offering them what they
want. This advert is effective in a aesthetical sense due to having a
larger box compared to TESCO, having both arrows pointing in
making it look far superior and having all the text in green but
having their part in bold.
By using actual figures to back up the slogan and points made
make it impossible to not notice.
6. ASDA doesn't just create one advert to support their claims, they provide constant facts and figures so the demographic
aimed towards start to believe how much they can save.
The store focuses clearly on price and price alone. The ways in competing involves showing all the three main rival
supermarkets., Morrisons, Sainsbury's and TESCO. By showing all the alternatives the customer could turn to make ASDA
seem the best for price if you are more concerned over that to quality.
The typical ASDA shopper has a young family, and is always on the lookout for good value products and deals.
ASDA is also a popular shopping destination for students, with shoppers +7% more likely to be in full time education than the
average adult. By offering value for money, it targets a good area within the market that do not care about their produce
whether it is fresh or organic, they just want the cheapest on the market so money can be spent else where.
The advertisements are simple yet effective. They do not try to sell products by talking about their taste or how nice they
look, as they know the audience they are pitching towards are not interested. They want the best deal in their weekly shop/
A basic design suggests basic products.
The green text on the white background
,makes all the points stand out.
Having the arrows pointing down again
for the competitors are a great way in
seeing the money saved. The further
down the arrow, the more products that
are cheaper than them.
Therefore TESCO and their 4834
products which are more expensive are
seen in a bad light and could possibly
attract some of their customers as they
both target the same market.
7. When comparing with ASDA, Marks and Spenser's are looking at the same market, however want to aim towards people who
are more concerned with quality rather than price. Their image is very important to them in order to establish quality. It is
from this why they use celebrities to promote the products, especially in the Christmas period when they offer different
seasonal products.
By having celebrities and well known people that have respected job roles brings the quality aspect out further.
The tag line ‘Quality worth every penny’ came about in 2009 and has stuck since. The idea behind it was to create a new
brand position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMc6zDl9Kqo
Mark Roalfe, chairman and founder, RKCR/Y&R, said: "This film is a celebration of what M&S have done for years to bring
the best possible quality to the high street.
"Our new brand positioning reiterates this commitment, while our competitors are simply shouting about price”.
In the advert it has the quote, giving you the best possible food for the best possible price. The idea behind this is that quality
costs more and you have to that extra to receive it. The comments about competitors shouting over price is one way the store
tries to differentiate from the large stores.
As mentioned in the advert, M&S have been helping housewives for years. The audience for this store is that of those who
enjoy buying the best produce to fit in with their image. They will be more middle to higher class and have not be as worried
over the price of certain foods as long as they get a good quality.
8. Another example to show how marketing and PR is used in relation to different companies is that of the phone market.
Apple has the largest share within the market because of their well known brand and reputation for quality products that
last.
In terms of Apple’s marketing, they focus on the latest edition of quality products, they entice the audience by introducing
new ideas and extra features. This keeps existing customers happy and starts to attract more from outside.
As they focus on quality, they do not feel the need to advertise products specifically, only the brand. The image below of
‘Think different’ was an advertising slogan made in 1997 and was used television commercials and several print
advertisements.
There was another series of print adverts that had well known people’s portraits with the companies logo of the apple
located on it. These featured in well known magazines such as Newsweek and Time.
The famous Jazz Musician, Miles Davis (Image on the right) was one of 29 famous people to be part of apples advertising
posters.
It did not stop there and to this day Apple still focus on having well known people associated with the brand to keep that
quality side to the products.
Apple do not try to sell the products individually or offer sales to grab the audience.
They keep to the same prices as the customers who they are attracting know that
equates to quality.
The customers aimed towards are teenagers of both genders, those who enjoy
listening to music and interacting with friends.
Apple is aimed towards the creative
individuals that want the latest pieces
of technology.
Here I will compare the iPhone with
the HTC phone. You will see the
difference in approaches.
9. The difference with the two is that HTC, like their tagline says, ‘quietly brilliant’ focuses on the simplicity. You can see this
from the plain background and simple fonts used for the text.
In October 2009, HTC launched the brand tagline "quietly brilliant", and the YOU campaign, HTC's first global advertising
campaign. (wikipedia)
The company considers itself competitors to Samsung and Apple, however HTC has created a poor reputation for bad
customers service, with the UK, the US and India all starting to lose sales as well as many other countries where they sell
the products.
The image at the bottom right is one of the marketing adverts for the HTV one. The use of ‘Everything your Phone isn't’ is a
different approach to Apple as this is comparing the product with those of the others. Apple does not need to use text such as
that, for example the image to the left.
The use of ‘Revolution, in the palm of your hand’ from the iPhone 5S describes the company in a sentence. The way the
product is the newest technology and they realise that. Meaning no need to compete with other phones and use
comparisons.
The HTC offers the same as an iPhone however it simply cannot compete. The way in getting their customers is to have a
affordable price. The image below shows how different the two are in terms of expense.
The HTC can be more flexible in price should they need more sales, however Apple retain the same until the
latest edition is released. The iPhone 5S is now around £220 and is one year old.
This is as sales will still grow. The use of the advert here on the right is a good way of showing the product.
Having all the apps on display can speak for itself. This looks far more exciting to use than the HTC one.