Comments on: Audi Vs BMW – a Battle of Brand Association

By: david

david — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:13:16 +0000

Marketing Chief – Loving the level and passion in this brand conversation. You make alot of valid points. The only thing I’d add is that sometimes product attributes and external relationships can deliver emotional attributes too. I’d agree the footing for the BMW brand is a more emotional one – which provides a great advantage. But I wouldn’t underestimat the extent to which Audi can leverage an emotional connection around their ‘nordic’ European heritage through a focus on winter/alps/performance through Winter Olympic and AWD brand attributes.
At least the two prestige brands are bold enough to strike-out in their own directions in seeking meaningful brand propositions.

By: Marketing Chief

Marketing Chief — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:40:38 +0000

It is indeed a great debate! And you are totally correct that having an “a-hole” association is never good. No argument there.

I knew that Quattro was their AWD system but the original post used it in terms of individual Audi models so that’s how I based my comment.

Clearly I drive a BMW —you got me there. : ) While I do have a biased opinion on the car brand, I hope that my marketing observations are more subjective.

BMW’s challenge is to make sure that associations of their clientele don’t overtake their product differentiators in a way that negatively impacts their brand. With those associations already out there, they need to be thinking about how to address these issues. This is actually where an alliance (like Audi’s with the Olympics) could actually help them.

Audi’s challenge is to figure out how to take their positive association with the Olympics and link those emotional connections with their product in a way that is meaningful to their consumers. Because at the end of the day, you want to be known for your product attributes and not your external alliances. I think hammering the AWD system is a differentiator—-while BMW (and others) offer that on some models, I believe it is more prevalent with Audi. They need to hammer home WHY it’s important and how that translates into a better ride (or better performance).

I honestly don’t know which car brand sells better in the USA but obviously each brand’s marketplace position impacts their marketing strategy/positioning relative to the competition.

Good comments!

By: david

david — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:17:35 +0000

Great debate. Thanks to Marketing Chief, Demo and DC.
My take is that as the guys have pointed-out, Quattro refers to Audi AWD technology, which seems to resonate strongly with the market.
As functional attributes go, Performance is a ripper, and BMW does seem to have the wood over Audi there.
It’s possible that some of the gusto of BMWs less positive brand associations do resonate better with their target market such as ‘Rich’ and maybe even ‘Snob’, but you’ll not convince me the overpowering ‘asshole’association is better than what Audi comes back as.
Now time to fess up @MarketingChief – what make of car are you driving?

By: dc

dc — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:24:21 +0000

@marketing Chief: Quattro in this instance probably refers to Audi’s AWD technology and not the car model itself. I think it’s a great selling point for the entire line-up and a wonderful differentiator from the AWD systems employed by the other German manufacturers. Think about it for a second, neither MB or BMW’s AWD system enjoy the same acclaim and branding as Audi’s.

By: Demosthenes X

Demosthenes X — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:53:39 +0000

@Marketing Chief

“Quattro” is also the name Audi applies to their All Wheel Drive system. Personally, when I associate “Audi” and “Quattro”, I associate the brand with the AWD system, and the safety and performance advantages of Quattro. The same way that I might associate “Subaru” with “symmetrical all wheel drive”.

Notably, “xDrive” (BMW’s all wheel drive moniker) does not make their list.

By: Marketing Chief

Marketing Chief — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:05:32 +0000

It is nice that Audi is getting high marks for their association with the Olympics but it’s also interesting to note that BMW ranks higher on the list vs. Audi on performance (I don’t know if it is statistically significant in your poll). Wouldn’t that attribute be more important to their target audience? When all is said and done, it is a car, after all. BMW has successfully touted the fact that they are the “Ultimate Driving Machine” for years so it would seem that the fact they own “performance” has paid off.

Also, I’m not sure I would want my brand’s #3 attribute (as is the case for Audi) to be tied to something external to my product. Ask Accenture how happy they are that they aligned themselves so closely with Tiger Woods.

And for you to point out that the fact that the mention of individual models shows that they have built differentiated market propositions is curious when the Quattro was last produced in 1991. Maybe it shows that they haven’t done enough to differentiate themselves in the last 20 years.

Do some of the negative associations that you mention for BMW actually resonate better with their target market? Does that show that BMW has more gusto (for lack of a better word) than Audi and that Audi is “too soft”??

It’s an interesting study and interesting debate.

The real question is: which attributes lead to increased sales for their brand?