Trendsetters BMW & GMC Using the Web to Drive Sales
Today's larger, progressive companies are investing millions of dollars into discovering how to deliver their message effectively to consumers via the Internet. For smaller businesses with smaller budgets, the dollars that larger corporations sink into bolder internet marketing campaigns are like free internet marketing lessons without risk or expense.
While your company may not be as large as those mentioned in this article, the following scalable examples illustrate how moving even a small portion of your marketing budget over to Internet Marketing can translate into noticeable returns for your company.
BMW Takes Hollywood Online
6.5 years ago on bmwfilms.com BMW released and distributed a stunt-filled, action mini-film series called "The Hire" starring actor Clive Owen (Sin City and The Bourne Identity). Guided by such directors as John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Hulk, Brokeback Mountain), Wong Kar-Wai, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Woo (Mission Impossible II), and Joe Carnahan, this was unquestionably a big-budget Hollywood style production.
The 8-part series, each directed by a different director, won numerous awards and received accolades from the New York Times and Time Magazine. The result: over 100 Million film views translating into approximately 1.9 million film views per month over its 4.5 year run which ended in October of 2005. Though the series is no longer available for download, various websites still sell the DVD 6.5 years after it first debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.
If these films released via non-traditional media such as television, the statistics would have been less accurate and much more time-consuming and expensive to track. Imagine if those films made just 1% or 1 Million of those viewers curious enough to visit a BMW showroom. If even 1% of those 1 Million leads purchased a vehicle at an average vehicle cost (est.) of $50,000.00 USD that translates into $500 million USD of additional sales over 4.5 years; just over $111 Million a year of additional revenue.
Sure, few companies have the budget that BMW has but try scaling it all down and finding a unique way to present your own products online that will excite your target market and leave your competition in the dust. The lesson here is thinking outside the box.
GMC Uses Traditional Media to Support Online Campaign
For the last 3 years, GMC has been working with creative company Digitas - the National Football League (NFL), and the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) - to power an online interactive campaign for GMC.com. Mary Kubitskey, national advertising manager for GMC had this to say about the decision to move advertising dollars online: "Any day I'll trade traditional media money for something nontraditional. Digitas did a great job in putting together a promotion, and we feed the promotion with traditional media." The campaign is a direct result of the company moving a larger percentage of its advertising dollars online.
She also added, "As with all our traditional marketing advertising, we're trying to go more digital. It's not a surprise that 30-second ads aren't working like they used to, and this gave us an opportunity to interact with NFL fans and football. I spend too many hundreds of millions of dollars in traditional media and broadcast 30-second spots and it's getting hard to see that money work for us. So we're engaging Digitas to keep trying to bring us what's new."
Bigger companies are starting to realize that traditional media doesn't have the same bite as it used to so they're thinking of ways to use traditional means in conjunction with newer online strategies to advertise effectively. Think of ways you can use your existing locations or marketing mediums to augment or enhance a web marketing campaign.
By Michael Dela Cruz.
Visit the Blog about gmc houston2007 GMC Yukon: Still Too Much?
I realize I may be stepping on some toes, but please hear me out. The upcoming, new from the ground up, GMC Yukon is certain to be perceived by some as being too much…in size, that is. With fuel prices at an all time high and consumer sentiment shifting to smaller vehicles will the GMC Yukon be considered outdated even before it hits showroom floors in Spring 2006? Let’s take a look at many of the changes planned for the all new Yukon and then you can decide for yourself.
General Motors has been itching to release the Yukon and a host of other full sized GMC/Chevrolet models to the public as soon as possible. Some find this odd, particularly since fuel prices are high and demand for large vehicles is on the decline. Still, there is good reason why GM wants you to take a closer look at upcoming offerings including the 2007 GMC Yukon, their big SUV:
New from the ground up. Ask anyone who purchases large trucks and SUVs and they will tell you that owning one with the latest technology is often a deciding factor in purchasing a new model. GM is right on schedule with the update; however as with any “older model” vehicle currently on the market sales typically decline as a new model is prepared for release.
Engine efficiency. The 2007 Yukon’s two V8s will produce greater horsepower than the previous engines, but they will register an increase in fuel economy. How so? General Motors is incorporating Displacement on Demand technology, which deactivates some of the cylinders at low loads for increased fuel economy. You may recall a more basic version of this technology being applied to Cadillac models in the early 1980s; that particular V8-6-4 technology was ahead of its time and GM had to pull it back then as the engines did not do what was intended for them to do. Now, more than a generation later, General Motors has worked out all the kinks and has vastly improved on the original idea.
Safety. Roof mounted side curtain air bags will now be made available for all three rows of passengers. GM has been on a major offensive over the past half decade or more in stressing safety, a big seller for any vehicle. A better ABS system and StabiliTrak, GM’s premier handling system, will also be included.
Technological improvements. Rear camera systems, power fold and tumble rear seats, and an improved navigation system are some of the updates. The interior of the 2007 Yukon is actually larger than preceding models.
While General Motors can only wish that fuel prices were lower, the company is hoping that each of their new models can take a greater slice of the shrinking big truck/SUV pie. With new models from Ford still a year or two away, the Yukon is poised to cut into Expedition sales as well as take back sales lost to Lexus. Even with high fuel prices in place, there will likely always be a core market of people who need a vehicle of the Yukon’s size; General Motors knows this and has updated their line of vehicles to keep pace.
By Matthew Keegan.
