Luxury car marketing experience

Had he not been to the Land Rover Guangzhou Experience Center, Ji Gang was still an ordinary staff member of the Sichuan Communications Department. Now, he and his colleagues will receive several batches of guests to drive off-road vehicles every week. They are responsible for giving them training in driving skills and safety knowledge, and occasionally some emergency assistance. In addition, most of the time each year, he will follow the experience of the center's national and even global off-road expeditionary activities as escort instructors.

These have caused Ji Gang’s life to undergo an unprecedented transformation, and a change has also taken place. But what he did not even realize is that he is more like his instructors than the traditional sales staff. It has become the most important part of Land Rover's experiential business model.

Experience the right way

Forbes magazine once described the Cross Water Resort: “In the quiet valley of South China, there is a water stream on both sides of the Qingshan Mountain. A golden bamboo bridge spans across the Qing Dynasty, and you can see the building corners.... ”

Land Rover Guangzhou Nankun Mountain Forest Park Experience Center was built in a deep mountain jungle not far from here. Land Rover has developed more than 20 off-road projects based on the original mountain-shaped landform and the design data of cross-country roadblocks. Drive along the mountain road and enter here, here odd rocks, waterfalls in Mingquan, unfathomable, along the way you have to go through the car on the top of the megalithic potholes such as “Dinosaurs Walk”, you have to feel the limits of the roll, but also To withstand the high-altitude turbulence "sawboard", or thrilling to complete the 45 degree downhill and so on. That's right, this is the paradise for explorers.

In 2011, Land Rover continued to refresh its annual sales volume, which increased by 54% year-on-year and consolidated its position in the domestic SUV market. In this kind of performance, what many people may not know is that the Land Rover Experience Center is doing its best. At present Land Rover has 33 experience centers around the world. Each experience center has its own highlights due to its geographical, cultural and special settings. Its customer conversion rate is as high as 30% on average, and Land Rover Guangzhou Experience Center's conversion rate can reach 40%. The generally accepted conversion rate in the industry is only about 15% to 20%. Experience has become the most important and most persuasive marketing method for Land Rover.

China has become the world's largest auto market, and it is also the world's largest luxury car market. Consumer groups are becoming more and more mature. It is difficult to make a deal simply relying on traditional advertising marketing or single salon activities. People are more eager to pursue Lifestyle, values, and even cultural identity.

Toffler had predicted long ago that “With the advancement of technology, people collect experiences as if they had collected many old things worthy of nostalgia.” In the face of increasingly diversified and personalized consumers, more car companies are conscious of the need to create more fun experiences for these new consumer groups through the use of automobiles, providing them with more novel consumer enjoyment and designing more exotic products. The consumer experience allows them to leave a unique and memorable consumer memory.

As the most direct contact channel between car companies and consumers, 4S stores have been given a variety of experience functions. Entering the newly opened Beijing Infiniti flagship store in early July, a “new and luxurious” wind is on the way. The minimalist gardening style and the interior design atmosphere created by the art gallery standards allow every visitor to experience Not the same aesthetic and life style.

The theme of the experience of the Beijing BMW 5S Store, which opened almost in the same period, focuses on sustainable development (ie, the newly added 5th S), where everything from construction materials to energy use, natural light coverage, and water recycling systems is strictly enforced. Observe the requirements of environmental protection and low-carbon energy conservation. It is clear that BMW hopes to evoke a kind of energy saving, social responsibility, and return to nature among consumers.

The Land Rover Experience Center is different from the 4S shop. It is a brand that Land Rover has run exclusively to create an experience culture. “Land Rover’s global experience centers are located in some mountains, some in the desert and some in the ski area.” explains Gu Jing, vice president of PR relations at Jaguar Land Rover, “We want every experiencer to be in the middle of the adventure. Passion can be expressed in the most natural relaxed state, so that there is a whole new way of actively seeking self and exploring an unknown life attitude."

Experience change mode

Cars, especially luxury cars, are a special kind of consumer goods. Consumers are increasingly focusing on pre-purchase experiences. Cars, on the other hand, are products that are very easy to implement experience marketing. However, they are often costly or expensive.

In some first-tier cities, the cost of 4S shops for luxury cars, which are often based on experience, is extremely alarming. The newly built Xingde Baby Horse 5S shop has spent 320 million yuan. In order to create an environment-friendly and responsible experience, BMW has made great efforts in detailing the 5S shop.

“We have installed sound-absorbing panels on the top of the space in our store, which will not produce echoes and affect the outside noise. And when some people need their own space, there will be no other sound interference.” For example, the total number of Star Debao Manager Zhuang Zengwen said that the higher the interest, “We rely on the 2.9-degree slope of the glass on the roadside. If it shines through the sun, all the light refracts to the ground, so it will not bring recessiveness to the driver of the passing traffic in the construction area. Threats."

In addition, 90% of rainwater can be recovered and reused in the Starbucks store, thereby reducing water consumption by 50%. 5% of natural energy can be obtained with 1,500 square meters of solar photovoltaic panels and wind power. At the same time, the ground source heat pump can also help to save 60% of the total air conditioning power consumption.

Excellent hardware investment capital is a Kaner, and there is also a necessary difficulty in internal sales from the content to the process and the entire model changes. When experience, not demand, becomes the main incentive for consumers to purchase luxury cars, marketing is different from everything else in the past.

“Once a promotional campaign was designed with the goal of experience,” Gao Jie, a marketing manager at Stardebauer, found that “the content and form of the activities and the processes are completely different”. In the past, the most important thing was to discover the customer's needs. “If there is no demand, what do you do? How to better meet the demand?” Now that demand is no longer the first driving factor, “You have to give customers What is the difference that your company can bring? Is it worth your trust? Can you impress customers? ”

What has been tested before is your ability to "proactively confession". Now "confession" does not necessarily bring about positive results, but it requires the re-cultivation of an "imperceptible" ability. This point, Zhu Liwei, who is the marketing director of BMW (China), should feel even more profound. For this reason, BMW has also adjusted its marketing strategy. The “BMW Hyatt” campaign launched in 2010 is precisely to break the original blinding trend. The style of being above and beyond, from the experience that originally focused on personal enjoyment, began to enjoy from sharing, and paid attention to the new cultural transformation of experience such as public welfare and social responsibility.

The new experience culture was also passed down to the Star Debao 5S shop. Actually, on the day of the opening of the store, the “Star Debao Green Environmental Protection Volunteer” was jointly launched by the Beijing Volunteer Service Foundation and Xingdebao. Service Special Fund", the fund will be mainly used for BMW Green Action.

The biggest difference in experiential marketing is that Gao Jie must begin to organize BMW owners and some potential customers to carry out various activities frequently. At the time of other 4S stores at Starbucks, they organized in the 52 weeks of the year. With 58 events, this means that at the end of every weekend she will be present at various events. In most cases, she will continue to intervene between events.

Implicit marketing

The experience that brought about the most radical changes in the marketing model was Land Rover.

The Land Rover Experience Center has both direct investment from Land Rover and independent operation from Land Rover in the United Kingdom, but it is consistent in management mode. Land Rover China's experience center can share resources with more than 30 Land Rover experience centers around the world. Talent qualifications are also issued by the UK Land Rover headquarters for unified certification.

The Land Rover Forest Park Guangzhou Experience Center is the second in China after the establishment of the first “Beijing Land Rover Great Wall Experience Center” in 2006, and it is also the first independently operated Land Rover Experience Center in China officially authorized by Land Rover Motor Company of the United Kingdom.

The main business of Land Rover Guangzhou Experience Center comes from training. According to Gu Jing's introduction, they will classify customers into three categories: car owners, car customers, and potential customers. Different training plans and contents are formulated for different car owners, for example, for car owners. Provide vehicle training, cross-country primary, intermediate and advanced training and other related training, and invite them to participate in expedition activities, focusing on improving their loyalty to the brand, forming a good word of mouth and circle marketing, causing circle buying behavior And secondary purchase behavior.

In addition, for booking customers, they will be invited to experience the Land Rover Experience Center to enhance their experience of off-road capability and driving control of the Land Rover models, forming “pre-feeling” feelings. In addition, for potential customers, they will cooperate with the marketing department and invite them to the center to experience and deepen their impression of the Land Rover brand from the brand, culture, and product levels, and translate into real-time purchasing power.

Throughout the process, instructors like Ji Gang are rightfully the most central people in the entire team. Currently, the instructors of the Guangzhou Experience Center are mainly chief instructors, senior instructors, and demonstrators. They not only have to show customers the characteristics, technology, and advantages of Land Rover products, but also bring the driver and passengers the actual driving experience. Experience; at the same time, it can also guide potential customers to find their own needs in the experience, so as to help them choose the most suitable Land Rover products.

"Ultimately, the customer purchase needs inspired by the Land Rover Experience Center will be handed over to the Land Rover sales department in a timely manner and will be handed over to distributors for follow-up services," said Gu Jing.

After a senior marketing expert analyzed the operating model of the Land Rover Experience Center, the biggest difference behind him is that the career of the instructor has undergone a great transformation. Although its content and form have not changed, it is The replacement of salespeople in the marketing chain has played a crucial role.

“Because of the technical expertise, instructors can more easily gain the trust of the experiencer, and at the same time, in the unique experience of Land Rover design, through joint exploration, they form a rare partnership with the experiencer. This is traditional sales. It is very difficult for the staff to reach a recessive marketing with higher success rate."

The changes that can be triggered in the future may be not only a change in the sales model, but also can lead to changes in the corporate organizational structure and even a career.