Promotional Mix and Activity of BMW Group

This document explores the promotional mix and activities of BMW Group. It provides an overview of their marketing strategies, including advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, and more. The document also discusses the AIDA model of promotion mix and its application to BMW.

BMW

Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
INRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
Background of the Topic........................................................................................................3
Promotional Mix and Activity of BMW Group.....................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
Model 1: AIDA model of Promotion Mix..............................................................................9
Definition of AIDA model.....................................................................................................9
Application of AIDA to BMW.............................................................................................10
Evaluation of effectiveness...................................................................................................10
Model 2: Communication model..........................................................................................10
Definition of Communication Model...................................................................................10
Application of Communication Model to BMW..................................................................11
Evaluation of effectiveness...................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................14

TASK 1
INRODUCTION
Background of the Topic
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or commonly called as BMW is a group which is working
as manufacturer of luxury cars and acting as a multinational large scale organisation. The
operations of BMW are divided in 4 different market segments that tend to produce automotive,
motorcycles, provide financial services and produce spare parts accessories and mobility
services. They are (Graf and et. al. 2020) working as both manufacturers and suppliers who
assembles the spare parts and manufactures cars and automobiles under the tag BMW. The
employability of employees is very huge at an approximate of over one lakh employees as they
offer a wide variety of services. It is a luxury brand which is working in satisfying the needs of
rich class individual. The annual report of BMW shows that they have delivered an approximate
of 9.2 % in automotive market. As the BMW is large scale organisation, it is listed as a plc. on
London Stock Exchange. BMW is considered to be the world’s twelfth largest producer of
motorcycles and vehicles. The automobiles which are marketed under BMW can be seen as Mini
Rolls-Royce and motorcycles with the brand BMW Motorrad. The company BMW specialises in
producing touring cars, sports cars and Formula 1 cars. The organisation BMW is headquartered
in Munich and execute its operations in Germany, Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United
Kingdom, the United States and Mexico. They hold a lot of equity shares. The prices of the
products and services delivered by BMW group is generally very high and is affordable only to
those who prefer luxurious (Hu and Yuan 2018) services. Looking to this the prices are very high
which makes revenue also high and increase the annual turnover to many folds.

Promotional Mix and Activity of BMW Group
Brick and mortar
This refers to a physical store where the owner directly sells goods and services to the
potential customers. In BMW they follow brick-and-mortar, as the employees directly sell goods
that is manufactured under their brand name to the consumers through direct marketing,
advertising, interactive marketing and others. It is a feature where extra cost of mediators are
narrow down.
Promotion Mix of BMW
Marketing mix is a set of activities which are executed by the marketing manager. In
order to enhance sales and revenue generation 7 P's of marketing mix. Promotion mix holds a
significant place in operations of BMW. Promotional mix can be referred as the combination of
specific methods which are used for advertising the product and services. This will increase the
focus of target customers and will lead in in generating high sales. The promotion is a broad term
which can be (Jeong and et. al. 2017) performed by executing advertising of the product and
services. Sales promotion, sponsoring events and experiences, enhancing public relations,
publicising the product, direct marketing of the product, initiating personal selling, working on
interactive marketing along with this the managers are focused on new instrument of marketing
which is social media marketing. This is very effective as today's era is highly connected to
social media and it is easy to get personally connected with them. Through this digital platform,
the organisation focuses on promotion of goods and services through various tactics which cater
the interest of individuals. This can be performed through attractive packaging on various office
services.
Advertising Strategy of BMW
For any organisation to sustain with competition and work for increasing sales,
advertising is an utmost thing in BMW. Being a luxurious brand they have different advertising
strategies which they use to attract consumers. It works for reducing the competitive rivalry. This
spend millions on advertising so that they can create a loyal consumer base. As BMW is a
luxurious brand they spend a lot on advertising the goods and services. For this they use one of
the most traditional and popular marketing tip which involves celebrities as the brand
ambassadors. Through this they are continuously working in launching new products this spend

more than 300 million (Jovanović and et. al. 2017) US dollars on advertising as per the report of
2019 in the states of US. The tagline for BMW is driving pleasure which is being evolved from
many years and was first seen in in 1930. The BMW ad purely acts as a status symbol for their
target consumers. They manage this by advertising their product and meeting the promises which
they made in a whole different and unique manner.
Public Relations and Publicity of BMW
It is very essential for the organisation to maintain public relations with the consumers.
This will help them in maintaining loyal customer base and making an enhanced goodwill. The
managers of BMW works in enhancing the public relations and facilitating publicity of the
product. It can enable in introducing high goodwill and to enhance publicity of products,
managers of BMW organised several programs to interact with potential customers and enhance
their relations. This will help them in launching new products and services through third party
media channels and industry. They (Kauerhof 2017) are continuously advertising themselves and
showing their new and modified features time to time which cater interest of potential customers.
As the brand is luxurious brand they organises press release time to time in which they focus on
providing the insight of organisation and showing what are the benefits they are providing.
Sales Promotion of BMW
Sales promotion refers to promoting sales. It refers to generating sales in organisation
BMW so that more and more consumers around the world are attracted towards it. It is regarded
as a traditional method to promote a product. The sales promotion techniques used by BMW is
STP. It refers to segmenting the market and targeting the premium customers by selecting and
categorising the consumers on behaviour of their purchase. The target market of BMW is to
thrive in the existing market rather than competing in every segment the company. With this they
also provide loyalty discount to their customer which acts as source to create more consumers.
This is a form of incentive issued to their loyal consumers, for example the loyalty credit cards
can be used while the journey of flight where consumers can discount their spending in their
journey.
Events and Experiences of BMW
In order to enhance the goodwill on brand image of BMW, the managers are focused on
organizing videos programs where they can showcase the company and its operations. In this
regards they have been sponsoring several events which works as earning high interest of

individuals in the society. They sponsors famous 5 leading Esports which can be seen as Cloud
9, Fnatic, Funplus, Phoenix, G2 Esports and T1. Being a large multinational organization BMW
is walking to words CSR corporate social responsibilities and even handling the social issues.
They are looking for the (Kukkamalla, Bikfalvi and Arbussa 2020) efforts to mend society and
its people. The social responsibility includes innovation, social inclusion, sustainable use of
resources, development of competencies and others. This the brand is focused on educating
people about HIV AIDS, development of people, educating them and others.
Personal Selling of BMW
The personal selling is another vital element of marketing strategy which is followed by
BMW to enhance sales. In this they use their employees and people associated to them to cater
interest of wide population who comprises of the target market only. Personal selling refers to
the strategy to sell product using the employees. They work as meeting the demands of
customers, the employees promote their product by giving detailed knowledge regarding the
product and other specifications. In BMW, the organisation focuses on the outlook of their
employees considering their physical appearance, way of communicating, knowledge criteria so
that they can easily attract consumers and persuade them to purchase the product.
Direct Marketing of BMW
Direct marketing refers to promoting the product directly to consumers. It is done by
communicating to the consumer themselves rather than using third party like media. Social
media organise campaign's, programs, events which are then further used for communicating in
direct marketing. BMW has initiated several marketing techniques which comes under direct
marketing. In this consumers are communicated directly and they are told about the schemes,
policies, discounts and extra (Lischka 2017) benefits which are given by the organisation. It can
also be said that in direct marketing the BMW reaches directly to the potential customer,
describing their benefits, discounts, policies, schemes, offers and others which can make
individual attract towards it. It will also facilitate the purchase of same. This involves more time
but less cost which makes this method cost efficient.
Interactive Marketing of BMW
As the name suggests interactive marketing refers to two way communication where both
organisation and its employees communicate with consumers and queries are resolved timely.
Whereas the employees and consumers can exchange their perception on particular topic which

can further be preceded. The BMW is hiring employees through online channels who can work
in resolving the queries as and when required through online platforms only. It is performed by
extending hands towards tele calling services and by this way the tele callers can in turn provide
their services under the brand name of BMW. It can be said that in interactive marketing the
focus is made on discussing the features and creativity which BMW has brought to its product as
compared to that of others. It works for solving the problems hand to hand and providing a better
experience to customers which make their mind instantly to purchase the product. This also helps
in making personal relation which works for making loyal consumer base.
Mouth marketing of BMW
Mouth marketing refers to the marketing which is indirect and is executed by the
consumers of the organisation. The consumers in organisation share their experiences with their
friends and relatives which enhance the sales by promoting and advertising the product. In BMW
managers are focused on providing marvellous services to consumers which in turn works as
mouth marketing. Social media marketing is the Digital form of marketing and Advertising it is
carried forward through social media platforms like Facebook WhatsApp Instagram and others.
This refers to marketing which is indirect and is executed by the consumers of organisation. The
consumers of organisation share their experiences with their friends and relatives which enhance
the sales by promoting and advertising.
Social Media Marketing of BMW
This is the digital form of marketing which is carried forward through social media
platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and others. In this BMW is focused on
employing competent staff who can handle their social accounts. These employees are
continuously focused on advertising and promoting their product by various types which
involves surveys, photos, posting comments, tagging and much more. BMW is effectively using
social media to cater the potential market. This is enhancing their personality and building them
to reinforce their position in the market.

TASK 2
Model 1: AIDA model of Promotion Mix
Definition of AIDA model
The AIDA model is the acronym of attention, interest, desire and action. It shows the
steps which are processed by a customer when he is purchasing a product. The AIDA model was
established in 19th century and is known as hierarchy of effects which is faced by consumer on
the event of purchase. This decides how will the consumer purchase and in what quantity. The
first step is attention where the consumer increases his awareness about the product. Then they
develops knowledge and enhance interest by knowing more about it and how will it fit his
lifestyle. The third step comes is of desire where consumer develops his liking towards the
particular brand. The last and final stage is action where consumer performs the actual step that
is purchasing the relevant product. Many a times attention is replaced with awareness in the
hierarchy model. It is operated by the method of advertising and then taking response on the
same place. The consumers in this model develop a cognitive thinking which will help them in
purchasing the best product (Quijano and Pérezet. 2018) according to what they need. The AIDA
model can be called as a blueprint of marketing mix, advertising functions and sales management
which is used to focus on the essential touch points. These are them used to cause the whole
journey of customer who purchases. This starts from getting aware about a respective product to
the end which is buying it. In this the journey is divided in four fundamental stages as discussed
above. The model suffers a disadvantage which is that it completes just after the purchase and
does not cater the needs of after sales services. This can be regarded as the major drawback of
model.

Application of AIDA to BMW
AIDA model is applied in in BMW where the consumers go through a series of process.
This is executed through organising an elaborated campaign by the managers where they discuss
about the product and give specifications and other details. This is considered as the first step of
model where attention of the target market is catered. The second step of interest is developed
through carrying on advertising the new or existing product which can be automobile or any
financial services by some creative and innovative means. After this the social media is used
where several attractive post are posted on digital platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter,
Instagram and others. Then on which feedback and suggestions are demanded which directly and
indirectly works in receiving the desire of the target market. In the end action is being taken by
completing the sales which is the last and final step of the AIDA model. This completes the
whole process of AIDA model in BMW. The AIDA model evaluates the cognitive stages of a
customer which he goes through in the event of buying the goods or services from a respective
brand. This is a process where all the stages are created one by one in order to complete the
purchase. The AIDA model (Ryba and et. al.2017) will help in achieving the winning in market
and working for achieving competitive rivalry.
Evaluation of effectiveness
The effectiveness of BMW can be measured on the basis of a model as it helps in
categorising the key performance indicators when the interest is developed in the customers. The
interest will tell the main elements which are there in the existing market and can be resolved
within time. The social media comments, likes, shares on the post of BMW will help in knowing
the desires of customers which will further lead the company to develop their strategies
accordingly. If customers are not satisfied or are very less satisfied then there is an urgent need
of more enhancing strategies so that large consumer market is established.
Model 2: Communication model
Definition of Communication Model
The communication model is used to explain the communication process between
individuals in an organisation. Communication is required to be an effective and important tool
to communicate between the officials of an organisation and the customers. This will help in
delivering the strategies in an effective manner. This will also facilitate in knowing the

consumers demand and receive the knowledge about whatever they want. This will clear the
confusion between both the parties and the sale conducted will be effective. There are five
elements in the communication model which was described and given by Shannon and Weaver.
This is considered as the original model and these can be seen as information source, transmitter,
channel, receiver and destination. This model was firstly initiated in 1948 and describes the
process of communication as a linear process. The model describes how a sender send his
message to the receiver. Communication model is a systematic and strategic presentation of the
process that gives the clear demonstration of how the thought and facts can be exchanged
between two different parties. They form a general perspective by breaking the complex
procedure and making it simple and easy to use.
Application of Communication Model to BMW
In order to communicate with customers the manager of BMW are required to build a
good relationship which has to be professional as well as personal. This will result in knowing
the needs that are created and suggestions of the customers are heard in a tactful manner. It will
be regarded as an effective listening as the suggestions and methods thus given by the customers
are worked upon. The managers of BMW are taking full efforts to rectify the deficiencies which
are existing in their product. And after rectification they are also asking the customers whether
their problems are resolved or not. This will work in developing the customer service standards
and does create a better goodwill in the market. This will also result in resolving disputes quickly
and easily.

Evaluation of effectiveness
To carry on the communication model it is required for the sender to follow the process of
communication. Several times there are challenges faced while conducting the effective process
of communication like there can be variations in cultural differences, attitude, listening skills.
For this the sender has to be very ( Sovacool and et. al. 2019) efficient and deliver his message in
the way the receiver can understand properly. The process of communication will be effective
when the sender sends the message which is firstly encoded and then sent, after that the message
is decoded and the receiver receives it. The process of communication is completed when the
receiver receives the message and response on the same by giving the feedback to the sender.
This is the whole process of communication and can be conducted through social media channels
like digital platforms or through telephonic conversation or through campaigns, seminars,
debates, programmes, events, sponsorship activities and much more.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Graf, H., Blümelhuber, U., Schwarz, F. and Ritter, S., 2020. The Four-cylinder Engine from
BMW Motorrad with ShiftCam Technology. MTZ worldwide, 81(1), pp.44-51.
Hu, Z. and Yuan, J., 2018. China’s NEV market development and its capability of enabling
premium NEV: Referencing from the NEV market performance of BMW and Mercedes in
China. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 118, pp.545-555.
Jeong, J., Lee, W., Kim, N., Stutenberg, K. and Rousseau, A., 2017. Control analysis and model
validation for BMW i3 range extender (No. 2017-01-1152). SAE Technical Paper.
Jovanović, T.A.N.J.A., Bansemir, B.A.S.T.I.A.N., Kirchner, M.A.R.T.I.N. and Voigt, K.I., 2017.
The crowdfunding idea contest of BMW. In Proceedings of the 26th international
association for management of technology conference, Vienna, Austria.
Kauerhof, A., 2017. Strategies for Autonomous, Connected and Smart Mobility in the
Automotive Industry. A Comparative Analysis of BMW Group and Tesla Motors Inc. GRIN
Publishing.
Kukkamalla, P.K., Bikfalvi, A. and Arbussa, A., 2020. The new BMW: business model
innovation transforms an automotive leader. Journal of Business Strategy.
Lischka, C., 2017. Business athlete–exciting driving dynamics for the all-new BMW 5 series.
In 8th International Munich Chassis Symposium 2017 (pp. 83-103). Springer Vieweg,
Wiesbaden.
Quijano, C.G. and Pérez, J.E.S., 2018. Una aplicación del marco de las Cinco Fuerzas de Porter
al grupo BMW.
Ryba, D.M., Li, J., Cowan, C.L., Russell, B., Wolska, B.M. and Solaro, R.J., 2017. Long-term
biased β-arrestin signaling improves cardiac structure and function in dilated
cardiomyopathy. Circulation, 135(11), pp.1056-1070.
Sovacool, B.K., Rogge, J.C., Saleta, C. and Masterson-Cox, E., 2019. Transformative versus
conservative automotive innovation styles: Contrasting the electric vehicle manufacturing
strategies for the BMW i3 and Fiat 500e. Environmental innovation and societal
transitions, 33, pp.45-60.