The Smart Car entering the US Market

Résumé du document

The Smart car brand has seen great success in France over the last several years. Through our research, we have found that Smart has enormous potential in the United States' automobile industry. Thus, we have created a marketing plan that outlines the strategies and tactics that Smart brand should take, beginning at the end of 2007. If implemented effectively, these strategies will create strong brand image and a clear and unique position in the United States' automobile market within a short span of time.

To begin with, we will implement a market skimming pricing strategy prior to the official launch of the Smart car in the United States. This will allow consumers to purchase the Smart car before it becomes too mainstream. However, as we have identified our primary target market to be sensible, reasonable, and practical, we will lower the price at the time of the official launch.

Extraits

[...] Through our primary research, we discovered that both our primary and secondary target markets have very similar needs and benefits sought when looking for a car. However, the dates lag behind the primary objectives and the percentages are slightly lower. 11/18 International Marketing 5. THE MARKETING MIX a. Product It is our intention to standardize as much as possible in order to maintain the design that is smart car. Yet, due to US government regulations, we will need to increase the length by 7 inches, slightly increase the weight, and adjust the emissions. [...]

[...] We have devolved a number of promotional campaigns, through a variety of media, to help us build our image and positioning as set forth in our positioning statement. We plan to insure that all of our promotion is in line with our objectives and that these promotions all work seamlessly to create a clear IMC. We have created a number of campaigns that work to this end. They are: Seeing Smart, The Smart Experience, Smart Spots, Surfing Smart, and Smart in the 12/18 International Marketing News. [...]

[...] They will have access to interactive chats with smart experts, contact info sign-ups, and an interactive gallery that shows off the features of the car. The site will be tailored to the different stages of the buying process so that all potential Se e with Zipcar, so that the cars will W or Additionally, we plan to partner In 16/18 International Marketing consumers can gain something from the website, as well as allowing us to tailor our advertisement and promotion to the individual, beyond the website. [...]

[...] Our secondary target market has stated on those keys insight factors: 9/18 International Marketing 4. OUR POSITIONING STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES Our positioning statement could be: By creating a unique combination of innovative design and unrivalled practicality that result from compact size and functional fuel-efficiency, the smart car is the only vehicle that offers its drivers and passengers the feeling of being progressive, intelligent, and cutting-edge. After defining our positioning statement, it then became necessary to define realistic goals for the upcoming years, particularly those leading up to and immediately following our US launch. [...]

[...] Launch in France Smart car's success in France did not come without trial and error. From its debut, the French smart managers failed to deliver a clear message about the smart brand's unique selling proposition, and as a result, smart quickly became seen as a toy for rich people, offering little practical value to common consumers. However, after the merging with Daimler-Chrysler in 1999, smart managers repositioned the product and launched an advertising campaign focusing on the “avant-garde” image of the smart car and its respective owners. [...]