Why Audi will win the U.S. marketing wars

By Brandon Wilcox
26 January 2009
Copyright © 2009 Evolve Marketing Ltd

U.S. auto makers are in the crap and their Japanese counterparts are suffering too, but Audi is set to win big time in the world's most important automobile market. Here's why Audi will make huge market share gains...

Chrysler's U.S. sales plummeted 30% in 2008, while GM dropped 23% and Ford lost 21%. Japanese automakers weren't exempt either, with Toyota down 16%, Nissan 11% and Honda 8%.

Last year may have been dismal, but predictions for 2009 are even worse - a further sales decline of up to 20%. Ouch. Nissan's CEO, Carlos Ghosn, says global car sales could take more than seven years to return to their 2007 levels of 69 million vehicles.

Advertising spend by U.S. automakers was down last year, and at the Detroit motor show ended yesterday, all said they will spend even less on marketing this year.

The exception is Audi
Last year Audi nearly tripled its advertising spend, from US$39 million in 2007 to US$87 million last year. And its US marketing chief Scott Keogh says Audi will spend a further 15 per cent more on advertising and marketing this year.

While other car companies are hitting the brakes on their TV spend, Keogh says that "...[sales and image] gains that may have taken five to six years we may be able to make in two to three."

Audi will kick off its 2009 television advertising campaign on 1 February with a 60-second Super Bowl commercial showcasing the A6 sedan. It then has a pair of new commercials for the Academy Awards on 22 February, a show which General Motors gave up last year.

Audi also purchased an eight-page "Progress Is Beautiful" newspaper insert in major dailies across the country in conjunction with last week's inauguration of President Barack Obama.

In my Cadbury marketing days when the economy faltered following the 1987 sharemarket crash our advertising agency, DDB Needham, gave us a presentation about the market share gains to be made by maintaining advertising spend while others were cutting back.

It's easy to dismiss such advice as nothing more than blatant self interest, and I'm sure there was an element of that, but what they said was the absolute truth and is backed up with solid research.

In recessionary times the natural inclination for companies, especially those driven by accounting types, is to batten down the hatches. But maintaining or even increasing your advertising and marketing budget will see you gain market share.

When the economy comes right and those other companies start spending again, they'll never regain the market share they lost to you.

And that, folks, is the brilliance of Audi. That is why I predict they will win the U.S. marketing wars.

Blatant plug: Are you thinking beyond surviving the recession to growing your business? Give Evolve a call on (09) 3600-120 or email brandon@evolve.co.nz
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