Volkswagen's Marketing Strategy in India

Abstract:

The case examines the marketing strategies of Volkswagen Group India, the Indian subsidiary of German automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen AG (Volkswagen). Volkswagen entered the Indian passenger car market in 2001 by launching its car brand - Skoda. In 2007, two of its other brands Audi and Volkswagen, were also launched in India. Volkswagen Group India emphasized on all aspects of marketing mix including product, price, place and promotion. The company offered three brands including Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen that together comprised of 15 different models as of late 2009. Volkswagen Group India mainly catered to the luxury segment of the Indian car market. The company had established presence in India through separate distribution channels for each of its brands.

In its initial years, Volkswagen Group India primarily used the print media to promote its products. However, considering the growth potential of India's automobile market, the company started using electronic, digital and out of home media along with print media. In November 2009, the company launched an integrated marketing campaign to strengthen its brand image. The case describes the marketing campaign and ends with a discussion on the growth prospects of the company in future.

Issues:

» Understand the dynamics of the Indian passenger car market.

» Examine the growth strategies of Volkswagen Group India over the years.

» Analyze the marketing strategies of Volkswagen Group India.

» Study the future prospects of Volkswagen Group India.

Contents:

	Page No.
Introduction	1
About Volkswagen	2
Marketing Strategy in India	3
Promotion	5
The Road Ahead	9
Exhibits	11

Keywords:

Volkswagen Group India, Volkswagen India Private Limited, Indian Passenger Car Industry, Marketing Mix, Brand Awareness, Beetle, Skoda, Audi, Product Positioning, Promotional Campaigns, Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Limited, Skoda Auto India Private Limited, Pricing, Print Ad Campaign, Television Commercials, Corporate Branding Strategy, Integrated Marketing Campaign, Roadblock, Iconic Brand Campaigns, Out Of the Home Campaign, Curves are Back

Introduction Contd...

Raj Sawant, Business Head of Automark Motors, a Volkswagen dealer in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, said, "There are already over 170 advance bookings across India, and we have started delivering the cars as well. Going by the initial euphoria, we expect to sell around 300 Beetles in 2010."3  Volkswagen Group India, the Indian subsidiary of leading automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen AG (Volkswagen), based in Wolfsburg, Germany, had entered the Indian passenger car market in 2001 by launching its car brand - Skoda. In 2007, two of its other brands Audi and Volkswagen, were also launched in India.

Over the years, Volkswagen Group India not only launched several products, but also ensured that its brands were well known among the Indian consumers. Although, the company had had a presence in the Indian car market since 2001 and the Skoda and Audi branded cars were well known among consumers, the Volkswagen brand was not well recognized in the country.

Therefore, in November 2009, the company launched an integrated marketing campaign to build its brand image. It also launched a marketing campaign for its iconic model, the Beetle. Volkswagen India expected that with its brand building exercise, it would be able to increase its sales and capture a significant market share in the Indian car market...

                         

  Kraft Foods' Mobile Marketing Strategy

Abstract:

This case is about US-based Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Company Kraft Foods' (Kraft) mobile marketing strategy. Due to a reduction in consumer spending on packaged goods, Kraft decided to tap the mobile channel to promote its products as this channel had the capacity to enable value-added marketing. The company's mobile marketing campaigns were designed to meet the needs of customers and to help them integrate the company's brands into their everyday lives. The case discusses the mobile marketing campaigns launched by Kraft Foods and their objectives. In 2008, Kraft launched a mobile campaign in Germany to promote the launch of its new instant coffee brand called Jacobs 2in1.

It was the first large-scale European product launch which used a mobile sampling campaign to enhance brand awareness. The campaign was integrated with traditional media and allowed customers to request samples and order products from their mobile phones. This was followed by the launch of a mobile cooking application for iPhone users called the iFood Assistant in December 2008. The application allowed customers to search for and download recipes, manage their shopping lists, and locate local stores thereby delivering value to the customer while at the same time promoting the company's products. The case also talks about the mobile website created by Kraft to facilitate consumer engagement on mobile devices, and how Kraft was taking its mobile marketing initiative further in countries such as Germany and the UK.

The case discusses whether the campaigns were successful in enhancing brand awareness and consumer involvement. It concludes by providing the reactions of analysts to Kraft Foods' mobile marketing campaigns. Analysts were of the view that the mobile marketing initiatives adopted by Kraft would serve the purpose of establishing a direct dialogue with customers as the mobile phone was a powerful communications device with respect to mobility, reach, and immediacy. Marketers should take advantage of the mobile medium and adopt it as part of their channel mix to gain a competitive edge, they said.

Issues:

» Study the mobile marketing strategy of Kraft Foods
» Understand the issues and challenges in creating and rolling out a mobile advertising campaign.
» Analyze the mobile marketing campaigns launched by Kraft Foods.
» Discuss and debate whether the mobile marketing campaigns of Kraft Foods would be able to achieve their objectives.
» Explore ways in which the company could make its mobile marketing campaigns more effective.

Introduction Contd...

Based in Northfield, Illinois, Kraft is the largest food company in North America with sales in more than 150 countries worldwide.  Some of its well-known brands are Kraft cheeses and dressings, Maxwell House coffees, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheeses, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Toblerone and Milka chocolates, and Tang powdered beverages.  For the year 2008, the company reported US$ 42 billion in annual revenues. Since the early 2000s, marketing through mobile phones had gained in popularity because of the value it delivered to the end consumers.

CPG companies embraced mobile marketing and employed elements such as SMS alerts, mobile banner ads on targeted sites, mobile coupons, and mobile loyalty programs to promote their products. 

At Kraft, the strategy was to demonstrate the values and attributes of Kraft's brands in an interactive way and provide consumers with relevant information such as recipes and nutrition information. The motive behind mobile marketing was to involve consumers and help them integrate the company's brands into their everyday lives.

In 2008, to respond to a reduction in consumer spending on packaged goods, Kraft adopted interactive marketing and decided to get onto the mobile Web by launching a mobile campaign in Germany in January 2008, to promote the launch of its new instant coffee brand called Jacobs 2in1. This was the first large-scale European product launch to use a mobile sampling campaign. The campaign was integrated with traditional media and allowed customers to request for samples and order products through their mobile phones...

Scorpio - Marketing an Automobile Brand

Abstract:

The case examines the marketing strategies adopted by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), leading Indian automobile manufacturer, for its newly launched sports utility vehicle 'Scorpio' in the early 21st century. It traces M&M's evolution from being just another Mahindra Group company into a major Indian business conglomerate. The reasons for the decision to develop the Scorpio are explained and details on the efforts that went into the creation of the vehicle are provided. Thereafter, the case discusses the marketing strategies (positioning, advertising, pricing and promotion) adopted by M&M for Scorpio. The case not only examines M&M's strategies for popularizing Scorpio, it also explores the increasing competition in the Indian SUV market.

Issues:

• Understand how changing market dynamics can force an industry leader to restructure its strategies (in terms of modifying the product mix and entering new segments)

Scorpio - Charging Ahead

In June 2003, 'Scorpio,' a sports utility vehicle (SUV3) from Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), a leading Indian automobile company, celebrated the first anniversary of its launch. This one year journey had been quite fruitful for Scorpio, which had impressed many industry observers and customers. A year ago, within the first eight days of its launch, Scorpio had attracted over 10,000 customers to its dealer showrooms and over 3,000 customer enquiries, resulting in 1000 order bookings. According to company sources, by the time it completed its first birthday, Scorpio had sold 15,000 units across India.

Media reports, automobile enthusiasts and industry analysts had all given the SUV extremely positive reports. With demand for the vehicle growing steadily, M&M even had to increase its production from 1,800 units per month in 2002 to 2,000 per month in June 2003, and 2,500 per month by late 2003.

Thanks to the high decibel advertising support, Scorpio had acquired high brand recall among consumers. In fact, it was said to be one of the very few automobile brands in India that successfully boosted the image of their parent companies (in this case M&M) as well. Since its launch, Scorpio had won many prestigious awards, such as 'Car of the Year 2003' from Business Standard Motoring, BBC World Wheels and CNBC Autocar. Besides improving M&M's image as an automobile company, Scorpio was reported to have played a major part in increasing the company's revenues for the financial year 2002-03.

The company's automotive segment witnessed a 37% increase in revenues, up from Rs 18.28 billion in 2001-2002 to Rs 25.11 billion in 2002-2003.

Also, M&M's automobile sales increased by 16% in 2002-2003 (68,852 units) over the previous year's sales (55,920 units).

The most important aspect of Scorpio's growing popularity was the impact it seemed to be having on the country's automobile market.

Scorpio had made other automotive manufacturers look afresh at the utility vehicles segment, which till now was believed to have little scope for growth in India.