BMW Aims to Keep Aging Yuppies
When stocks crashed in October and Wall Street used black humor to cope with Black Monday, the joke went: “What’s the difference between an investment banker and a pigeon? A pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW.”
Eight months later, the laugh may be on those who forecast hard times for the yuppie auto market.
BMW of North America Inc. continues to sell what it calls “the ultimate driving machine” to a market it targeted 14 years ago--young, affluent, ambitious baby boomers not interested in the Buicks and Cadillacs that displayed their parents’ success.
And as that market moves into middle age, BMW is confidently following along and carving a niche for itself with Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce at the top end of the luxury-car market.
BMW’s most expensive car, introduced shortly before the stock market crash last fall, sells for about $69,000. While new customers are welcome, it is aimed directly at people who have been driving a less expensive BMW for several years and who now want a little more elegance and prestige along with precise handling.
“When they were younger they chose BMW for its performance, but we are pointing out that BMW provides luxury and status as well,” explained Martin Puris, whose ads and TV commercials have aimed at the affluent young since 1975 and raised BMW’s sales in the United States from 14,000 cars that year to a peak of nearly 97,000 in 1986.
Puris’ slogans--”The Ultimate Driving Machine” and “Our symbol is under the hood, not on it”--focused on baby boomers’ desire to buy the best quality product, not the glitziest.
Now that the leading edge of BMW’s market has grown older, the trick for Puris is to show that customers don’t have to give up the BMW experience to have a touch more luxury.
Like Impressionist Paintings
To do that, his New York agency, Ammirati & Puris, has created a campaign unlike anything BMW has tried before. In one new commercial, luxury cars drive by a townhouse in Washington’s Georgetown district, discharging elegantly dressed couples for a party.
Bobby Short, the cafe-society entertainer, is heard singing Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You.” Several party-goers have white hair.
As the commercial ends, the camera shows a silver BMW parked in front of the townhouse, seamlessly blending in with the wealthy ambiance.
“The BMW 7-series. It brings new blood to a class of automobile that can certainly benefit from it,” a narrator says.
Print versions of the campaign resemble impressionist paintings. Copy is spare. They contrast with how Puris has been marketing less expensive BMWs to younger buyers for 14 years--stark photos of the car and a lot of description.
The approach also contrasts with some other luxury-cars ads.
Cadillac dealers in the New York area, for instance, are calling attention to recent price increases for imports.
In commercials, the dealers note that for what it costs to buy a 7-series BMW, you can get two Cadillac de Villes (about $23,000 each) and have enough left over to pay a chauffeur’s wages. “Why pay more for luxury when you can get more luxury for your money?” the ads ask.
Sales Have Dropped
Sales of BMWs and other foreign models have fallen in recent months, partly because of the market crash but mainly because of the fall in the value of the dollar, a slide that began in early 1985. That has forced the price of imports higher.
BMW sales fell 9% last year to 87,839 from a peak of 96,759 in 1986. Sales were off another 18% through May, but BMW says it still expects to sell 80,000 to 85,000 cars for the full year.
The average buyer for the 3-series BMW, the least expensive that the company sells, is about 36 years old and makes $70,000 a year.
Versions of the new advertising campaign will be developed later for BMW’s less expensive models. But in the meantime, BMW doesn’t think the new approach will leave those customers feeling forgotten.
Carl Flesher, a marketer at BMW’s U.S. headquarters in Montvale, N.J., put it like this: “When a 3-series owner takes a look at that party in Georgetown, he won’t feel left out--he’ll feel like he should be there.”
