Rental Car Retention Program - Essay

Total Length: 1272 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 4

Page 1 of 4

There are more BMW's and Porches being driven than Maserati. Position as a unique and superb driving machine, and extension of personality. Never call it a car.

Brand leadership -- Emphasize hand crafted and unmatched quality. Brand has been known for decades as unmatchable.

Head on positioning -- Emphasis on not really an apples-to-apples comparison; emphasize specs and luxury differences. FOCUS on innovation. Use statistics of the number of BMW and Porche's sold, then compare with that special person -- make user believe they are purchasing an investment worthy of a King.

Lifestyle Positioning -- Use purchase to boost image and exert success

Cost -- Not really as much of an issue at this range; but simply indicate that only special people can handle this vehicle; all routine maintenance will be covered in full for 5-years. Treat client like VIP.

Positioning venues -- Purchase list of high-end executives and send an invitation for a regional preview luncheon and test drive; consider high-end spokesperson and periodicals. Emphasize fact that this car is not on television because only a few people can appreciate it. Perhaps anticipate demand by having a few options that require customization (color of leather, embossing of initials, etc.) Partner with high-end sound system to customize sound for clients music tastes (Searls, 2006).

Part 4 -- Needing the Unnecessary -- The article "Needing the Unnecessary" traces the advent of consumerism over the past century and finds that the larger percentage of modern products, indeed the very definition of consumerism, is all about providing consumers with many choices for products they do not really need. Culture was in for some rather large changes after World War II. American's suffered through almost two decades of shortages and economic hardship, retooling of factories, and a change in lifestyle expectations. The GI Bill sent thousands to college and helped a number of returning soldiers purchase quality homes. Theoretically, this required intrisic motivation for an entire class subset to relocate, with the needed technology to do so. The catch -- those homes were often in outlying areas, away from the downtown core -- the suburbs were born. American suburbia would not have been possible, however, without the car culture -- one had to get to and from work, to the market, and with growing families, to all the events surrounding the new sense of prosperity and leisure time.
This culture allowed for greater independence from simple needs and the ability to focus on wants (Twitchell, 2002).

Marketing then focuses not on those basic Maslow hierarchy needs (food, clothing, etc.), but on things and objects that help people transcence into luxury or lifestyle and then convince the consumer that those are necessary for happiness. Once this is done the consumer, through shared insight and behavior trends, begins to follow the flock, all choices to the wind. Based on the desire to fit in, to acculturate, or to appear successful; the new consumer is convinced that the only way to do this adequately is to purhcase the items they are being told are necessary -- told by the manufacturers.

REFERENCES

How to Identify a Target Market, (2010). Target Market. Retrieved July 2011 from http://www.esmalloffice.com

Evans, K. And H. Stroll, (2006), "Marketing Challenge: Three Ways To Catch Clients,"

Marketing Profs. Cited in: http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/stroll116.asp.

Kiley, D. "Airlines Are Not Marketing Even If They Think They Are." 23 February 2005. Bloomberg Businessweek. Cited in: .

Searls, D. (2006), "Marketing vs. Intention," Linux Journal, cited in:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8955.

Twitchell, J. (2002). Needing the Unnecessary. Reason.com. Cited in:

http://reason.com/archives/2002/08/01/needing-the-unnecessary

Yankelovich, D. (1964). New Criteria for Market Segmentation. Harvard Business Review. Cited in: http://www.danyankelovich.com/newcriteria.pdf.....

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