Split Screen
A brand divided against itself cannot stand. Or can it? The strongest brands are those that remain true to that which made them strong to begin with. The weak are those that forget what made them relevant and lose their way. Seems to me there was a book about that recently. And yet, we have Google, which makes all of its money selling advertising, but doesn’t invest much in advertising for itself. There’s Nike, whose use of recycled materials is often at cross-purposes with its reputation for “performance.”
We now live in a world where Toys ‘R’ Us owns FAO Schwarz and the Penske Automotive Group, a retailer, owns Saturn, a car company. Then again, we live in a country where an African-American man with a Muslim name is President of the United States. These curious bundles of contradictions aren’t purely an American phenomenon, though. In Germany, BMW is encouraging its factory workers to buy the cars they make. Factory workers buying luxury cars! Imagine that. They couldn’t be serious.
Or could they? Oh, probably not. But just think about that for a moment. Google’s strength is its weakness. Nike’s weakness is its strength. BMW may just be smoking something. It is indeed a delicate balance between strengths and weakness where brand identity is concerned — witness the rise of store brands as innovative rivals to national brands. Like much of the rest of marketing, things are not always as they seem, but a world of possibility resides within brand-identity contradictions. What do you think?
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Car buying: highly susceptible to bundles of contradiction
Far be it from me to sound smug about the fact that I once lived for two years in Munich, the home of the Bavarian Motor Works, but, well, yes, in fact I did, from 1998 to 2000. My wife and I lived out beyond the suburbs of Octoberfest City, in a little town called Hoerlkofen, not far from Munich’s airport.
My commute to work was about 35km in each direction, so on a daily basis I would drive for 70km round trip. That’s over 40 miles round trip. So I was on the lookout for a small BMW 3-series touring wagon. At the time I was in a good job as a senior analyst with Compaq at its European Headquarters in Munich. But gas prices were climbing and I had decided to get rid of a gas-guzzling Daimler with something a little more fuel efficient.
So now we come to the marketing, branding, bundle of contradictions part. Not feeling confident enough to buy a brand new BMW I perused the used car ads in the classifieds, but soon I came to the realization that, despite having saved a fair bit of cash, the car I had set my sights on was outside my range. I had fallen victim to the lure of advertising.
BMW's marketing is predominantly about exclusivity, but if you drive around Munich in one, you're one of thousands in this brand of car. Ironically, if you were to drive around Munich in a Saturn, it would likely turn more heads than a beamer!
But it is the sleek design coupled with excellent German engineering that attracts us to these Bavarian beauties. Objectivity has absolutely nothing to do with it, however..
On the surface of it, you can't fault the impressive technology that hums away under the hoods of these powerhouses of German design and engineering. Nevertheless, when you buy one, you are paying for an immense amount of heavy – some would say vacuous – branding. You are also financing a ton of highly technical R&D that happens in research facilities where guys named Franz and Heinz in white coats wander around, dreaming of BMW's next concept cars. And finally, you are also paying highly unionized German factory workers who take breaks to reputedly enjoy a little beer in their mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks - quite acceptable on German and other European shop floors. I wonder if Fiat workers are allowed Chianti on their breaks, while Renault and Peugeot workers enjoy a nice Merlot with their lunches…. I have been away from Europe for almost nine years now, so who knows, maybe these practices have changed. I just remember in the personnel restaurants where I worked in Europe, beer and wine were quite acceptable. OK, let’s end this unholy tangent and get back to the matter in hand: buying BMWs and other cars.
It cannot be denied that when you acquire a BMW you are also paying for quite an excellent product.
My favorite car of all time was a pre-owned 1989 BMW 750 iL with a 12 cylinder, exhilarating 311 horsepower engine. I called him Fitzgerald. Sadly I had to sell this car too, when the realization struck me that a much too large chunk of my salary was going to the 100 liters (26 gallons) of high octane, albeit unleaded gas that Fitzgerald drank on a frighteningly regular basis!
Yes, I realize now that where car buying is concerned, I am a classic bundle of contradictions, and I know for a fact that I am not alone. Just look at any of those car ads and find just one that talks pragmatically and objectively about value for money.
But still,… Fitzgerald could be heard to release a noise similar to a sigh, when he eased onto the Autobahn and when it reached 165 mile per hour, the coffee in my cup holder would begin to quiver, but ever so gently! Ooh!
My 12 cylinder folly, you will probably be amused to know, was replaced by Gilbert, a very sensible Hyundai Sonata, which about a year later was replaced by Humphrey, my beautiful (and very necessary, ha!) six cylinder Daimler 3.6. It’s basically a Jaguar Sovereign with simply oodles more polished burled wood interior and accessorized (whatever that means) with a large number of beautiful twinkling chrome fixtures, many of which performed rather dubious, but really very cute functions…. Remembering all that and just thinking of good old Humphrey’s active hydraulic suspension just gives me pause….
The private acquisition of automobiles is without doubt one of the most classic arenas of wide pendulum swings between reason and raving madness in buying decisions. If one were to remain 100% objective and unemotional in the purchase of a car, one could never really justify the purchase of anything other than a used Ford, a Pinto or Volkswagen van.
In the end I never bought that BMW in Munich. In fact I decided on a Toyota Camry wagon, called James. And my wife's Rover Sterling (a sedan not sold in the US) but a very nice ride.... we replaced with a small Honda Accord. She called him Kensington. Don’t ask me why.
The replies above triggered memories of my car buying. With the use of the expression of bundle of contradictions, I felt the two Peters above really hit the nail on the head. Only they did it more succinctly than I am with these keyboard ramblings of mine, but I hope you didn’t mind me sharing a bit.
Branding ironies
In the '60s, corporations discovered the acquisition, and conglomerates were born. Those heterogenous amalgamations of companies were justified on the basis of vertical integration -- buying all the parts suppliers for your product, for example, and then the raw materials producers who fed the parts suppliers, and so on. By the end of the '70s, this was considered a very bad idea.
Yet today, brands still hedge their bets, though in slightly different ways. Marriott owns properties ranging from the Ritz Carlton to the Fairfield Inn. Adidas owns Reebok. Yum owns KFC, Taco Bell, and several other purveyors of something they swear is food. It gives them a bit of leverage when consumers' "trendencies" veer in a different direction.
At least the brands are independent, rather than line extensions -- the recently introduced Special K Protein Shake is likely to have as much chance as the unlamented line of office products from Exxon. And the strongest brands, like McDonald's, do one thing well and continue to do it by staying attuned to the ever-changing preferences of their customers. That's how Xerox recovered.
Still, in a world where Volkswagen owns Bentley, BMW owns Rolls-Royce, and Tata owns Jaguar, one wonders (though the British may be wondering whether the sun has finally set on the Empire) whether corporate parents and adopted corporate children share the same virtues... and failings. The image of stuffing college students into a VW Beetle can easily translate into stuffing VWs into the back of a Bentley Arnage, but whether the two belong together is far from proven.
bundles of contradictions
If you were to look for a basic definition of human being, I think Bundle of Contradiction would be a wonderful one. Because most of us truly are. So it is no surprise to see that reflected in our business and brand worlds. What is happening today, is that more and more organizations seem to be trying to capitalize on that. As an aside, I think a lot of Germans would not see BMW as a "luxury" car, but an efficient, stylish auto.
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