Don’t beat around the Benz

Mercedes Benz has recently added to their marketing mechanics by including mobile to its repertoire of value added services. This is another innovative move from another top international brand, one that surely puts a smile on the faces of each of the Benz’s family members, iPhone users, not to mention the agency responsible for this piece of development.
The mobile portal as it is known contains four sections including New Vehicles, Brand World, Entertainment and Service & Contact and it has been joined by additional entertainment platforms such as Mercedes-Benz TV and the music download service Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape.
The range of personalized services is rounded off by a car configurator and information on the technical details of each model offered by the Stuttgart-based automotive brand.
There are a multitude of features to this new development, but I’d rather spare my readers the technical specifications and focus on one rather important question: Why would Mercedes Benz, “the car for the older man”, identify the need to create a mobile internet platform for its fans?
Some of you might rightly argue that Mercedes Benz have become a lot more savvy of late, especially considering their uber cool new C-Class BMW basher, a car that certainly appeals to the more established and young executive market alike. But is mobile marketing pushing the envelope a bit far?
Let’s look at a couple of the core benefits of mobile marketing: Adding value to service delivery, ranging from access within reception areas to the global accessibility and uptake of the device. That’s massive value any which way you look at it. It is also likely to cloud the downsides to any mobile campaign, which is where my skepticism is borne from.
Without having any figures or ROI measurements to my availability, there are a couple of problems I can identify with developing mobile services to complement your brand, more so if you are smaller business and every marketing penny counts.
After the initial hype around the platform, what are the reasonable expectations of sustained usage of the site? If we look at demographics, it’s almost a given that the younger generation appeals much stronger to these types of technological advances and the younger the user, the shorter the attention span or interest.
Yes, it is a cool new addition to my iPhone, but how long does it take before this excitement is filed in the back of my phone’s memory bank and first in line for deletion once I run out of my incredibly large storage space?
Mobile is a strong and effective medium for marketing and brand awareness, but it’s important to keep a clear understanding of the basic needs of your business. It’s sometimes very easy to get carried away with creative campaigns, often lacking longevity, when simple and clear communications would’ve sufficed.
There are two types of businesses:
1. The Mercedes Benz’s with the capital to fill every possible marketing channel with content, regardless of the sustainability of its value add and the purchasing potential of the market it serves.2. The hundreds of thousands of other businesses that need to focus a lot of time and energy on selecting a channel that reaches the largest possible target audience and ensuring that the campaigns possess the potential to optimally sustain its value.
Make sure you know in which category your business resides.

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