Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Playing off the change idea, and from suit to costume-
"Upgrade"

"Shift gears."

Hi Cbajpai,

change is good and Randall's comments are in order.

They say...

THE ONLY PERSON THAT LIKES CHANGE IS A WET BABY!

So with all that said and your response rate falling from 5% to 1% I think you need to do something that interrupts Broca.

BROCA PREDICTS the pre-DICT-able...
Broca predicts where you are going and if you bring change drastically after you have taken over a new piece of automotive territory you have done what traditionally comes with all new organizations...you have created unrest, you have ushered in change. This is a pitty because this is so predictable.

NOW LET'S THINK ABOUT IT...
Do something un-predictable. That's what BROCA does.

FOR EXAMPLE WHY DON'T YOU DO WHAT THEY DON'T EXPECT...

%%%%% Answer the question -=-Would They?-=- %%%%%

FIRST--Your customers would not expect you to dig up old advertisement campaigns that they've used before and examine them to determine why they were so effective. Would they?

SECOND--Your customers would not expect you to call them up and ask them what THEIR NEEDS are. Would they?

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DATE BEFORE???
When you're on a new date do you just jump into character with an idea you think would make your date happy?

GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER FIRST...
Do you ever consider getting to know your date first? And then building a relationship based on the knowledge you've gained. Paying attention (being attentive) to your dates needs is invaluable. This is called "Creating GOOD Relationship" by using your head and paying attention to your customer.

GIVE YOUR CUSTOMER WHAT SHE OR HE NEEDS...
Now when you give people what their looking for with a hearfelt desire to PLEASE them from --their perspective-- you end up experiencing The Law of Reciprocity.

CHOOSE FOREPLAY OVER ONEPLAY...
IT'S really going beyond a ONEPLAY mentality VERSUS a FOREPLAY mentality...Good advertisement, great marketing and exceptional selling is magical like good foreplay.

NO NEEDS ANALYSIS=NO MARRIAGE...
Most marriages end because of one person in the relationship is into oneplay while the other wants foreplay. Oneplay is when one person forgets and thinks that they're in bed all alone. Years of this generally ends in them being alone. It's a basic math problem...oneplay plus oneplay equals oneplay. But Twoplay plus Twoplay equals foreplay. Every great marriage requires continous needs analysis and constancy in the commitment to the other.

WHAT HAPPEN TO THE WARM-UP?


POOR ADVERTISING IS SEX WITHOUT FOREPLAY...
Most companies in our generation use sexual advertisement to get their customers and then the relationship dies because it was never built on the principles of love. Poor advertising is sex without foreplay. Remember our needs are not the same our customer needs a warm up. Even a good football or baseball game begins with warming up.

WHERE IS THE LOVE?
I think it's time for you to bring the love back. Right now you're singing the lyrics to a very popular Hip-Hop song..."I'm bring Sexy back" but your customer just wants to be loved and they're singing "WHERE IS THE LOVE?" you said would be mine all mine till the end of time, was it just a line...Where is the Love?.

GREAT MARKETING IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX & LOVE...
There is a difference between sex and love. Sex in our age comes without foreplay but real love needs attention to foreplay. When you have dialogue with your customer you'll find out what their real needs are. REMEMBER... our only real problem in life is our failure to be "MORE Creative" than we’ve ever been. If you “Invent” your opportunity YOU WILL most definitely create your future. I'm only an email away from you if you need my help. Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

*Caring Promotes Exuberance

I agree with Kathy- keep both the brand names going but build up an umbrella brand which will make the sum greater than the sum of the two brands.
Positive associations of both shops will build the umbrella 'Planet Auto' ( just an eg.) brand.
The postcard with brand name association shd ideally state that along with AutoBahn there is another equally good option for customers and vice versa. Mail merge to save costs.
To increase postcard response rates- that depends on what you want- if you want awareness to increase then ask people to call in for a free car sticker.
If you want buyers to increase- then you cannot do blind mailing- it has to be a database of people who have shown desire to purchase. Postcard mailing will not increase buyers.
Evaluate accordingly.

Hi cbajpai

it would be really very nice if you had filled you profile page so that we could have learned more about you.

like the guru (randall) and Deremiah says change is scary for most of people outside and also in many cases inside. So i would suggest you to replace the 'change' concept to

"Progress"/
"possibility
"Potential"
"Prosperity"
"Growth/
"better Service"/
"Bigger space"
or anyother idea that matches with whatever is your USP etc.

you already have 2 brands, AutoBahn Automotive and Auto Engineering. what are the essences of these 2 brands?? what are your USPs of these 2 brands?? what do they stand for, whats the impression your customers have and What are their expectation. Are these all same for both brands?? which one is stronger between the two??

i would rather suggest you create an Endorsing brand, take the stronger brand of the two and use that to endorse the other brand (if the market permits). this is very similar to Pontiac by GM.

thats all for now, hope this helps. if you need any help, you can contact me (click on my name)

cheers!!