Segmentation

Demographic Segmentation, Middle aged individuals with a high income. Individuals with stable

jobs. Males and females. Middle to upper class individuals. The ads on Merc B-class is labelled as

“Safest Class for families”. Campaign “She’s Mercedes” targets female drivers. Psychographic

Segmentation, they are usually urban professionals with high statues. For example,

businessmen. Lifestyle is a chosen theme. “Your Mercedes Benz isn’t just a vehicle, it’s a part of

your life, and expression of your style” emphasizes this. Behavioural Segmentation, customers

benefit from high-quality, exceptional service, and convenience, technologically advanced and safe

vehicles. Buyers love the idea that Mercedes Benz vehicles are prestige and luxurious. Benz also

has a Brand club which provides loyalty benefits to members.

Marketing segmentation using generations provides a way to reveal the untapped potential of

the Millennial and Generation X target audience. The main motivation for entering into the younger

demographic is the significance of the market size making it very attractive for these luxury

automotive manufacturers.

Targeting & Promotion

The company targets customers from the upper-class social group, Professionals & Executives who

have an inclination towards the modern technology equipped vehicles, more safety, more styling &

more efficiency.

The company targets fulfillers. Their business and career are the rulers of their life, and career is
super important to them as it is a mean of self-actualization. Always looking for new opportunities in
business and think that family should adopt their priorities. Standing out in the crowd and
recognition from friends, family, and community is very important to them.
They like keeping up with technologies and new trends and here Mercedes-Benz wins with their
technological novelties. Fulfillers like traveling and going abroad once in a month and having a
special time with friends.

They use premium brands and do not take into consideration the price and willing to pay extra for
a good product. They are one of the first to buy a new product and the new S Class is the typical
product for them. They are rather impulsive buyers and take quick decisions as well as spending
hours at shopping centers just for fun and leisure time.
The primary methods to entice the younger and less affluent consumers have been the

introduction of new models or product line extensions with a lower price point. A lower price

reduces the barrier to entry and the price objection for less affluent customers while leveraging the

luxury brand appeal.

Mercedes-Benz uses digital media with extensive use of microsites for each product line. Social

Media channels that include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are also used to increase

awareness around campaigns, such as the #clatakethewheel campaign targeting the early 20s to

early 40s demographic. Mercedes-Benz used paid media, such as a paid Facebook ad targeted to

the early 20s to early 40s (millennial and generation x) demographic. The paid ad could be seen in

the target’s newsfeed linked to a well-produced content piece (video) to create a viral response.

Mercedes-Benz used a content marketing strategy utilizing a converged media approach specific to

gaining a younger target audience. The earned media component involved a partnership with

Casey Niestat, one of the key influencers in this demographic providing a cool, somewhat edgy,

adventurous, and authentic image for the product. Casey created several videos for Mercedes-

Benz including the paid Facebook ad. Casey is a key influencer that creates content millennials

share.

Millennials are the new target market for vehicle brands around the world. Value for millennials is

not in the tangible but driven by experiences and mood. Mercedes-Benz understands what they

want, features a model that delivers and a marketing strategy that excites them. If you are

looking for the freedom to experience moments that shape your life, Mercedes has the keys.

Positioning – Luxury Brand startegy

Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi are using strategies similar to the mass market automotive

manufacturers. The strategy that most mass-market automotive manufacturers use involves

providing a product for the consumer throughout their lives with progressively higher priced

products as the consumer moves up income brackets.

Mercedes Benz positioning statement “The best or Nothing” empathises perfection in engineering,

safety, and luxury at the highest level. This philosophy project elitism and intrigues customers who

share the idealogy.

Benz offers a wide variety of cars in their portfolio, differentiating itself from other manufacturers.

Merc Benz positions themselves as a brand that:

 Highly safe and dependable automobiles

 Outstanding service solutions for their vehicles
 offers exclusive new breakthroughs to help make an accident less severe, less damaging, or even less
likely
 egotistic and persuasive slogan ‘the best or nothing’ exerts confidence which grasps the attention of
consumers
 strongly associated with performance, speed and handling excellence.
 embodies elegance and precision better than anybody

The positioning strategy of attaching emotional benefits to the vehicles they offer eliminates
the pressure of nonstop product innovation. Mercedes Benz’s brand is synonymous to
luxury, elegance, being prestigious and of high quality. By choosing this positional strategy in
the market of vehicles, people view the idea of owning a Mercedes benz as one that arouses
feelings of achievement and success. Having an emotional attachment to a product would
help to keep customers loyalty to the brand and attract new customers because of the
emotional appeal of the brand.

Promotion
Mercedes Benz has always been an aggressive promoter. The marketing mix promotional strategy of

Mercedes Benz uses all media channels like TV, print, online, billboards etc. Being catering to the

luxury segment, Mercedes did not feel the need for the traditional methods of advertising.

Also, Mercedes has built its brand awareness through various customer centric activities like the

Mercedes trophy, which is an international amateur golf tournament where golfers from around the

world compete. Also, it organizes various drives like the International driving platform, Luxe drive, etc.

where motor enthusiasts get an opportunity to drive the Mercedes cars in challenging locations.

(BRAND AWARENESS CAN BE A PART OF PRODUCT THOUGH)

Mercedes-Benz began the process of using marketing segmentation to reach a younger audience

in 2010 with the creation of “Generation Benz” an online community of approximately 200 to 250

people between the ages 20 to 39. This online community provided consulting to the Mercedes-

Benz marketing team about buyer habits and preferences in this demographic. The “Generation

Benz” online community helped to produce a customer profile for Mercedes Benz. The company

leveraged the insight from the community to create a successful marketing campaign launching

the Mercedes-Benz CLA product. The campaign Mercedes-Benz created, included a Super Bowl ad

featuring Usher and Kate Upton, not to mention the stadium the Super Bowl was being played in

was sponsored by Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans). Mercedes-Benz

used digital and social media channels to target Millennials with a mix of earned media, paid

media, and owned media to reach key influencers in the target demographic to create brand

awareness and ultimately brand equity.

Sponsorships in movies and TV shows creates windows for benz to showcase latest products.

Product
The product portfolio comprises the Mercedes-Benz brand with the sub-brands Mercedes-AMG,
Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes me - as well as the smart brand, and the EQ product and
technology brand for electric mobility.

The Mercedes-Benz Cars range covers every passenger car segment: from the urban microcar by
smart, to the premium and luxury vehicles by Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-Maybach, to the
performance and sports cars by Mercedes-AMG. In this way, the Cars division of Mercedes-Benz AG
ensures individual mobility for a vast spectrum of customer needs.

With the technology brand EQ, Mercedes-Benz Cars is driving forward the systematic development
of alternative drives: the aim is to electrify the entire portfolio by 2022.
Benz easily leverages on easily remembered trademark, superior engineering, unequal product
quality & reliability to support its branding. Benz’s involvement in F1 competition, and other sports
activities like golf, football, tennis also further their brand awareness.

Pricing
The price of a new Mercedes ranges from ~30,000$ to 1,30,900$. Mercedes Benz is a premium
priced luxury car brand. Being in the luxury segment, it caters to a niche segment who value
quality more than the price and so the price is always on the higher end. In the overseas
market where Mercedes Benz have a huge product variety available, the prices range from
$30,000 to $100000 and above. Thus, the Mercedes Benz marketing mix pricing strategy is
that of premium pricing, based on its features and competition.

Place
Mercedes Benz cars are present all across the world. Mercedes caters to a number of
countries worldwide, with its dealerships and service stations present across various
countries. The major markets are China, Asia pacific, Europe, Germany, North America etc. A
global reach shows the strong place & distribution strategy in the marketing mix of
Mercedes Benz. In India, Mercedes has over 80 dealerships across the major metros and
cities. It has its factories and plants set all across the world in Asia, North America, South
America, Africa, Europe etc. In India, it has its manufacturing plant in Chakan, Maharashtra
which is considered to be one CKD plants of Mercedes.