Mercedes-Benz took the top US luxury-sales spot from BMW last year and, so far this year, has extended that lead and shown why it’s both one of the top 10 and top growing brands on Interbrand’s current Best Global Brands list.
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But at a time when analysts are saying the general US auto market finally will level off after a seven-year boom, Mercedes-Benz’s grip on the premium pinnacle in America is stronger than ever.
The automaker enjoys an advantage with a fleet of utility vehicles that it has been overhauling at a time when luxury buyers are turning to that segment more than ever.
Earning pop culture cred, the S 550 can be seen in one of the hottest movies of the summer, Baby Driver.
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And it’s moving even more determinedly upscale with its ultra-luxury AMG sub-brand, which was out in force at New York’s LGBT Pride Parade last weekend.
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In fact, MBUSA is in the midst of its biggest digital and social media campaign of the year to promote the AMG high-performance division. Its campaign celebrating AMG’s 50th anniversary includes a mobile video (developed with Facebook’s Creative Shop) and sponsoring a concert by Linkin Park, the biggest band on Facebook.
“The switch isn’t so much a move from TV to digital but a consumption of video in a different way,” Drew Slaven, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA, told brandchannel. “It’s important for us because what’s happening now is the real epicenter of digital is social, but social hasn’t been a digital channel.”
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“You have all of these digital providers such as Instagram which have found a way to offer digital as part of their offering. We and marketers across the board, regardless of category, will make heavy, heavy investments there. I don’t think you’ll see it coming at the expense of TV; it never sees a drop in demand. There is run-out inventory year after year. But it is coming from print and direct mail and other traditional media where advertisers are pulling funds.”
brandchannel talked with Slaven, who’s also US chief marketing officer for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, about other aspects of marketing the sterling Mercedes-Benz brand.
bc: Why is your sales lead over other luxury brands lengthening in the US?
Drew Slaven (right): It always comes down to product. As much as we’d like to say it’s brilliant marketing communications, in every category [product] reigns supreme. Mercedes-Benz has put some real focused effort into this. Years back when the financial crises hit the world, companies realized there would be a drop in purchases. Many, many companies cut costs and that choked development of product. Mercedes did a pretty bold and courageous thing: put our foot down and invest heavily in product during those years, and that continues to pay tremendous dividends during a multi-year product offensive.
You can see this at auto shows, where we show up and other competitors don’t have press conferences because they don’t have products to introduce. We have to cherry-pick which products we do introduce. We’re rolling out 40 products over an eight-year period that began in 2015 and 2016.
I have to give our design team a lot of credit, too. Mercedes-Benz really has leapfrogged in a space that hasn’t always been the lead for us, in the design-style space. Our cars today in design have leapfrogged the competition to take a lead in this very important attribute for an American car-buying public. They’re expressions of people’s personality in the luxury space and now you have this very expressive design from a brand that previously was known for reliability and [comfort].
bc: How are you taking advantage of the edge Mercedes has in crossovers and SUVs versus your competition?
Slaven: We can tell a bit more of a brand story rather than just bear down and ramble off a list of features and price. That’s a great place for a company to be. I’d point to a spot last winter called “Snow Date” in which a young kid is going on his first date and there is a catastrophic blizzard, but he drives his parents’ Mercedes-Benz and arrives there.
We see that the girl does show up because her parents also drive a Mercedes. It was a clearly understood message that you can do when you’re in a position of strength: paying back into your brand bank.
We’ve got a great arsenal of SUV products and the only thing that is of concern for us is to be sure to balance against sedans given the fact that we have a real [heritage there]. We would love more SUVs than we’re able to build. The demand is there so you don’t have to throttle down on strong SUV messaging right now because inherently we have such an advantage.
bc: What’s the latest on The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and other stadium sponsorships?
Slaven: I was sent earlier today an aerial shot of the roof, which is almost complete. The anticipated opening is August 26, a preseason NFL game. We think of it as a sports and entertainment arena. It’s a $1.5 billion stadium, the public numbers say. It’s called The Mercedes-Benz Stadium and considered to be one of the most dramatic and spectacular arenas in the world. We have the naming rights and we partner as the official vehicle of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. And we recently announced Garth Brooks will be first entertainment act, October 12. It’s one of our tentpole properties.
The Superdome still bears the name Mercedes-Benz Superdome. We continue that relationship. It exists as well in New Orleans. There are a number of brands that have multiple stadiums. We were not really in the market to go find another stadium. But this happened to be a great set of situations and belief systems and geography that lined up [in Atlanta]. What really made this stadium deal work [in Atlanta] was a collective. Atlanta is now our corporate home. It was a way for us to make a presence as we move our corporate headquarters to Georgia.
It’s a shared idea; the owner of the teams and the stadium is AMB Group, Arthur Blank’s company, and he believes the idea of the stadium is the fan experience. That’s critically important to him. And customer experience is the most important thing that we hold here. So you have this lineup of experience, customers or fans.
bc: Speaking of customer experience, how is your relationship with your dealers evolving? I read that they get more advertising leeway now. What does that reflect?
Slaven: We believe what our dealers do well is deliver the best automotive experience. To our dealers we deliver an ease of experience. [Mercedes-Benz USA CEO] Dietmar [Exler] wanted to make doing business with Mercedes-Benz as easy and uncomplicated as possible with our dealers so they can improve that customer experience.
For example, for many years inside automotive category, OEMs have provided funds to dealers to use those funds specifically to market new cars. What was uncommon was our move to tell dealers to use those funds however you see fit, and in whatever priority you want. Each individual dealer knows what brings traffic into their dealership and they don’t need a factory telling them about the specifics.
bc: “Made in America” is a major theme. How much of an issue is this for you?
Slaven: We just stay with the basics and keep going.
Get more branding insights in our Q&A series. Suggest a Q&A: editor@brandchannel.com.
Image at top: Two Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing teams will take part this Holiday Weekend’s patriotic salute to the Fourth of July at the Sahlen’s
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