Marketing Excellence Audi also heavily invests in motor sports.

Numerous races and world championships have been

won with its cars. Besides its motor sports activities,
Audi Audi spon-sors major teams like Germany’s number
The year 1899 marked the establishment of August Horch one soccer club FC Bayern Muenchen. Since 2002,
& Cie, the first car manufacturing company founded by Audi and the Bavarians have been strategic partners.
August Horch. As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Audi is also the sponsoring partner for other leading
Horch had previously worked with Carl Benz, inventor of European soc-cer clubs like FC Barcelona and Chelsea
modern automobiles with combustion engines. Horch left FC. In India, Audi became famous overnight in 1985.
his company in 1909 because of dif-ferences with its co- India won the world championship in cricket, the sport
management and supervisory board. He immediately set the country is most passionate about, and Ravi Shastri
up a second car venture which he named “Audi”—the of the Indian team was awarded an Audi 100 for his
Latin translation of his German family name, Horch (“hark” winning per-formance—an event that is fondly
or “listen” in English). From the very beginning, Audi remembered in the country even today.
established a tradition of sports victories. Thanks to Audi’s The success of Audi’s marketing over the past two
accomplishments in the Austrian Alpine Runs between decades becomes clear if you compare the company’s
1911 and 1914, August Horch succeeded in making the sales figures to the turnover of their major competi-tive
brand internationally well-known within just a few years. brands, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In 2000, Audi sold
approximately 653,000 cars, BMW 822,000, and
In 1932, the company’s famous four-ring emblem Mercedes-Benz 1.053 million. Based on sales figures from
was created when Audi merged with the previously in- 2013, BMW is leading the market with a narrow margin of
dependent companies Horch, Dampf-Kraft-Wagen, and 1.66 million cars as compared to Audi’s 1.58 million and
Wanderer to form Auto Union. For many years, the Mercedes-Benz’s 1.46 million cars. In China, the most
name Audi was not in use. A new merger in 1969, important automotive market in the world with 15.9 million
between Auto Union and NSU Motorenwerke AG, cars sold (USA: 15.6 million) in 2013, Audi leads the
established Audi NSU Auto Union AG. The company market among the German competitors with 492,000 cars
was renamed Audi in 1985 by Volkswagen, the holding sold as compared to BMW’s 360,000 and Mercedes-
company of Audi since the mid-1960s. Benz’s 228,000. Overall, 84 percent of Audi’s sales are
A new advertising slogan was created for the com- realized outside of Germany today.
pany in 1971 and has been used as the company’s What else has Audi done over the past years besides
mis-sion statement ever since. “Vorsprung durch a bold move in repositioning, and the creation of a con-
Technik,” which roughly translated means “progress vincing advertising and sponsorship concept? Audi offers
through tech-nology,” remains the main catchphrase for a variety of innovative products that meet the customer’s
Audi. In the 1970s and 1980s, the company was increasing demand for SUVs and luxury cars on the one
effectively putting this to practice with innovations like hand, and alternative driving systems and compact cars
the quattro four-wheel drive, aluminum car bodies, on the other. Audi’s SUVs are branded in its “Q” series.
direct-injection en-gines, and the first hybrid vehicles. The company is rounding up its product range with a new
Despite these achievements, Audi had problems and Q7 in 2015, a Q1 in 2016, and a Q8 in 2017. With other
needed to reposition itself in an increasingly com-petitive Audi products like the Audi A3 e-tron, customers can
environment. Customers in the United States complained combine the advantages of hybrids with traditional-drive
about a mysterious acceleration in their cars, and the systems. The company’s image of being a superior sports
image of Audi was not sophisticated enough for a car manufacturer is being enhanced with models like the
manufacturer of premium and luxury cars. So in a bold R8, a car based on Audi’s race car prototype for the Le
move, the company’s management decided on an Mans 24-hours race. Its compact and middle-class cars
extreme repositioning strategy. Audi was to be the most A1, A3, and A4 mark the other side of the product
progressive of all premium car manufacturers. Sportiness portfolio. They also profit from the company’s
was picked as the second differentiating fac-tor. With a innovativeness through light-weight construction and
famous commercial, the brand transformation was put into plug-in hybrid technology. According to a 2014 con-
practice in 1986. An Audi 100 quattro, a four-wheel drive, sumer survey, Audi is considered to be Germany’s
drove up a snow-covered ski jump, apparently all by itself. most innovative car manufacturer.
The commercial won a Gold Lion (Lion’ d’Or) at the To further involve its customers emotionally, while at
international advertising festival in Cannes, and in 1997 the same time acknowledging the increasing importance
was voted best German advertising of all times by a of the Internet as a communication and distribution
professional jury. channel, Audi has introduced digital showrooms. In
176 PART 3 | Connecting With Customers
Questions
In your opinion, how important is it to invest in cus-
these “Audi Cities,” consumers can experience the tomer loyalty for cars, a product most people buy
virtual world of Audi in 3D. London, Beijing, and Berlin only every couple of years?
were the starting places for the concept. Moscow and Try to estimate the lifetime value of an Audi customer.
other locations will follow. An innovative idea for car-
sharing has recently been presented by Audi’s Chief of What measures should Audi take to build long-term
Sales and Marketing, Luca de Meo. Stockholm serves loyalty relationships?
as a test market for a concept where up to five persons Sources: Frank Janssen, Heiner Müller-Elsner, “Mutiger Steilpass”, Stern, March 7, 2005;
share a car for one or two years. Through an app, par- Debasish Roy, “Audi hands over Q5 to Yuvraj Singh; with some low-scale marketing moves,”

ticipants can make advance reservations and locate The Economic Times, April 17, 2011; Sergio Zyman, The End of Advertising as We Know it,
(Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2003); “Facebook bleibt für uns in erster Linie eine Dialog- und
their car. Kommunikationsplattform,” Absatzwirtschaft, December 2, 2013; “Audi will noch größere SUVs
Despite its global success, there are challenges bauen,” Automobil Produktion, October 17, 2014; Rebecca Eisert, “Carsharing: Audi testet in

remaining for Audi. The average selling price of an Stockholm,” Wirtschaftswoche, October 13, 2014; “Audi Case Study: Post-milennium success,”
MarketLine, December, 2011; Audi, www.audi.com; BMW, www.bmwgroup.com; Daimler, www.
Audi is still lower than an average BMW or Mercedes- daimler.de; Statista, http://de.statista.com; Volkswagen, www.volkswagenag.com.
Benz. New entrants in the growing market for envi-
ronmentally sustainable cars like Tesla as well as its
German key competitors will test Audi’s innovativeness
even further.