The Mensch took some guff about his last post regarding the marketing strategy that Porsche is employing to widen its sales base in the US. If I offended anyone, I’m sorry, but the facts are…as they say, the facts.

Porsche sports cars have always stirred passion in their owners. Truth be told most premium quality products do, and are sold either by emotion, craftsmanship or exclusivity.  For example Patek Philippe owners don’t rhapsodize about how accurately their watches keep time and they certainly don’t compare them to a Seiko. Porsche has been a rare example where all of these elements factor into the buying psychology of prospective owners.

What elicits this passion in Porsche owners then? Picking up mulch at the hardware store or visions of  a four-wheel powerdrift at the Nurburgring in Germany?  The Porsche brand “evangelists” will opt for the powerdrift every time. That is what has made the brand so special in the past; the Porsche philosophy of excellence with no compromise. They built their cars to run flat out for days without a hiccup, not for running down to the local convenience store.

The Mensch believes that passion, excellence and unity of purpose have propelled Porsche to where they are today. Genuine emotion is very hard to generate in consumers and to blunt that enthusiasm and passion to broaden your position in the marketplace is a grave miscalculation.

Truth be told, Porsches most certainly can be and are used as daily drivers by many, but does that fact stir passion in anyone’s soul? Let the Fords and Toyotas fulfill more mundane dreams and purposes. Leave the tire squealing, red-lining, powering drifting inspired reveries to Porsche.

Allow me to introduce two videos into this discussion which I believe will provide some perspective on this matter: Exhibit A -- Porsche TV ads from the 80′s and Exhibit B -- A current Porsche TV ad. Forget production values, focus on the positioning and energy of the ads. Which makes you want to lay out 50 large for a Porsche as your next car? I thought so.

The Mensch believes that 5 years from now, the Porsche marketers will be asking themselves, “What were we thinking?” In the automobile business, it doesn’t take long to go from winner to also-ran and one of the first symptoms of a momentum shift is losing sight of who you are, what you do and most importantly, what the consumer thinks of you and what you sell.

Focus, purpose, passion and of course, a great product are what transforms companies into legends. Note to Porsche: don’t screw around with the legend.

For my friends who assailed the Mensch about my last “elitist” post about Porsche, I say that my views are based on solid marketing methodology and while somewhat biased, will stand the test of time. While I enjoy a good one-one discussion I look forward to seeing their future comments here on al2rego.com where the reader can be a part of the dialog as well. What say you?

Written by Marketing Mensch

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 and is filed under Just An Observation.
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