To borrow the line from a past Cadillac ad campaign: “Stuttgart, wir haben ein problem.” It’s a problem of true-believers versus everyday drivers.Porsche the venerable sports car manufacturer, has been incredibly successful over the past 15 years despite challenging economic conditions and skyrocketing fuel prices. But if its new marketing campaign is successful, they face a more formidable and tenacious challenge: the soccer mom.

A bit of history here: Ferdinand Porsche started Porsche AG after the end of WWII with intention of producing sports cars in the chaos of post-war Europe for a few well-heeled drivers. He knew his stuff, two of  his earlier designs made a huge impression in Europe, the Volkswagen “beetle” and the Tiger tank. The latter of course getting him incarcerated in France after the war. Starting in a humble barn in Austria using mostly Volkswagen parts, the Porsche and Piech families have built one of the most successful and profitable auto companies in the world.

Porsche became the stuff of adolescent male dreams: fast, beautiful (OK, most of the time anyway) and incredibly fun to drive cars. Expensive from the onset, Porsches have traditionally appealed to customers who have the financial wherewithal to buy one of their cars as a second, pampered “weekend drive”. Having a reputation as automotive fanatics, Porsche drivers have always been a very vocal bunch in expressing their opinions about everything that Porsche produces and how exclusive their ownership “club” should be. In a word, Porsche owners can be automotive snobs.

Mea culpa, the Mensch admits to owning a Porsche or two in his past, so he speaks from experience.

Here’s the marketing challenge for Porsche: The very thing that motivates the core Porsche owner is the exclusivity of the marque and its performance mystique. As the line grows and the group of owners extends to

less serious drivers, the fanatical Porsche aficionado grows wary of the diluting of the brand. The last 10 years has been very unkind to the true believers of the Zuffenhausen company.

The first blow was the Cayenne, the uber-SUV launched in 2003. Porschephiles went apoplectic, but the Cayenne has been a serious seller; roughly 40% of Porsche sales are of the model. Enter the soccer mom.

Next came the Panamera, a four-door model that had been dreaded by Porsche owners for over 20 years. To say that the Panamera is less than an esthetic triumph would be very kind. It is a foray into the hyper Mercedes, BMW, Audi and English and Italian supercar market. Sales have been dismal. Maybe Porsche is guilty of dreaming of a Porsche for everyone.

Porsche like all companies wants to keep growing and increase their share of an expanding international market for premium cars. How do they do this without further alienating their brand evangelists, the true Porschephile?

The newest Porsche campaign by Chicago agency Cramer Kasselt is an effort to sell the idea of Porsche as an upscale substitute for the family truckster. The new tagline is “Engineered For Magic, Everyday.”

The campaign is designed to show Porsche’s cars as utilitarian vehicles; hauling potting soil from the hardware store, cruising on snow-packed roads and my favorite, mom picking up the kids in her $140,000, 190 MPH 911 Turbo.

There is a disconnect here from previous Porsche advertising that focused on shiny shapes on twisting roads set against beautifully blurred scenery. It sounds trite, but these ads showed what every Porsche owner and owner-wannabe expects from their experience with these cars: to go really fast  and have a ball doing it. Even if you live in Passaic, NJ. That’s the dream and the mystique of Porsche.

Here’s the rub: the hardcore Porschephiles who made the brand and live and breathe it don’t want their cars thought of as practical, drive down to WalMart type of vehicles. They will hate this campaign because it debunks the myth of Porsche’s exclusivity and superiority.

The marketers at Porsche have a sticky problem on their hands: how to grow and still maintain exclusivity and market cache. You could extend the line (there is talk of a new low-end affordable sportscar), but either going down market (potential cheapening of the brand essence) or going further up market into the stratosphere of pricing and performance (limited sales with extraordinary development and production costs) doesn’t solve this basic marketing dilemma.

The Mensch believes that Porsche will find that the general public will warm to the idea of Porsches being as utilitarian as Chevies, however the actual buyers who can afford Porsches won’t. One of the primary motivations for purchasing a $50,000+ car is cache and exclusivity. Besides, most Porsche owners wouldn’t dream of actually hauling something messy in their cars or heaven forbid, taking them off-road. That’s for ordinary automobiles.

Porsche needs to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. You can’t be George Clooney and Tim the Tool Guy. The Mensch’s advice is to stick to your knitting and make the best sports and enthusiasts cars that you can. You’ll profitably sell the heck out of them. Leave the family truckster market to Ford and Toyota.

Disagree? Email the Mensch and tell me where I went wrong. Do you own a Porsche? Tell me what you think.

 

 

 

 

Written by Marketing Mensch

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 11th, 2011 and is filed under The Marketing Soapbox.
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