Premium But Not Unattainable: Let the Ducatisti Do the Talking
When I saw Karl Greenberg’s story on the new marketing approach for the Ducati motorcycle company in MediaPost this morning, I was impressed that a high-end brand in an extremely traditional industry (within an also quite traditional country) took the huge step toward transparent marketing. To remind you – transparent marketing is that which is inspired and guided by the people a brand serves as opposed to superficial efforts based on assumptions about the given market (for example: take the assumption that "only men buy or influence motorcycle purchases." Harley, for one, is laughing all the way to the bank).
I wrote about transparent marketing, specifically from the marketing to women perspective in my book, Don’t Think Pink. However (!), transparent thinking should really be the way of the marketing world for most products targeting most segments.
But, back to Ducati:
They basically doubled their North American sales from 2003 to 2006 by modifying their previous unapproachable and super-elite reputation into one that was more inclusive: "premium but not unattainable" is how their CEO, Michael Lock, described it in the article.
Interestingly, the company turned from more traditional media buys to event-based marketing, where, according to Lock:
"we get out and meet people and let them experience our products."
Is that a great idea, or what? The marketing costs go up, per person, as Lock acknowleges, but the beauty is that each person they do touch via such events is communicated to in a much more effective way.
How does Ducati know which events to become involved with or how to mobilize their "Ducatistas?" For a Daytona event, they tapped an existing online community of Ducati owners. In addition, they’ve figured out a great way to involve their owners in product and marketing decisions on a continual basis – by hosting an annual event where Ducati club presidents give their input on possible promotions, events and future products directly to the brand’s executives/decisionmakers.
Premium is not unattainable for prospective buyers when you use transparent marketing – and so are inspired and guided by an existing passionate customer base – to reach them.
Let the Ducatisti loose. Vroom. Vroom.
