Case Analysis Report of

Launching the BMW Z3 Roadster

Submitted by:
Group-2
Sushant Kumar Jena
Shubham Shibasis Garnaik
Sibasish Patanaik
Sarbani Sahu
Pinninti Nikhila
Q. 1) What is the strategic significance of the Z3 launch?
Ans- The launch of Z3 roadster marked the beginning of Phase II of BMW in
North America. The marketing approach and ultimate results for the Z3 would
influence the whole BMW operation in the United States. As Dr. Helmut Panke,
then Chairman and CEO of BMW (US) Holding Corp., put it, the car was meant
to be “the first BMW not made by mythical little creatures in the Bavarian
woods”. What he meant was that BMW was going to manufacture the new Z3
models in Spartanburg, South Carolina and not in Germany as BMW was
known to do. The car was a means to prove that BMW could be successful as a
global company with manufacturing capabilities at locations across the globe.
They aimed to replace ‘Made in Germany’ as a symbol of quality with ‘Made
by BMW’. The Z3 Roadster was also a way to motivate and stimulate the dealer
network to meet higher standards to qualify for the roadster.
Q.2) How NT marketing works
• The non-traditional marketing uses the concept of AIDA model
(Awareness-interest-desire -Action ) by utilizing the uproar to attract the
interest and attention of people. It wanted to create this a buzz word
among the people’s conversation
• By this technique it wanted to changed its image from a Status symbol to
an ultimate driving machine
• The six months gap between the dealership and the film launch(James
Bond) made it build cars based on customer satisfaction
• Activities like radio integration, internet promotion increased dealer
traffic and simulating other interest of other models of BMW .This is an
effective tool of psychographic segmentation
• Sending out Request of Proposals to only those that were capable of
pulling unconventional campaigns to achieve company’s goals
Q.3)What is the difference between traditional and non-traditional
marketing ?
Non-traditional Traditional
Word-of-mouth is impacted Word-of-mouth is not impacted
Loss of control is involed Does not involve loss of control
Less costly and involves realistic Considerable cost and does not
messages involve realistic message.
Doesn’t involve repetition of Repetition of similar messages
messages
 Q4: Is the Z3 launch successful? If so, how can we measure the success of
the Z3 launch?
Ans:Yes, the Z3 launch was a successful one.
Riding on a blockbuster opening weekend for GoldenEye, the Z3 created a
niche with the BMW order bank expanding by 9000 pre-bookings by December
1995 for the Roadster. With a base price of $28,750, this alone amounted to a
book value of $ 258.75 million which is almost 3 times the total media
expenditure of $87.5 million by BMW in 1995 (Exhibit 13). The total BMW
unit sales also rose 12.77% YOY to 94,500 units in the US market for the year
1995 (Exhibit 1). The synchronized TV advertising campaign which intensified
during the prime release time frame for GoldenEye delivered 15% TV viewers'
proven advertising recalls which was 50% higher than 10% proven recall of
Mercedes E-class launch.

Q5. Future of NT marketing tools:

The journey of NT marketing tools stated in 1178BC when the greeks used
the trojan horse to capture the toy - which is an example of guerrilla
marketing.
Non-traditional marketing can’t be repeated. Non-traditional marketing practices’
success also depends on your product.
Good for –
● High involvement products & emotional purchase
● Ancillary / Support products with less risk
● Target defined in the psychographic segment
● Excitement generation
● Intensely competitive with high ad clutter
But
● Unpredictable and Risky
● Measurement system not defined
The only requirement for using non-traditional marketing is vision, creativity, and
commitment. Since it is often significantly cheaper than classic forms of
advertising, non-traditional marketing is an effective tool for companies with
modest marketing budgets. The only drawback is that the results are
unpredictable and there is the risk of wasted effort. Marketers may struggle to
quantify and measure the success or failure of a campaign. Even worse, a
confusing or poorly executed campaign can confuse consumers and create a
negative image around a company. So NT marketing can take a lead but with
higher risk accompanied with the results.