Mercedes Benz redefines the luxury label to plot a millennial trail

From being a brand that has traditionally associated luxury with wealth and framed itself within a class-led social hierarchical system, Mercedes Benz is looking to define itself afresh, for its millennial buyers. With a new campaign Mercedes Benz wants the young to be ‘restless for tomorrow’ or in other words, pull the brand off their wish lists and drop it into the purchase cart.

Santosh Iyer, vice president, sales and marketing at Mercedes Benz India says “One clear insight from the market research was the spirit of restlessness. It’s not about been-there-done-that any more. People are constantly challenging themselves, be it a start-up or an established business. They aren’t averse to risks.” The company’s market research indicated that new buyers are unlikely follow the traditional purchase route that used to be to first buy a mass market model and then upgrade to a luxury brand.

Iyer says that close to 10 per cent of auto buyers are those that are straight away buying a luxury car and have never owned a car before. And, he adds, Mercedes is enticing buyers to own the car they always aspired for, today, instead of an indeterminate future in a yet undefined salary slab.

A greater digital thrust has helped the company understand its customers better. The company said that it had been prioritising digital when devising a communication, sales and retail strategy and has, over the years, increased its digital spend though it is still lower than traditional mass media channels. It has collaborated with Facebook, LinkedIn and other partners to know its buyers and has an integrated CRM platform that gives marketing, sales, commerce, and service, a single, shared view of every customer.

Focusing on the numbers has helped. For instance, the company took cue from the growing share of female buyers in its sales gender mix and by targeting its marketing efforts, managed to double the share of female buyers in its mix. Women made for 16-17 per cent in Mercedes’s total sales in 2019 as compared to the previous year.

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