Marketing Communications

STAGES IN THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVES 169

For instance, the R8 was Audi’s fi rst entry into the high-end sports car market. In a market

dominated by the Porsche 911, the R8 was to establish Audi as the German sports car, achieve

the number 2 spot and bolster the Audi brand. Th e R8 contains Audi innovations that have

changed motor sports and car manufacturing in key ways. Th e communications centred on

the idea of the R8 as innovative and an embodiment of the brand’s technological competence.

Th ey promoted consumer interest that refl ected on the brand as a whole, providing convincing

evidence that this same technological competence and innovative energy goes into every single

car. In the year of its launch, the R8 topped the rankings for the most popular sports car. It

has closed the gap on the Porsche 911, and has energised the Audi brand.^30

Most introductions are new brand launches rather than real product innovations. Evidently,

in this case it is not necessary to communicate the central functional product features as

consumers are aware of them from their experience with other brands. Th e goals are to create

brand awareness and support psycho-social brand image connotations. Th is is done by associating

a brand with a certain projected lifestyle. When Nivea fi rst launched the colour cosmetic sub-

brand Nivea Beauté onto the European market in 1997, the objective was to utilise the Nivea

core competencies of skin care expertise and emotional values to build a care-based decorative

cosmetic brand focusing on products off ering gentle formulae and classic colours in the eye,

nail, lip and face segments. By 2000 stronger focus had to be placed on category-specifi c drivers

such as modernity, new colours, fashion trends and innovative products to cope with the con-

tinued pressure from local competitors, global heavyweight L’Oréal Perfection and the US top

brand Maybelline, using heavy advertising investments to support a global rollout aft er merging

with Jade (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Gemey (France and Belgium). Apart from

TV ads spreading the ‘the most beautiful me’ message, the print communications were especially

important in demonstrating colour and fashion competence. In Germany and France, Nivea

Beauté was the only brand in 2000 notably to improve brand image values on all levels. Not

only the core Nivea values but also category drivers such as ‘colours are modern and up to date’

saw improvements. Brand likeability, brand usage and brand awareness also improved aft er

the campaign.^31 A study^32 on what kinds of communications stimulate sales of new products

came up with four factors. It should be clearly communicated that it is a new product and is

thus diff erent from other products. Th is diff erence should be specifi cally linked to the category

such as ‘the refreshing soft drink’ or ‘the strongest mint’. Th irdly, diff erences in characteristics

are not enough; they should be translated into real benefi ts for the consumer and communicated

in that way. Th e last important factor is the support given to that benefi cial point of diff erence.

Some objective endorsements should give consumers the reason why a certain claim should

be believed. Typical endorsements are demonstrations, scientifi c evidence, celebrity endorse-

ments, testimonials of experts or ‘normal’ users in a slice-of-life setting.

Growth

In the growth stage, a diff erent situation leads to other strategies. Consumers are aware of the

brand, the product and the most important characteristics and features. Other brands have

entered the market with a comparable off er. Communications strategies in this stage of the

product life cycle will be aimed at defending the brand’s position against possible competitive

attacks. Marketers will have to create brand preference by emphasising the right product features

and benefi ts to diff erentiate the brand from competitors and position it as unique.

Maturity

A brand in the mature stage of its life cycle has to cope with strong competition in a market

that is scarcely growing. Th is implies that an increase in the return of one manufacturer will

be refl ected in a decrease in a competitor’s revenues. Communications strategies will focus

on increasing the brand loyalty of consumers. Customers should be induced to be less open

to the advantages of competing brands. Th ere are six possible communications objectives in

this particular product life-cycle stage:

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