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Addressing the true needs of the "green" consumer in communication campaigns for BMW i electric vehicles.
BMW Group
Like many other car companies BMW Group keeps extending its portfolio of electric vehicles, sold under the BMW i brand.
As the revenue share of EVs keeps increasing it was time to thoroughly understand the needs and purchase motives of EV drivers and its meaning to branding and communication strategies of the BMWi brand.
In a consumer research project conducted in cooperation with the University of St. Gallen qualitative and quantitative data were collected to investigate the motivations for consumers to purchase an EV.
Different to expectations we found that it is not a higher ecological consciousness that motivates consumers to buy EVs but rather other factors such as a higher perceived prestige, the possibility to create a sought-after self-perception, and other hedonistic motives.
Consumers buy electric vehicles as status symbols that allow them to build their persona. This has essential implications for effective campaign concepts advertising electric vehicles.
Based on the collected data we could develop a customer typology, a prototypical persona of an EV driver, and derive distinct recommendations to adjust campaign concepts advertising EVs to better address EV drivers' needs
change in imagery of BMW i3 advertising based on study's findings
main contributors from Brand Lab:
Christian Schimmelpfennig, Project Lead
key people from BMW Group:
W. Tannert, Product Manager
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click here
and see a publication on the project
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