German automaker Mercedes-Benz is pushing a new coffee table book published by teNeues that shows its history through photography as a Father’s Day gift.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book contains a photographic history of the model’s 60 years on the market. Mercedes is positioning the book as a Father’s Day gift for a man who enjoys sports cars via a Facebook app that holds a contest, limited-time discount code and preview.
“Men with their cars are like women with their shoes,” said Christine Kirk, CEO of Social Muse Communications, Los Angeles. “Aside from private planes and yachts, luxury automobiles are the ultimate status symbol for a man.
“The campaign creates online buzz about the launch of the book and inspires Father’s Day gift ideas for those who are still undecided,” she said.
Ms. Kirk is not affiliated with Mercedes, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Mercedes-Benz USA did not respond before press deadline.
The classics
Released April 15, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book shows the history of the 300 SL from its origin to the current SLS model over 304 pages.
The book is photographed by René Staud with text by Jürgen Lewandowski and a foreword by Paolo Tumminelli. It is available in English, German, French, Russian and Mandarin. It sells for $125.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book cover
Mercedes is marketing the book as a gift for Father’s Day on June 17 via social media.
The hub of its efforts is the Gifts for Fans app on the Mercedes-Benz USA Facebook page that lets consumers enter to win a copy, get a discount code and view photos from the book.
Gift for Fans Facebook app
Mercedes will push the app via posts on its Facebook page, theMercedes-Benz Classic Center USA Facebook page and theMercedes-Benz USA Twitter account.
The automaker is showing the book in the Facebook app on a wooden table next to a coffee cup and saucer and a vintage Mercedes keychain.
The app starts by telling users, “When it comes to literature, the classics are always the best.”
First, users can enter to win one of 10 copies by writing a 50-word explanation of why they are passionate enough about classic cars to own the book.
Users must compose their essays in the app and fill out the entry form, which requires full name, address, phone number and email address and gives the option to sign up for the Mercedes email newsletter.
Next, the book’s publisher teNeues will offer a 35 percent discount code June 7-8 when users come to the app and click the Buy Now button. The button currently takes users to the publisher’s site to buy the book at full price.
At the bottom of the app, users can view eight images from the book. These images are also in the Mercedes-Benz USA Facebook photo album titled, “Win The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Book for Father’s Day.”
“This campaign is a lot less about creating buzz to impact the company’s bottom line and is much more about building goodwill with the Mercedes consumer,” Ms. Kirk said.
Book it
Luxury brands likely get involved in publishing books to show their history via a traditional medium.
High-end fashion labels do this often.
For example, Chanel is in the midst of raising awareness for its fall 2012 book release called “The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s classic revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld” (see story).
In addition, French fashion label Christian Dior is showing off the history of its jewelry, fashion and perfume collections in a three-book slipcase set published by Assouline (see story).
Mercedes is probably pushing its book as a Father’s Day gift to appeal to female consumers whose husbands or fathers are into sports cars.
In fact, luxury brands marketing for Father’s Day may want to target women shopping for fathers or husbands who are more likely to be creative with their purchases, experts say (see story).
Mercedes is likely sticking to social media to target its top consumers.
“Social media is not just for teenagers anymore,” Ms. Kirk said. “Everyone is online from Fortune 500 CEOs, business executives, celebrities and the media.
“The affluent demographic is one of the fastest growing online,” she said. “Social media is a great way for Mercedes to get in front of their top target consumers.”
“Also, this campaign helps get the brand in front of an aspirational consumer who might not be able to afford a Mercedes vehicle but, through the book, can still feel like they are taking a piece of Mercedes home with them.”
Source:http://www.luxurydaily.com/mercedes-chooses-social-for-father%E2%80%99s-day-book-push/
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