Bentalgya, one of the car model that is expected in the Kenyan market
after Transport firm Multiple Group recently appointed Nairobi-based
dealer of high-end car brand Bentley. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- Bentley has shunned traditional advertising in the country.
- The firm says that one-on-one showings to prospective buyers at exclusive car shows resonates better with its customers than marketing targeting the public.
- However, opportunities for niche marketing remain more limited in Kenya than in many other markets.
British luxury car manufacturer, Bentley
plans to set up a dealership in Kenya by June this year, targeting
consumers who can afford vehicles costing between Sh27 million and Sh39
million.
However, in a demonstration of the particular
marketing needs of producers targeting niche consumers, Bentley has
shunned traditional advertising in the country.
According
to Michael Winkler, chief executive of Bentley Motors Inc in the US,
one-on-one showings to prospective buyers at exclusive car shows
resonates better with its deep-pocketed customers than marketing
targeting the public.
“What we have decided is that we
need to reinvest a little more in he experiential side of marketing. In
2015, instead of being at the New York auto show, we rented a very
exclusive retail environment in SoHo and did a one-on-one showing of a
concept car we had,” he said in a 2016 interview with Automotive News.
“It
was very successful, it worked very well. Maybe it was a thought
starter, too, to say maybe we can do things a little differently rather
than being a small manufacturer and get lost at a huge auto show amongst
all the other millions of dollars that are being spent.”
For
brands with a niche market, popular mass advertising mediums that are
designed to reach a lot of people can prove to be an expensive avenue
that reaches few customers in their own small and exclusive market.
“If
it is an exciting brand such as Bentley, an advantage is that that
people will be talking about it touting the product, which is basically
free advertising thus growing its brand exposure in the country,” said
Odanga Madung, data science lead at Odipo Dev, an analytics firm.
However, beyond the talk factor, opportunities for
niche marketing remain more limited in Kenya than in many other markets.
In the UK, there are hundreds of specialist publications that cater
exclusively for the interests of specific consumers, such as the Hat
Magazine, for hat enthusiasts. “Niche magazines know what their targeted
audience wants because they are a part of it.
“This is highly advantageous because it creates a connection that commercial magazines can take much longer to build.
“They
instill a very powerful sense of exclusivity; thus providing
advertisers with a means to reach their target markets rather easily,”
reads an essay on ‘How Niche Magazines Are Thriving’ by the Simon Fraser
University in Canada.
In markets where such channels
are not available, direct marketing can quickly become a better option
for niche producers in terms of the return on investment achieved.
“If
it is a brand that only specific people would be interested in, and not
just because it is ‘famous’, the marketer has to find the consumer by
presenting the product through direct marketing channels that they would
normally pay attention to,” says Odanga.
An example of
this kind of approach was the direct marketing by US company Lehman’s
hardware store, which specialises in non-electric, old-fashioned
appliances and tools such as oil lamps.
The shop in
Ohio was set up to cater for a niche market, the Amish, a group of
Christian traditionalists who shun technological advances such as
electricity, and it was an instant success. The Amish now make up about
95 per cent of its customer base.
In a bid to reach
them, Jay Lehman, the owner of the store, uses paper catalogues that are
distributed by hand. It also embraced the slogan: ‘selling low-tech
items in a high-tech world,’ a message that resonated strongly with its
specific niche market.
- African Laughter
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