The Advertising Effect of Lifestyle Appeal on the Buying Behaviour of Customer in Nariman Point, Mumbai

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.

Advertising is targeted messages that communicate information from a company to individual and groups of consumers. This medium allows companies to draw consumers to the company's goods and services. It can also influence consumer buying behavior, which helps companies increase sales revenue.

Advertising can help companies develop consumers' awareness to an unmet need or introduce a product that consumers may see as valuable. This influence is often present when new products enter the market. Customer awareness is often low for these items until companies promote them and attempt to drive customer demand through advertising.

Companies may also need to use advertising to stave off the popularity of a competitor's products in the economic market. This will result in advertisements that will influence consumers to change their buying behavior and switch products for specific reasons, such as cost or quality.

Only the advertising for Mercedes-Benz had a positive influence on its customer equity. If $16 billion of adver¬tising expenditure does not affect the long-term profitability of customers then the industry needs to re-examine its marketing strategy. Mercedes-Benz raised ad spending 39.8% in 2008 vs. 2007. Its U.S. market share is up from 1.6% at the end of 2007 to 1.8% through April this year.

Increase in the advertisement expenses results in increase in the market share which means advertising has influence the customer in the buying behavior. That is the reason for which I took this topic as my research project.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Promotion plays a very important role for the sale of the product. Mercedes Benz is one of the mist successful company in the world because of its promotional activities. Mercedes-Benz India has been delighting customers with strong brands and a wide range of products equipped with the latest in automotive technology. The company has been the pioneer of the luxury car segment in India with its inception way back in 1995. It is the only luxury car maker in India to have such a wide range of cars. The different ranges available today are the S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, M-Class, CLS-Class, SLK-Class, CL-Class, GL-Class and the Maybach. We have also already introduced our high performance AMG cars in India off late. The depth of choices within these ranges is also extensive with different petrol and diesel engines. The time difference between the global and Indian launch of its latest models is constantly optimized.

As Mercedes Benz is into niche market, they mainly target high income customer as they produce luxury cars. For promotion the company should have a unique feature with they can assure to the public. Mercedes Benz has certain unique features which they come up with innovations. Some of them are as follows.

Safety cage construction with front and rear crumple zones: Possibly the most important innovation in automobile construction from a safety standpoint, this is now used in nearly all cars and trucks. It was first developed by Mercedes-Benz in 1951. A reinforced structure surrounds the passenger cabin, and the structure of the front and rear parts of the car is designed to deform in a controlled way to lessen impact forces transmitted to that central structure and further protect occupants.

Anti-lock brakes were first used in Mercedes-Benz cars in 1978. They have been standard equipment on all Mercedes-Benz cars since model year 1989. The acronym ``ABS'', coined in 1972, did not originally stand for ``Anti-lock Braking System'' as one might expect, but ``Anti-Blocking System.''

Traction control: Introduced in 1986 to reduce wheel slip in wet or icy conditions.

Brake Assist: Now used by many other manufacturers, this uses sensors in the brake system to determine if the driver intends to stop quickly, and, if that is the situation and the brake pedal is not being pressed hard enough for maximum effect, boosts braking force. The ABS system prevents wheel lockup. It was first used by Mercedes-Benz in the 1997 model year.

Mercedes Benz promotes their cars by advertisement through print media and electronic media. One of the most noticing thing they come up with in the year 2009 was 0 % interest on the installment for 36 months. That is they are not charging any interest for installment payment.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 To know how the advertising of Mercedes Benz result in the sale of the product.

 To find out what additional strategies can be adopted to promote the product.

 To know the need of advertising for successful brand like Mercedes Benz.

HYPOTHESIS AND TESTING

1. Does the lifestyle appeal in the advertisement of the Mercedes Benz influence buying behavior of the customer in Nariman Point, Mumbai?

H0: The lifestyle appeal in the advertisement of Mercedes Benz does influence the buying behavior of the customer in Nariman Point, Mumbai.

H1: The lifestyle appeal in the advertisement of Mercedes Benz doesn't influence the buying behavior of the customer in Nariman Point, Mumbai.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A research methodology is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It specifies the details of the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure and/or solve marketing research problem.

On the basis of fundamental objectives of the research we can classify research design into two general types:

1) EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Exploratory research is one type of research design, which has its primary objective the provision of insights into, and comprehension of, the problem situation confronting the researcher.

2) CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH

Conclusive research is designed to assist the decision maker in determining evaluating and selecting the best course of action to take in a given situation.

Conclusive research can be further divided into two types:-

a.