Positioning DaimlerChrysler as “the most admired transportation company in the world” drives this IMC team’s media usage strategy. We have structured all IMC activities to target two major audiences: stockholders/financial analysts and the DaimlerChrysler family.
As was indicated earlier in the SWOT, there has been an absence of integrated communication to these target audiences from DaimlerChrysler officials. If one concurs with the adage “people can handle good news; they can handle bad news; what they can’t handle is no news”, then one can readily understand the loss of confidence by shareholders, the rapid drop in the stock price, and the resultant legal actions that are now in the court system.
Later on, as the budget is presented, you will see that the IMC team has recommended doubling of the normal corporate expenditure for stockholder communications. Also recommended is significantly increased funding for employee communications. DaimlerChrysler needs to move very rapidly to stop the erosion of investor confidence and, at the same time, prevent a “brain drain” of its key creative and engineering people to other automakers. This will achieve the objective of reaching the stockholders, business leaders, and financial analysts.
The DaimlerChrysler, as the IMC team has defined it, consists of current users of DaimlerChrysler products, former DaimlerChrysler owners, and—of course—potential new customers that are needed to help stabilize sales and restore growth and market share.
With the exception of specific product marketing such as advertisements for Chrysler products, for Mercedes-Benz, and B2B marketing for the Airbus and other products, there has not been any image communication to this target audience. In fact, the only recent type of publicity has been unplanned, i.e., articles regarding personnel changes and shareholder lawsuits. This is not acceptable.
Finally, as per the assignment, the IMC team has focused attention on these three specific countries: the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. This, then, is the general overview of the proposed DaimlerChrysler media strategy.
