Social Leaderboard

SOCIAL LEADERBOARD
LUXURY CAR BRANDS: 1st 20th July 2012
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SUMMARY
Under Leveraged Communities:
Shack evaluated India's three top-selling luxury car brands BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to derive a comparative benchmark of their standing on social platforms. What we found was a consistent story of under-leveraged and underengaged communities; one that was primarily attracted by contests and online syndication of events to the brands' presence on the platforms. The brands were particularly found wanting for better content and cultural connect during periods when there were no contests, product launches or drive event.
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Social Leaderboard: Luxury Car Brands
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While such initiatives are key components of most brand activity on social platforms, they only form the periphery than the core of an actively leveraged and engaged community for the brand. This missed opportunity presents a significant problem for the brands, as building and nurturing communities that represent the values of the brand is the key to achieving sustained growth through the use of social platforms. Healthy growth accrued through social platforms, according to Shack, is a function of greater engagement with the existing audience while also reaching out to newer audiences. This requires brands to identify, connect and nurture audiences with relevant content. Our research shows that majority of the current initiatives by the three brands do not adhere to this basic tenet. For the period of 1st July 2012 to 20th July 2012, the benchmark finds Audi has ranked the best, BMW has ranked second and Mercedes-Benz has ranked third. Through the rest of the year, Shack will publish updates to this leaderboard on a fortnightly basis, with an analysis of our findings and our observations.
3:
INDEX:
INTRODUCTION WHY COMMUNITIES?
CURRENT STATUS:
tangible incentives attracting disinterested members
SOCIAL LEADERBOARD:
week-on-week performance of top 3 luxury car brands
BMW:
new 3-series launch
AUDI:
R8 drive experience
MERCEDES:
promoting the new B-class
METHODOLOGY:
the research Process
ABOUT SHACK
4:
Introduction
The leaderboard updates the results derived from our internal tools and methodologies on a bi-monthly basis, based on which we will bring out our conclusions. Shack uses a proprietary grading mechanism ShackMatrix to derive the Authority, Activity and Reconnect Grades, which are key determinants of a brands social presence. Read more about the Matrix and Grades.
Why Communities?
Create, Connect, Curate The Shack Manifesto for Building Communities
With the social online world becoming an important cog in a customers relationship with a brand, there is a need for a common language that can give meaning to the seemingly unstructured social data scattered across platforms that represents a brands interaction with its core community. As has happened with the introduction of any new communication medium, practitioners are making the mistake of using the measuring stick (such as views and reach) of traditional advertising media to gauge success in the social web. For over a half a century, we have been thinking about
5:
marketing in terms of campaigns with a very clear beginning, middle and an end. But the online digital world is currently in the process of being rebuilt around people and what we know as the social web, in a few years, would simply be the web. Therefore, long term success for brands depends on leveraging these human relationships to create a strong sense of community around products, concepts and values that are dearest to the brands.
How we measure effectiveness in Online Communities?

The ShackMatrix is a proprietary framework that enables assessment of a brands digital footprint in a holistic way. It is a common language designed to understand the value of a brands online efforts expressed through 5 grades that combine the understanding of traditional branding with the dynamics of a social online world. Presence Grade: Measures how well is the brand represented on digital platforms. Authority Grade: Measures how authoritative is a brands ownedchannels for information on the brand and its products. TG Grade: Measures the percentage of the desired target group mix active on the brands owned platforms. Activity Grade: Measures the level of activity on existing channels. Re-Connect Grade: Measures the extent to which community members connect and identify the brand with the attributes desired by it.
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Tangible Incentives Attracting Disinterested Members
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Social Leaderboard:
1st 20th July 2012
Brand Audi BMW Merc
Community Size Share (%) Activity Grade Current 1w ago Current 1w ago Current 1w ago 8,27,459 8,23,678 37.5% 37.5% 4.9% 17.3% 7,82,915 7,77,256 35.5% 35.4% 9.3% 0.5% 5,96,817 5,95,300 27.0% 27.1% 5.9% 1.9%
8: Audi:
With the opening of the Buddh International Circuit, track days have become a highlight event for all luxury and sports car makers to drive offline engagement. Audi was no different as shown by its recent R8 Drive experience. While the exclusive few who got to drive the car felt involved, Audi failed to capture and translate this experience to the digital platform in a manner that leveraged and engaged its desired target audience.
20.0%
Reconnect Grade
15.0%
10.0% 5.0% efficiency contest technology experience progressive luxury car R8 Audi (W1) 4.0% 0.9% 0.0% 0.2% 8.4% 0.3% Audi (W2) 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 1.4% 1.1%
Audi's Activity Grade fell by more than 50% compared to the Week 1 (7 Jul 13 Jul) which saw higher activity due to contestrelated interaction and the celebration of its 103rd anniversary. Focus initiatives, once over, always bring about a falloff in Activity Grades,
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but it is unhealthy for any brand to experience such a drastic falloff especially when the baseline to which it draws back is on the considerably lower side.
Ironically, in Week 1 (7th Jul 13th Jul), Audi fared better on the Reconnect Grade for efficiency (4.1% vs. 0.4%) even though it is BMW that focuses on Efficient Dynamics in its cars and it is considered a key essence of BMWs brand.
GAP/Opportunity Analysis: The contest by Audi generated the least amount of buzz among all the 3 brands. Audi did not leverage its (re)connect with efficiency in Week 2 which it should do going forward if it wants to maintain and extend its position at the top of the pack.
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OBSERVATIONS
To further improve its grades, Audi should cater in a better manner to a community having the following profile 1) young urban professionals 2) motorsport enthusiasts 3) technology buffs 4) car enthusiasts who appreciate the technology, design and performance of an Audi.
While the association with motorsports fits well with the Audi story, the engagement doesnt go beyond track days. The community also needs a place to stay connected and interested even in the absence of any on-ground events. Such engagement would also translate into increased buzz during events and product launches.
11: BMW:
BMW saw a big jump in its Activity Grade as compared to the Week 1 (7 Jul 13 Jul) driven by contest-related activity around the launch of the new 3-Series.
Relative to the community size, the contest failed to generate any significant buzz with a mere 3000 users active during the month on its platforms. This has significant implications for the RoI on such initiatives for the brand.
Reconnect Grade
20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% progressive contest efficiency exclusive launch event ultimat3 3-series BMW (W1) BMW (W2)
1.8%
2.0%
0.4%
0.0% -
1.2%
2.0% 2.0% 3.0% 7.3%
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Similar spikes were observed during the launch of the X1 in Aug 2011 and the Mission Impossible contest in Nov-Dec 2011. We believe that such activities only provide an engagement channel for users who are incentivised mainly through tangible rewards.
Majority of these flash mobs do not represent the brands desired target audience and they often dont identify closely enough with the essence of the brand.
BMW scores low on the Reconnect and Authority Grades, due to the asynchronous overall communication. This contributed to a disjointed overall experience for the user trying to connect with the brand on its various digital platforms. It is critical for brands to be able to (re)associate themselves with a consistent set of values and concepts and also have those values represented consistently across all platforms they choose to be on.
GAP/Opportunity Analysis: Our projections show that an uptick in BMWs Activity Score by 1.3x from the current level would have helped BMW be on top the leaderboard.
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OBSERVATIONS
To improve its score we believe that BMW, given its positioning and brand attributes, can cater to the community comprising 1) Brand enthusiasts: young professionals in the fields of architecture, fashion design, film making and other such creative pursuits 2) Owners: Corporate professionals and self-employed businessmen who have an interest in design, art, fashion, theatre and the finer things in life. This requires both initiatives and content to be tailored to meet the needs of the two groups.
The campaign for the new 3-Series was overloaded with product information for a brand and a product which already has good recall value. The brand should instead focus its efforts on creating engagement channels for the cultural interests of their core community.
14: Mercedes-Benz
When it comes to displaying growth in the grades, Mercedes-Benz finds itself in the same boat as BMW and Audi.
The recently announced 'Ultimate Trails' contest was the primary factor responsible for the week-on-week growth in Activity Grade for the brand.
Reconnect Grade
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
exhilarating
Merc (W1) 0.3% 0.6% 0.0%
Merc (W2) 2.1% 0.2% 2.1% 2.1% 2.1% 2.1% -
contest
touring trail
adventure
Tourer
B-class
C-class
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Through the on-going contest, Mercedes-Benz primarily wants their community members to connect the theme of adventure with the new B-class.
However, the performance in this respect has been average as evidenced by the Reconnect Grade for adventure (2.1%) which is below par compared to the Activity Grade (5.9%) for the week.
GAP/Opportunity Analysis: Finishing last, Mercedes-Benz has the most amount of work to do in the coming days. To top the current leaderboard, the brand has to at least increase its Activity Score by 5x.
Considering that Mercedes-Benz is already experiencing the peak of its contest-driven growth in Activity Grade it is obvious that doing more of the same wont get them to top the leaderboard.
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OBSERVATIONS
The existing Mercedes-Benz community in India includes families with a long lineage of owning Mercedes-Benz cars, urban professionals such as lawyers, CAs in the age group of 46-60 years and self-employed businessmen.
Mercedes-Benz has always been known for being The Luxury Car representing royalty, power and class. However, due to the slip in their market share to the might of BMW and Audi over the last few years, they are reorienting their strategy to cater to a younger audience comprising emerging entrepreneurs in Tier II and Tier III cities as well as middle-aged professionals in the metros. The introduction of the B-class sports Tourer is a step in this direction.
The community angle for Mercedes is more intricate given that they have to connect with their existing audience while also having an offering for the younger audience they are trying to cater to through their new product lines.
So an offering which combines lifestyle and luxurious living with the new and avant-garde would serve as a relevant context to drive engagement.
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Data Methodology
We take online performance as a holistic concept. While size of the brands community and level of activity are important factors, the profile of the TG, the authority of the brands platforms and its recall are also equally important ingredients. In calculating the ShackMatrix, we assign weights to the different metrics on individual platforms in order to combine them into a single comparable grade that is relevant to the digital objectives of the brand. The weights are decided based on the relative effectiveness of the platform to a brands community as well as the brands own digital goals.
Data Validity and Integrity

We source the data from the brands official digital properties. Our scope is restricted by the data made available through the APIs of the social platforms we cover. The coverage of data in this report is restricted to Facebook and Twitter. More detailed and granular metric studies are done for clients on a project basis.
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About Shack
Shack is a digital marketing company which brings together brands and their customers in carefully crafted, wholesome communities, providing exceptional experiences for all.
We leverage communities for brands:

In order to create and maintain buzz around your brand you need your target audience to form lasting relationships with your brand.
We build platforms for the communities:

Being a one-stop solution for all your community building and web-based marketing needs, we craft comprehensive campaigns, based on careful strategy, encompassing an entire digital eco-system.
We develop content for the platforms:

Along with creating engagement tools both online and off-line we also encourage and facilitate generation of remarkably effective and compelling content, in a methodical manner by our own team, and in a random manner, by your community members.
We measure the impact on the brand:

You need to monitor the impact that the campaign has on your brand. This impact is not something hypothetical, it is hard, tangible, three-dimensional data that not only tells you where you presently stand, but also tells you where you need to go and what path you need to follow with the help of Shacks proprietary Digital Ecosystem Management tool.
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Social Leaderboard - Indian Luxury Car Brands - 20 July 2012

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LUXURY CAR BRANDS: 1st 20th July 2012

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