Audi and Mercedes at CES: The Super Bowl, Social Media and More

Audi has advertised in the Super Bowl for 10 yearsamp160 Electric cars are still a small share of Audi39s output but the company wants to make a statement quotWe39re returning to the biggest advertising stage to let America know that Audi has gone electricquot said Loren Angelo Audi39s Vice President for MarketingThe Audi etron SUV is soon to hit the market and the company also showed a GT version of it at the recent Los Angeles show signaling what Angelo calls quotan aggressive push in to electrificationquotamp160 She added quotThe big game is a perfect platform to continue the momentumquotAudi North America President Mark Del Rosso pictured above cited the upcoming spot in his press conference speech at CES with an etron behind himamp160 But also on the stand was a rocking Audi A8 with a killer sound systemamp160 The car wasn39t playing rock musicamp160it was literally rocking to give the passengers an immersive experienceAccording to Nils Wollny Head of Digital Business Strategy and Customer Experience Audi is out to enrich consumers39 experience onboardamp160 quotTransit time can feel like wasted timequot he saidamp160 The Audi Immersive InCar Entertainment happens while the car is stationary and a video is onamp160 It39s kind of a nextgeneration drivein with the car providing some actual physical effectsamp160 Yes virtual reality in the car courtesy of haptic feedbackAfter Audi I went to a MercedesBenz roundtable featuring Britta Seeger pictured below a member of the company39s board of management who is responsible for car marketing and salesamp160 She39s being cagy about the Super Bowl adamp160 quotYou will seequot she teasedSeeger said that television isn39t always the best advertising medium for Mercedesamp160 quotIn some countries we39re not buying TV at allquot she revealedamp160 quotIt39s become unaffordablequotamp160 Social media has proven an effective tool for the company in countries like South Koreaamp160 Buying space on Facebook is one strategy as well as just providing a lot of timely content to the major platformsBut Seeger was quite vocal about infotainment and onboard electronics as a selling point for MercedesBenz carsamp160 The company premiered its CLA Coupe at the show and the car is equipped with the MBUX quotinterior assistantquot that is capable of interpreting hand gesturesamp160 The system developed with NVIDIA is just as desirable to certain customers as an engine with more horsepowerquotThe CLA appeals to a younger buyer and it is also very digitally equipped so it was perfect to debut at CESquot Seeger explainedamp160 quotElectronic attributes are getting so importantamp160 Older people like such features as our intuitive voice command systemamp160 Previously they were yelling at the car as it asked them to repeat everythingquotMBUX has been around for two years and Seeger said it39s already become a factor in the intenttorepurchase rates that the company is seeingamp160 quotPeople are prepared to pay for good servicesquot she notedBut are they also willing to share carsamp160 Mercedes is in the early stages of its subscription service which allows customers to pay a set fee and then drive a variety of cars over the set periodamp160 The company is collecting feedback about what works and what doesn39t and Seeger said that the program is likely to be modified to accommodate the needs of specific international marketsamp160 Early complaints about subscription services mostly focused on their being too expensive which led some companies to lower their ratesSeeger is convinced that the dealer model will stick around for a while longer despite growing interest in buying cars onlineamp160 Mercedes has 6500 dealers and she said their physical presence for servicing remains very important while acknowledging that electric cars will need far fewer service visitsDo customers want their cars picked up and delivered for such servicingamp160 Seeger says yes and adds that people are also willing to pay for itamp160 The dealer doesn39t have to offer concierge services free of chargeFinally she said that not every consumer values saving time the main benefit of concierge pickups above all other factorsamp160 quotThe AMG performance car customer wants to stand by the mechanic as he39s workingquot she saidClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Audi and Mercedes at CES: The Super Bowl, Social Media and More

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Jim Motavalli

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Audi and Mercedes at CES: The Super Bowl, Social Media and More

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