What is a “traditional” society? A society based on historical customs, values, morals or beliefs that are handed down from generation to generation? Today’s society is a far cry from the comfort of tradition. It has evolved and is comprised of vastly different demographics, economics, social-cultural influences and household arrangements. Marketing must target these non-traditional sectors to be effective. This process can be challenging, but performing in-depth market research can help a company excel at their marketing efforts.
Slide 4-38 Marketing Metrics & Slide 3-20 Social-Cultural Environment Allstate’s attempt to gain the insurance business of motorcyclists has required them to refocus their marketing metrics towards the potential non-conservative insurer. Marketing metrics are tools used by companies to evaluate their marketing tactics. By utilizing external marketing metrics such as awareness, relative price, market share, & consumer satisfaction, Allstate began to take an initiative to determine why they were behind the nation’s leader Progressive and other insurance companies in this category.
Allstate used metrics to analyze their stagnant motorcycle insurance policy underwritings against increasing national motorcycle sales. Allstate’s analysis determined that the increase in national motorcycle sales were partially due to more women and baby boomers taking up riding. This awareness metric helped marketers understand the behavior of the consumer and study why they chose to behave that way. The social cultural environment molds the world in which we live and is responsible for how society’s beliefs, values & norms are shaped. (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 80) It speaks volumes of how people view themselves and others.
In Allstate’s case, assessing the social-cultural tendencies of motorcycle riders was imperative. They needed to find out why motorcycle riding had become so desirable and if its popularity was purely a fad, recreational, economical or all of the above. By scrutinizing this information, they could begin to comprehend the relationship between humans’ behavior and their purchasing trends. In addition, comparing CSI (customer service indexes) and perceived quality by industry sector, assists marketers as to why many existing Allstate customers who own motorcycles don’t insure them with Allstate.
Money is a discriminating factor and insurance is often a function of income. Many motorcyclists who don’t finance their purchases may opt out of insurance altogether. Short term financial performance indicators are useful in evaluating relative price metrics by formulating the market share participants in relation to market share value. Slide 4-25Qualitative Measures Allstate has taken a qualitative approach to developing marketing strategies aimed at the non-traditional market. Qualitative measures are targeted at finding out what customers think or feel about certain products or brand names.
In past years to gain market share in the motorcycle industry, Allstate developed “Allstate Garage”. (Crepeau, 2008) This fun interactive website employed the qualitative approach of visualization to allow users to customize their own motorcycle by choosing different models, styles & accessories. Within the customization process, Allstate would indirectly emphasize perks about their insurance policy options. This visualization measure also provided apps for planning scenic rides and safety tips for motorcyclists.
Another tactic Allstate has used to target customer’s emotions as it relates to motorcycle riding is the more recent ad “Bikes Never Crash Alone”. This TV commercial tugs at viewers heartstrings by showing motorcycles crashing in slow motion. The motorcycles do not have any passengers, but show the devastating results of hitting the ground or an obstacle at such momentum frame by frame. What makes this commercial effective is their use of music, visuals & the message “Bikes never crash alone”. (Dozier, n. d. ) The traumatic realization of getting consumers to visualize an actual person as the crash victim uses emotions to market insurance.
Perhaps one of the most brilliant qualitative marketing strategies Allstate has ever implemented was the use of their motorcycle riding agents in their ads. These prominent print ads featured more than 600 Allstate agents straddling their motorcycles fully dressed in motorcycle garb and accessories. The ad displays “This is an Allstate agent” across the center of each photograph. (Elliott, 2008) This approach proved to be successful because it showed the genuine side of the agents and that they could relate to everyday people with passionate hobbies such as motorcycle riding.
One of the more recent and clever advertising pitches from Allstate is the Mayhem campaign. Actor Dean Winters portrays the evil villain “Mayhem” and exemplifies the disaster related consequences of storms, fires, crashes, etc. to stimulate the importance of having insurance to consumers. (Elliott, 2010) Its effectiveness is attributed to the use of real life scenarios by depicting dangers that encompass teenage drivers, crossing pedestrians or trees falling on cars during a storm. Allstate’s commercial delivers an action packed message to consumers. Slide 3-9Sources of Competitive Information.
In order for a company to be competitive in today’s market it must research the strategies of its competitors and determine ways to get ahead of the game. This can be done in a variety of ways through review forums, customer complaint sites, blogs or distributor feedback sites. (Kotler & Keller, 2009, p. 72) For example, Progressive, the motorcycle insurance leader, used consumer surveys to target 1100 men and find out what makes them passionate. They asked such questions as “Do you cry at romantic movies? ” or “How often do you make sentimental purchases?
” The survey results spawned the “Insure the Passion” campaign which was extremely successful and showed the softer side of motorcyclists. (Communication, J. n. d. ) With technology flourishing, companies can find an extraordinary amount of information about competitor’s product strengths and weaknesses. Mystery shopping has become a common marketing strategy to gain perspective on competitor’s services. The web can be a powerful tool in this arena if used correctly and diplomatically. In summary, Allstate took many approaches to gain back the market share of the motorcycle industry.
From inspiring commercials to eye catching action filled billboards and racy print ads, they have used marketing research to fill their void in a variety of unique ways. References Communications, J. (n. d. ). Progressive gets to the heart of what makes motorcycles tick. Retrieved from www. erichopr. com/studies/progressive-motorcycle. pdf Crepeau, R. (2008, March 12). Allstate garage: Customize your motorcycle. Vanksen. Retrieved March 06, 2012, from http://www. vanksen. com/blog/allstate-garage-customize-your-motorcycle Dozier, B. (n. d. ). Analysis of insurance advertisements.
Barbra Dozier’s Blog. Retrieved March 06, 2012, from http://barbradozier. wordpress. com/2011/05/13/analysis-of-insurance-advertisements Elliott, S. (2008, April 14).
Vroom-vroom for one more. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/04/14/business/media/14adnewsletter. html Elliott, S. (2010, June 21). Allstate adds villain, with car insurance as the hero. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2010/06/12/business/media/21adco. html Kotler, P. , & Keller, K. L. (2009). Marketing management (13th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.