Marketing Mix & Implementation Plan

The economy is up, and people are looking for ways to spend their extra money, why not spend it on a new car. The product strategies that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will follow are a combination of product development and diversification. Product development is simply creating new products for customers, “A new product can be a totally new innovation, an improved product, or a product with enhanced value, such as one with a new feature” (Principles, 2015). The innovation/new product FCA will be introducing is the revitalization of the Chrysler ME-412 sports car project with the utilization of current technology to make it more powerful yet safer and more fuel-efficient than the previous design from 2008. FCA will use its connection with Waymo to place self-driving technology into this vehicle in the form of a Relaxed Mode which will be the highest autonomy of any car on the market. Complementing this Relaxed Mode will be a Sports Mode which automatically tunes the engine and transmission with the touch of a button to allow the driver to feel the raw power of the ME-412. This also classifies as diversification as FCA does not currently produce a high-end sports car. “Diversification strategies involve entering new markets with new products or doing something outside a firm’s current businesses” (Principles, 2015). This move is to challenge brands like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz which have high-end and expensive sports cars in their line ups.

This new project lines up with FCA’s vision/mission statements as well as their values. The vision of FCA “is to build cars and trucks people want to buy, will enjoy driving and will want to buy again.” (Farfan, 2018). As for the mission, it is “To create the type of exciting, efficient, reliable, safe vehicles you expect and deserve.” (Farfan, 2018). The Chrysler ME-412 fits in perfectly as it will undoubtedly be one of the most fun and enjoyable cars to drive. This, partnered with current technology and safety features will create a safe and reliable vehicle as well. Lastly, the ME-412 is being created to compete in the high-end sports car market against Ferrari and other well-known brands because FCA cherishes competition and finds the importance that competition play in innovation (FCA, 2019). Competing with these other brands will allow for new technologies and features to be designed and created to be placed in future models. This competition and innovation will lead to cars becoming more and more of what consumers want while making them safer and more fun to drive. These cars will not be cheap, but we believe that there is room for them in the market and we want to capture market share away from competitors.

THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE TO DO ADD ON TO THE PAPER ABOVE

write a half a page or so about the actual communication strategies we are using (Facebook and Instagram, refer to this social media discussion post about the high mileage club.) Summary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America Facebook: which is below

• Development of Integrated Communication Strategies aligned with Strategic Focus- MUST include 2 social media platforms in this section COMPLETE THIS PART see summary below
• Development of Implementation Plan COMPLETE THIS PART

write a half a page or so about the actual communication strategies we are using (Facebook and Instagram, refer to this social media discussion post about the high mileage club.)

Summary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America Facebook:

FCAs Facebook page essentially acts as a corporate news feed. I don’t see much value in the page itself. The page contains pictures and descriptions of social outreach events that the company has engaged in and has news on products or technological innovations. The content is mainly blog posts and press releases. FCAs feed is quite unimaginative and does not take advantage of the intended community-building that Facebook offers. “There is a direct relationship between value creation behavior and brand community bonding” (Sanz-Blas, Bigné, & Buzova, 2019). FCA does not utilize or even attempt to build value creation or engage in community bonding. I do not see any posts that engage followers and I think this is a major weakness in the Fiat Chrysler North America Facebook page.

New Social Media Direction:

The new social media direction I would like to take is to provoke engagement from the community and really create value with the Facebook platform. I would like to preface that my social media analysis did regretfully focus on the Chrysler brand in particular, however, I can easily swap out the logo with FCA on the post I created. The program I would like to institute with FCA is the Mile-High Club program, which emphasizes FCAs brand loyalty, reliability, and quality through our consumers by having them share a photo of their vehicle, their vehicle’s speedometer with high-mileage, and a story about a road trip with their Fiat-Chrysler. Facebook really is all about bringing people together (“Why Facebook’s mission is to bring the world closer together”, 2019). I think this social media direction accomplishes that. This strategy will not quickly affect FCAs bottom-line, but in the long run I believe community building will pay off.

Reasonings to Use My Selection:

I believe the success of a Facebook page depends on the community that is built and how engaging the posts are. My social media direction addresses both of those factors. The Mile-High Club program will cause followers to engage with the page by sending the picture of their vehicle’s speedometer, the vehicle itself, and sharing a fun story of a family trip. Properly vetted posts will be shared with the community and there is a great prize awaiting the best user post. Facebook is also a more-encompassing platform by being able to use pictures, and more than 140 characters in a post., so I think we can be really creative with the type of event(s) we would like to.

References

Sanz-Blas, S., Bigné, E., & Buzova, D. (2019). Facebook brand community bonding: The direct and moderating effect of value creation behaviour. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 35, 100850. doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2019.100850

Why Facebook’s mission is to bring the world closer together. (2019, March 13). Retrieved October 2, 2019, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/information-age/facebooks-mission-is-community/.

Everything need to relate everything to our strategic focus of product development and how we are a reliable and efficient car maker.