Thinking Outside the Box(ter).
Marketing tips from Chris Pfaff, Pfaff Porsche
In Toronto’s tony Yorkville district, luxury automobiles commonly line the streets like pre-teen girls before a Jonas Brothers concert. And yet, on a recent autumn evening, four cars parked outside trendy Sotto Sotto restaurant caused passersby to stop and stare. The cars in question were Panameras, the first ever four-door sedan by Porsche, launched to the world only days before. Inside the restaurant, Chris Pfaff, CEO of Pfaff Porsche was holding court with a group of potential customers and key centres of influence.
Earlier the same week, Pfaff Porsche had invited car enthusiast clients of Newport Partners and law firm Macleod Dixon to witness the unveiling of the Panamera at a ‘preview’ event two days ahead of the official global launch.
These undertakings were all part of Pfaff’s unique marketing approach that targets and engages with potential customers in unconventional ways and sometimes unexpected places to create 'buzz'.
“Most of our effort goes into guerilla marketing and highly targeted special events and much less into conventional print and radio advertising where you can sometimes get lost,” explains Pfaff. “We look for opportunities to put the cars in front of the right people in the right environments. One of the other things we did for the launch of the Panamera, for example, is we toured cars from Toronto to Niagara, stopping along the way to engage with potential customers in public places.”
This marketing approach, among other things, has helped build Pfaff Porsche into the nation’s largest Porsche retailer -- representing one in four of every Porsches sold in Canada – and sidestep the ravages of the current recession.
“I have worked in this industry since 1982, and in my experience every recession is different. Surprisingly, we have felt very little impact during this recession.”
The launch of the new Panamera should provide an additional boost to sales this year. This luxury 4-door sedan, starting at $115,000, opens the company up to a potential new buyer who may not have considered Porsche in the past.
While Pfaff Motors may employ the latest marketing techniques, much of the company’s success is basic and timeless. Citing advice given to him by his father, the founder of the business, Pfaff adds, ‘my Dad told me to never forget to treat your customers and employees the way you’d like to be treated. That’s what we try to do here.”
It is a formula that seems to work. Will Brereton, managing director of Newport Partners who manages the relationship with Pfaff adds that ‘Within the Pfaff auto group, Pfaff Porsche is the crown jewel. Yet what is perhaps most impressive is how they’ve been able to parlay their automotive marketing expertise across other brands from Audi to Toyota to Hyundai.”
Chris Pfaff’s 4 Tips for Marketing Luxury Products
1. Be highly targeted.
The market for luxury products is rarified. Such products are not mass products so mass marketing is unproductive. You need to be highly targeted in who you are reaching, how and where.
2. Co-brand with companies that provide different services to your customers
By partnering with other premium brands like Newport Partners and Harry Rosen who compete in different industries, we are able to access new potential customers and reinforce our reputation for excellence and innovation.
3. Introduce new products that allow you to maintain your core values
When Porsche launched the Cayenne six years ago it marked the company’s entrance into the SUV market. While that may have seemed unusual Porsche, known for its sports cars, the Cayenne maintained the company’s reputation for superlative performance – with the best handling, best braking etc. So we were able to introduce a new buyer to a new product while maintaining the brand values for which we had always been trusted.
4. Service, service, service
While it sounds like a cliché, we differentiate based on our service and our people. You can be successful in attracting people to your dealership but it all falls down if they have a bad experience or there’s no follow up. We like to think we have the best people in the business and we work hard at developing them from within. We have one of the lowest levels of employee turnover in the industry and we’re very proud of that.
