Introduction
Brand placement in popular culture has become one of the most fruitful types of partnerships in the modern era. Singers, actors, and artworks promote fashion, car, perfume brands, and industry giants. One example is a long-lasting collaboration between Aston Martin cars and the James Bond movie saga. This report will discuss the possible partnership of Aston Martin and the upcoming 2023 new James Bond movie.
Brief analysis of external environment
The external environment is a crucial factor for businesses in every field. Munro and Belanger (2017) discussed in their research that competition is the most common factor explored in the external environment. These days many car manufacturers have competitive and cooperative relationships, which were named “coopetition” according to Attias and Mina-Bonnardel’s study (2017, p. 2). In their research, Attias and Mina-Bonnardel also emphasized that coopetition benefits companies in motivating teams, new resources, and broader markets (2017). Numerous business ecosystems are also being created where corporations can exchange knowledge toward sustainable production. The advancement of technology and the UN’s call for Sustainable Development Goals oblige organizations to develop strategies for sustainable production. The business ecosystems allow companies to exchange knowledge regarding sustainable development, presumably leading to the development of entirely eco-friendly cars. Such a competitive spirit in the car market means luxury car producers must release new environmentally friendly engines and vehicles.
Why the brand wants to collaborate with Bond brandscape?
The successful history of partnerships with Bond movies is the primary reason why Aston Martin wishes to be a part of the 2023 Bond brandscape. The first appearance of Aston Martin was in the Goldfinger movie with a model DB5 (Hines, 2018). Sean Connery, in that movie, was introduced to this car, and so was the viewer who could see various modifications and gadgets of DB5 (Hines, 2018). The next appearance of the Aston Martin DB10 model was in Spectre when Craig stole the car from Q Branch (Hines, 2018). According to Aston Martin’s article, the collaboration has existed for 50 years and therefore has strong potential of becoming a century-lasting partnership.
Another reason Aston Martin collaborates with EON in making the next James Bond movie is to help reimagine the character. Barbara Broccoli – producer and the person who controls the James Bond franchise – mentioned in her interview that the next film will “reinvent” James Bond (Nicholson and Pope, 2022). As Martin’s car was used in one of the first Bond movies, agent 007 is now culturally associated with DB5 (Collins, 2020). Therefore, it would create an opportunity for the company to participate in reimagining James Bond with a new – presumably eco-friendly – Aston Martin car.
Brand presentation in the movie
The Bond franchise and the Aston Martin brand can mutually benefit from the collaboration on Bond 2023 movie. The company can strengthen its image in the international market. Through association with James Bond, Aston Martin has gained a superhero archetype that helps the company sell at higher prices and in more significant amounts (Essamri et al., 2019). Therefore, the brand’s collaboration with the Bond movie benefits the company. Essamri et al. (2019) also mention in the research that DB10 was explicitly made for the Spectre, which means that movie producers will benefit by getting a customized and branded car. This is also an opportunity for the Bond brand to request a specific car that matches trends of the modern world, for example, a hybrid vehicle or an electro car. The history of partnership between the two brands allows them to compromise and make mutually beneficial relationships easily.
It is best if James Bond uses the Aston Martin car in the movie since in the history of the Bond brand Aston Martin has always been the main character’s car. This tradition can help older fans of Bond movies appreciate the new actor who will play agent 007. The main character should use the vehicle whenever a scene is on the road. Action movies like Bond require sets of road races and trips, all of which can include Aston Martin’s showcase. This means that the car is integral to the plot. Moreover, it will make the character look invigorating on the screen.
Brand placement strategy
The movie will be cross advertised by Aston Martin because it will attract more attention to both car and the film. After creating a unique vehicle for Spectre, the video behind the scenes uploaded on the company’s YouTube channel was viewed almost 200 thousand times. Other channels of promotion received more attention, making this partnership campaign successful. The upcoming movie can be advertised through all possible promotion channels of the company, like social media, website, packaging, and others, to create a viral campaign for a movie and a car. It is also possible to use popular social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to create short videos with movie scenes where both James Bond and Aston Martin cars are seen. This will help promote the movie and the company and lead to both successes.
Brand background
Overview of the brand
Aston Martin is a luxury car manufacturer and a brand with a hundred-year history. The company was established in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford in England. The Aston Martin Lagonda Design is located in the same country, Gaydon city. The company exports cars to over 50 countries around the globe and creates unique brand designs supported by the latest technology. Lagonda was established in 1899 as a separate manufacturer and was merged with Aston Martin in 1947 when the late Sir David Brown purchased the two companies. Today the corporation is listed as Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC on every platform including London Stock Exchange. In 2020 the new chairman was seen in the face of Lawrence Stroll, and in the same year, Aston Martin received significant investment, which enabled the company to return to Formula One as Aston Martin Cognizant Team. This allowed the iconic British marque of automobiles to begin a new era for their sports cars. The brand’s most famous cars that have become classic supercars are Aston Martin Ulster, DBR1, DB5, V8 Vantage, and Vulcan.
To constantly evolve, Aston Martin creates development strategies that help companies and customers understand what to expect in their products in the future. The approach presented on the company’s website is divided into parts explaining plans regarding products and their invention, partnerships, market, and portfolio. Since the company provides products for many clients, the brand needs to be open and transparent. Therefore, information about the board of directors and company leadership is available on the company’s website. The company’s products can be purchased via any web service they provide.
Marketing strategy of the brand
Logo
The brand is easily recognized due to its unique logo with wings. Those wings demonstrate elegance and beauty and symbolize speed and superiority (Zou et al., 2017). The history of this logo is remarkable to the brand because it appeared at a time when Aston Martin was competing with other giants of the industry – Bugatti and Bentley at the beginning of the company’s journey. The phenomenal race where Bert brought fifth place overall and first place in his class inspired Sammy Davis – Aston’s motor racer and graphic artist, to draw two wings with the words “Aston Martin” in the center (Collins, 2020). The initial logo was black with white edges though the market-adopted version became a white logo with black edges. After the logo appeared on cars, sales increased and created a new milestone in the brand’s history.
Marketing mix
Product
The product line of Aston Martin Lagonda has a wide range of cars of premium quality. The company’s focus when manufacturing the vehicles is on design and performance. That is because the Aston sports cars are constant participants of Formula 1, where 85 million race viewers evaluate cars of numerous brands. Some models have received researchers’ attention because the company invests much in Research and Development teams to produce the best-performing vehicles. For instance, the legendary DB7 Vantage was analyzed by Driscoll and Barron to test the vehicle’s rear wing. Every model available for production can be found on the company’s website, where the car is fully described, including its speed, power, et cetera.
Aston Martin enlarges its target audience by producing goods other than cars. On the company’s official website, there is branded merchandise from T-shirts to car accessories that anyone can purchase. Moreover, there are separate collections labeled “For Him,” “For Her,” and “For Kids,” which enabled Aston Martin to become an inclusive brand for any buyer.
Price
The prices of premium cars are not available on the company’s official website, probably due to the low number of produced vehicles. In the automobile industry’s premium segment, cars are often bought before they are manufactured. For instance, in 2020, the total number of produced DBX, Vantage Roadster, Goldfinger DB5 Continuation, and DBS GT Zagato models was 2344. The total revenue from sales of these vehicles was 500.36 million pounds (Fazendeiro, 2020). It shall be noted that DBS GT Zagato was manufactured with an unlimited number of 19 cars, which shows that luxury products have a high price and low amount. Nonetheless, as mentioned, Aston Martin has products for an affordable price, like merchandise that can be bought on the official website. The fees range from 10 to 180 pounds per product. For customers dedicated to the brand, collectible cars are available with prices from 65 to 146 pounds per scale model.
Place
The company’s products can be purchased online and delivered to the desired location or at the official Aston Martin dealer stores. The information about every dealer is available on the company store’s website. The authorized dealers are located on different continents, including Asia, Europe, and North America. Aston Martin has offices in 55 countries, meaning the company’s products can be purchased in all those states.
Promotion
The promotion of the brand includes an existing partnership with James Bond movies and Formula 1. Both promotion channels bring significant attention to the brand. Aston Martin also creates content on the Internet, to be precise, on social media, and hence attracts an audience of all ages. The company has products for anyone. As mentioned before, there is a range of products affordable to many people. Therefore, all promotion channels are working effectively for the company.
Unique Sales Proposition (USP)
The concept of a Unique Sales Proposition was created for corporations to develop products and marketing strategies that will allow them to remain on the market and be different from their competitors. The research written by Tarman et al. claims that “The proposition must be strong to move millions of people and attract new customers,” meaning that USP must include either brands or the product’s uniqueness (Tarman et al., 2019, p. 2). The indicators of the USP were identified as “favorability, believability, distinctiveness, compatibility, and attractiveness” (Tarman et al., 2019, p. 3). The understanding of this concept will help understand Aston Martin’s USP.
Aston Martin Lagonda makes a Unique Sales Proposition through unique branded products. The company’s products are easily recognized because of its logo, which makes the brand unique. Creating original cars that the market has not seen before adds to a strong market positioning of the brand. For instance, every car produced by Aston Martin includes some design or engine technology innovation that makes the car unique. The recently released Valkyrie model has an exceptional aerodynamic device, and as stated in the News Products article, “The [Valkyrie’s] engine is a fully stressed element and has a correspondingly robust design” (News Products, 2019). This hypercar has an engine with characteristics better than other sports cars on the market and thus makes Aston Martin an innovative brand (News Products, 2019). This is only one example among other unique solutions that the company brought into the market within 109 years, and therefore, it can be claimed that Aston Martin possesses a strong USP.
Competitors
Aston Martin Lagonda has many competitors on the market, including other industry giants like Bentley, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, and others. All the brands producing luxury sports cars have their uniqueness. Otherwise, they would not remain on the market. According to Hendricks, there are seven strongest competitors to Aston Martin’s DB11: Bentley Continental GT, Porsche Panamera, Ferrari California T, Maserati GranTurismo, et cetera (Hendricks, 2022). Most of Aston Martin’s competitors to the DB11 model produce cheaper cars of similar quality, which makes them more preferable to some customers. However, as Aston Martin positions itself as a luxury brand, it allows its customers to invest in expensive cars. Consequently, the owners of Aston Martin can also be easily recognized in the wealthier classes of society, making the brand more valuable.
Reference List
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Collins, B. (2020) Aston Martin: Made in Britain. Hachette UK.
O’Driscoll, T.P. and Barron, A.R. (2022) CFD Analysis of the Location of a Rear Wing on an Aston Martin DB7 in Order to Optimize Aerodynamics for Motorsports. Vehicles, 4(2), pp.608-620.
Fazendeiro, E.A. (2020) Equity Research-Aston Martin Lagonda. Universidade de Lisboa.
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Sustainable development goals: United Nations Development Programme (2017) UNDP. Web.
Hines, C. (2018) ‘Brave new world: The new Q, masculinity, and the craig era bond films’. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 46(1), pp.46–55.
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