A Digital Marketing Case Study of IT corporation PATEO (based in Shanghai), exploring the market for smart automobiles and the emergence of AI in the automobile industry.
2. Agenda
Situation analysis
PATEO intro and
strategy
Market climate
Industry inauguration
challenges
Analysis from a
marketing perspective
Becoming a Market
Oriented Firm
Educating the Market
Strategy Challenges Recommendations
3. Agenda
Situation analysis
PATEO intro and
strategy
Market climate
Industry inauguration
challenges
Analysis from a
marketing perspective
Becoming a Market
Oriented Firm
Educating the Market
Strategy Challenges Recommendations
4. Current Situation
1. Market climate
2. Consumer and businesses needs guidance
“We’re moving from being just a hardware
provider to being a hardware, software, and
experiences provider,”
- Don Butler, head of Connected Vehicle and
Services for Ford Motor Company
6. What have we used to
control our devices?
Then
Keyboard and mouse
Now
Screen and touch
Conversation
7. Intelligent conversation needs…
Hear Clearly
Background noise control, testing
in various environments, hot-
words etc.
Understand Deeply
The most important step for
instigating intelligent
conversation, requiring vast
amounts of data and advanced
technology
Meet Needs
Provide accurate and thorough
information and service
10. The past 10 years have seen U.S. consumer desktop PC sales
fall by nearly 50%
Automobiles
PC and
laptops
Smartphones
and tablets
Once leading the way, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft now
face a new world order led by Apple, Google, Samsung and
even Amazon.
11. Automobiles
PC and
laptops
Smartphones
and tablets
The Currently there are more mobile phones in
the world than people
The idea of being ‘unplugged’ for longer than it
takes to buy a coffee is anathema to the worlds
population
Connectivity is now seen as an essential need,
akin to water
12. Automobiles
PC and
laptops
Smartphones
and tablets
Pateo = The Next Step
The average American spends 280 hours per year behind the wheel
There are over 279 million cars on the road in China, and over
253 million in the US in 2015
13. Making the dream a reality
Customers
Lifestyle related services,
internet, new experiences,
connectivity, safety, user-
friendliness etc.
Governments
Autonomy, safety and new
energy development
15. Agenda
Situation analysis
PATEO intro and
strategy
Market climate
Industry inauguration
challenges
Analysis from a
marketing perspective
Becoming a Market
Oriented Firm
Educating the Market
Strategy Challenges Recommendations
17. 5 Main Challenges
Automotive companies can’t benefit from telematics users
User experience is no where near the standard
of smart phones
Safety whilst driving is a major concern for drivers and
the government, and therefore for Pateo
People don’t yet perceive it as a lifestyle necessity
18. Challenge 1
People don’t yet perceive it as a lifestyle necessity
“Why do I need to wait
until I get into my car to
book a flight?”
Current
customers
“I can’t bear to be
completely unconnected
while I’m in my car!”
Ideal
customers
19. Challenge 2
User experience is no where near the standard of current
smart phones, therefore automotive companies can’t
benefit from its telematics users
20. Challenge 2
User experience is no where near the standard of current
smart phones, therefore automotive companies can’t
benefit from its telematics users
21. Challenge 2
User experience is no where near the standard of current
smart phones, therefore automotive companies can’t
benefit from its telematics users
Benefits
Costs
=
Creating superior value for end users
and B2B customers
22. Challenge 2
User experience is no where near the standard of current
smart phones, therefore automotive companies can’t
benefit from its telematics users
Benefits
Product
• Features
• Performance
• Reliability
• Packaging
• Design
Support services
• Training
• Maintenance
• Information
• Management
• Client support
Relationship
management
• Competency
• Courtesy
• Reliability
• Responsiven
ess
• Communicati
on
Image
• Company
reputation
• Brand
reputation
• Atmosphere
Etc.
23. Challenge 2
User experience is no where near the standard of current
smart phones, therefore automotive companies can’t
benefit from its telematics users
Costs
Search costs
• Product
availability
• Relationship
management
• Competence
• Responsiven
ess
• Credibility
Acquisition costs
• Price level
• Timing
• Fulfilment
process
• Incentives
Financing costs
• Processing
and
administrative
• Flexibility
• Security
Maintenance
• Complexity
• Reliability
• Availability
• Repair costs
• Relationship
management
• Systems
management
Etc.
24. Challenge 2
AI era has only just begun
De = Energized differentiation
R = Relevance
E = Esteem
K = Knowledge
25. Challenge 2
AI era has only just begun
Energized
Differentiation
Relevance>
Esteem
Knowledge>
Brand has captured attention and now
has the power to build relevance
Brand is better liked than known, desire
to find out more
27. Challenge 3
Safety whilst driving is a major concern for all parties
Credibility
And more…
Reviews
Reliability
Reputation
Trustworthiness
Sound familiar?
29. Agenda
Situation analysis
PATEO intro and
strategy
Market climate
Industry inauguration
challenges
Analysis from a
marketing perspective
Becoming a Market
Oriented Firm
Educating the Market
Strategy Challenges Recommendations
32. What is Market Orientation?
Discover what customers/clients need and cater products to them
Distribution of market intelligence throughout company
Responsiveness to market intelligence
33. Discover Distribute Respond
Current and future
end user needs
Current and future
B2B customer needs
Competition
Collaborators
Clarifying overall
objectives
Communication of
marketing intelligence
Cross department
Honoring promises
Respect
Collaboration
Business culture
values
Overarching Strategy
34. B2B Wechat and Networking
1. Wechat Statistics
2. Methods
3. Creating great content
4. Key Takeaways
35. Wechat Statistics
Wechat is the most
popular social network
in China, it dominates
the country’s
communicationsWechat combines the
best of Facebook,
Twitter and WhatsApp
into one mobile app
Can scan and pay at
stores, order movie
tickets, follow their
favorite brands and
accounts etc.
Users can share
messages with friends,
post updates, photos
and videos for their
fans
36. Wechat Statistics
Increasingly, touchpoints between companies and B2B
customers are extending beyond person to person
User engagement becomes more and more difficult
Wechat is best as a loyalty part of the customer
journey and not great for brand awareness
However, there are methods to maximize the platform
that would give the company the most exposure
37.
38. Methods
• Influential
businessmen
• Leveraging their
personal brand equity
• People who have a lot
of followers
• Can spread the
message
KOLs
Key opinion leaders
• Can be shared and
passed on
• Informative, engaging,
moving
• Make them smile,
laugh, feel happy, sad
etc.
• Video, pic, infographic,
text, stories
• Great content will be
shared if its targeted at
the right people
Great Content
Layout and Visual
Elements
• Mobile platform only
• Optimize content
accordingly
• Videos under 3
minutes long
• Text that doesn’t take
more than 10 minutes
to read
• Font is readable.
Preview Everything!
Anything you post on your
Wechat is equivalent to
anything that leaves your
office, and therefore
contributes to your
company’s reputation.
39. Methods
• Influential businessmen
• Leveraging their personal
brand equity
• People who have a lot of
followers
• Can spread the message
KOLs
Key opinion leaders
• Can be shared and
passed on
• Informative, engaging,
moving
• Make them smile, laugh,
feel happy, sad etc.
• Video, pic, infographic,
text, stories
• Great content will be
shared if its targeted at
the right people
Great Content
Layout and Visual
Elements
• Mobile platform only
• Optimize content
accordingly
• Videos under 3 minutes
long
• Text that doesn’t take
more than 10 minutes to
read
• Font is readable.
Preview Everything!
Anything you post on your
Wechat is equivalent to
anything that leaves your
office, and therefore
contributes to your company’s
reputation.
Key Takeaway
1 post of high quality original content per week is better than
many posts of mediocre content.
Especially for B2B inaugural businesses such as Pateo
40. Product is King
Content is King
Key Takeaway
1 post of high quality original content per week is better than
many posts of mediocre content.
Especially for B2B inaugural businesses such as Pateo
41. Creating Great Content
Service Accounts Subscription Accounts
Account is displayed on the main
page alongside other chats
Advanced features such as interactive
menus
4 posts per month, may include
multiple messages in one post
No spam
Straight to their personal feed
More interactive
Pros
Cons
Less frequent content has be to very
good to stand out
1 message per day
Housed under the subscription tab,
users must actively check for content
Pros
Can connect with followers everyday
Cons
Too much noise, crowded
Content hungry
Takes users an extra step to get to the
content
43. Creating Great Content
Service Accounts Subscription Accounts
Account is displayed on the
main page alongside other chats
Advanced features such as interactive
menus
4 posts per month, may include
multiple messages in one post
No spam
Straight to their personal feed
Very high quality
Pros
Cons
Less frequent content has be to very
good to stand out
1 message per day
Housed under the subscription tab,
users must actively check for content
Pros
Can connect with followers everyday
Cons
Too much noise, crowded
Content hungry
Takes users an extra step to get to the
content
44. Consistent and clear company and brand message
Helps clients see your progress and relate to your vision
Creates precedent for future business and developmental conduct
Simple, but Powerful
Increased user engagement and B2B touchpoints
Entrepreneur + capital = products + customers = business
=
Educate end users, paving the way to the future
- Steve Tobak
Today's aim is to analyze Pateo’s overall marketing strategy and identify relevant challenges then subsequently provide recommendations
Beginning with Stategy
What is our current situation
Conversation, the most natural form of human interaction and communication. A new era of voice control, deep comprehension and discourse. The future of artificial intelligence, create intelligence household items
Intelligent conversation needs 3 things before it can be fully realized and sophisticated.
1. Hear Clearly
2. Understand deeply
3. Meet Needs
What is Pateo? Pateo is the future
Continual upgrades to processing systems
Development in new areas, action to innovation
What are the key devices that have facilitated end to end communication throughout recent history? What are the hubs we devote our time to in order to communicate?
The three main hubs are smartphones and tablets, PC and laptops, and automobiles.
How have they changed over time? How have these observations affected Pateo?
Here are some relevant facts and insightful trend information
The first commercial computer UNIVAC I was released in 1951, and since then human connectivity has changed in more ways than we can fathom.
Yet...
Smart phones began with the revolutionary iPhone in 2007, introducing to the world the wonders of the information era and touch screen user interface.
Our path to an intelligent, conversation dictated AI future means catering to both sides of the same coin.
Consumers, which include both B2B customers and end users, as well as governments who play an important role in the development of technology.
Seamlessly integrating all of the above into a smart, in car telematics system that will offer lifestyle related services.
Including in car music, payment, shopping (all made possible with in car internet)
Creating new experiences on new platforms
Keeping drivers connected safely through easy to use interface and Intelligent conversation
With limited existing research and capacity to conduct market research, my conclusions have been drawn from market observations and observed trends in consumer’s reviews of the product (word of mouth only)
Currently, people who can whole heartedly call themselves a car telematics user are very minimal. These are the people who would
buy a specific car model based on the fact that it has a a intelligent device installed
Know and frequently use all the services in the in car device
Why is this the case? How come the market is not responsive to the emergence of AI or excited by the prospect of a future with intelligent, talking cars?
Here are a summary of common reasons, which we will subsequently go more in depth into.
If customer think that they are able to do all of this on the phone, the mentality is “why do I have to wait until I get into my car before I book my flight?”
The specific challenge exists in that the Mentality of people are very engrained, they have not experienced artificially intelligent conversation and its unique benefits.
A man who existed before airplanes were invented couldn’t have possibly dreamed of the benefits of time, convenience, trade and economic growth until the airplane was trialed and put into use.
Similarly, would have thought of a touch screen phone, where you can just.. Scroll?
Equally, who would have thought of a car which you can just talk to?
The technology is here, but not yet sophisticated. Which brings us to our next point.
Why would automotive companies (our B2B customers/clients) spend a large amount of their resources on a product that currently has a very small segment? This is the size of our segment at the moment.
Why? Current systems have slow response time, awkward UX designs compared to current designs in our other smart devices such as the iPhone. Resulting in a segment that is small, narrow-minded and limited to what they can currently see.
This is what we want our segment to look like.
How do we make this a reality?
By increasing the benefits and reducing the costs to both B2B customers and end users.
Creating superior value for both parties
Benefits can be simply described as all tangible and intangible benefits B2B customers and end users can gain from the product, this includes....
Similarly with costs, are all tangible and intangible things B2B customers and end users can lose at the expense of the product. This includes ....
Of course all businesses are striving to create value, differentiate themselves.
Value needs to be created for not only B2B customers for PATEO, but core value must be created for end users at the same time.
However our end users (our market segment) don’t yet understand the difference between a smart phone and a smart telematics car system.
Why and how do we change this? We can answer this question through a deeper analysis into how the product (and the brand that represents it) is perceived through the eyes of our end users. Using the BAV (brand asset evaluator).
Pateo is in the region of New (as the AI industry is just coming about) or perhaps curiosity.
1. Energised differentiation (DE) Is the basis for consumer choice, the essence of the brand and the source of margin and pricing power. It is an attraction to something different, something intriguing, a look, an attitude, a behavior - something that makes a person want to know more.
2. Relevance
Drives usage and is the measure of what is personally appropriate to consumers
3. Esteem
Is the consumer respect, regard, reputation and is the fulfilment of the brand’s promise. How well a brand fulfils its implied or overtly stated consumer promise.
4. Knowledge
Is the culmination of brand building efforts and is the outcome of brand development, through a consumer’s intimate relationship with the brand
With this, a brand must be careful to go only the correct path, as there are two possible paths.
New – Curiosity – Leadership/mass market
Or
New – Fatigued
From the previous slides we have come to the conclusion that end users don’t yet perceive in car smart devices as a necessity, therefore not particularly relevant to their lives. However, if the brand has the innovation, intrigue and differentiating qualities which AI innately possesses when carried out sophisticatedly, Pateo as a brand has a powerful opportunity to capture the attention of customers and subsequently, build relevance.
At the moment, esteem and knowledge of Pateo is comparatively low with esteem being higher than knowledge, the next logical step if the brand is better liked than known is to sate user’s desire of wanting to know more.
The Chinese government in cooperation with many universities such as the esteemed Beijing Institute of Technology have been tirelessly researching in the area of automobile safety and self-driving cars.
Pateo is doing the same. Drivers have conversations in cars. With fellow passengers as well as on calls. Pateo is designing a seamlessly integrated and intelligent system that would be easy to use, with intelligent conversation at heart, so that safety is requirement and shouldn’t be a further concern once the technology is sophisticated. With and without auto-driving cars being commercialized, the answer for safe in car systems evidently lies in AI.
Similarly, Pateo's motto is "Product is King"
Then where lies the problem? To answer this question we must ask ourselves, how can a company guarantee safety? How can we change the perception of the people who will eventually purchase these cars from the automotive companies?
By creating superior value for BOTH
B2B customers and end users
The end desired result is the WHY. What do we want?
We want to increase user engagement = educating our consumers. And we want increase B2B customer touchpoints = more business, more revenue etc.
With recommendations, we will be expanding on the point of HOW in order to achieve WHY.
The challenge of being a part of the inauguration of an industry is not only creating value for the segment, but also creating a segment. This calls for the need for two sides of action in our solution.
Market orientation and creation of value for customers and thus clients
Educating the market
Keeping in mind the market includes B2B customers and end users
Treating this as an overview of company and brand goals and helping us understand the perspective that needs to be adopted to become a market oriented firm.
This is the overarching strategy, and after this we will go in depth in talking about key tactics to make this realize this strategy.
Gathering market intelligence
This stage is the R&D process that involves getting to know your customers and clients. What type of people they are, what they want, how much do you know about your competition, and making the effort to understand them.
2) Distribution and coordination of the market intelligence across all business functions
This stage is essentially spreading the message across the firm.
This process will clarify overall objectives of one or more departments and communicate a holistic objective, making all employees aware of the goal and company orientation, a stage that should not be undermined.
3) Response to the market intelligence
For a holistic, cooperative response across multiple departments within an IT/AI firm is difficult but essential.
Requires a strong basis in the firm’s cultural values, including honoring promises, respect, collaboration. This culture is important as it affects the business's B2B customers, with the ability to honor promises and collaborate as an important factor in the company and brand's reputation.
Now that we've discussed the overarching, umbrella strategy, it's time to talk about the tactics that will step by step guide the business closer to success.
The main focus in today's slides will be B2B networking through the giant platform of Wechat.
We'll we breaking down the tactics within Wechat and show you how to reap all the benefits by optimizing your use of the platform.
This is an infographic released by Tencent Pinguin research 2016 report. The largest active group in the Wechat user base is the corporate sector comprising of 40.4% of the total user base. All of your B2B customers, the educated professionals with mobile phones, are using this platform to communicate with each other.
With touchpoints moving beyond the realm of person to person, firms are frantically looking for ways to keep customers interested, therefore their turning to online methods.
With the current noise in the system, grabbing people’s attention online is hard.
Wechat is best as a loyalty part of the customer journey and not great for brand awareness, however there are methods
Sourced from Adsmith
According to research by Adsmith, four key factors must be satisfied to optimize the presence of your business on Wechat
KOLs
Great Content
Layout and Visual Elements
Preview everything!
According to research by Adsmith, four key factors must be satisfied to optimize the presence of your business on Wechat
KOLs
Great Content
Layout and Visual Elements
Preview everything!
So what is our key takeaway?
The Pateo business motto has always been product is king. This is the core value creating secret in the industry of AI and tech.
Then it follows that if Product is King, in marketing showcasing our product is the most important.
How do we create and showcase great content?
Businesses can set up two different types of official accounts in Wechat. The process verifies your brand as an official account through Tencent.
If it’s important to have presence, then its equally important to be discoverable and recognisable. Now that Wechat operates as a search engine for content, Search engine optimisation is more important than ever
If product is king and content is king, then high quality, less frequent content displayed on the main page is the best option.
Externally, a consistent and clear company and brand message, to help clients understand who you are, where you’re going and what you stand for.
Helps clients see your progress and improvement, relate to your vision and affirm your efforts. Eg. Apple raises awareness of the launches of new innovation like IOS 7, IOS 11 etc. Defined progression increments.
Internally, creates precedent for future actions. Related future programs can refer to the successes and failures of preceding related programs and therefore accumulate essential experience and learning.
Creating a new segment is difficult, but powerful and rewarding. Educating users, taking a page out of the B2C workbook, can reap immeasurable benefits to the inauguration of the field of artificial intelligence. Ultimately, we sell to the end user.