Porsche 3D-Customize To Produce
“Marketing is understanding buyers really, really well. Then creating valuable products, services, and information especially for them to help solve their problems.”– David Meerman Scott
Consumer path refers to the path or stages or touch points that a customer touches or passes through to reach an end goal, which is an essential ingredient in the current business climate. The companies that apply this type of marketing well have a distinct competitive advantage that distances them from their rivals.
How consumers make decisions
Every day, people form impressions of brands from touch points such as advertisements, news reports, conversations with family and friends, and product experiences. Unless consumers are actively shopping, much of that exposure appears wasted. But what happens when something triggers the impulse to buy?
Porsche continues to dig into 3D printing technology and announced it yesterday, and this time it’s all about seats. The German sports car (and SUV) company just revealed what it calls a “3D-printed body form full-bucket seat.” This is a new way to attract consumers attention about this brand.
The funnel analogy suggests that consumers systematically narrow the initial-consideration set as they weigh options, make decisions, and buy products. Especially in the age of digital shopping — where the competitor is a click, swipe, or tap away — how consumers make purchase decisions has radically changed. Marketers have, therefore, become laser-focused on understanding what drives consumer decisions and influencing that journey.
One-to-one Relationship
The interesting part of this new seat is Porsche’s ability to customize it for a specific customer. Those who order the seat will be able to choose between three firmness levels: soft, medium and hard. Porsche uses its 3D printing tech to partly construct the central section of the seat to attain these different levels of comfort.
As of right now, Porsche still considers this seat a concept study. However, it has explicit plans to bring it to customers via Porsche equipment in the near future. For 2020, Porsche is only making 40 driver’s seats, and they’ll go in 911s and 718s. All of them will be considered prototype seats, only to be used on racetracks in Europe with a six-point harness. After Porsche receives feedback from these customers, it’ll expand the seat availability to Porsche Exclusive Manufactory in mid-2021. Various colors will be made available at this point, too. In the long-term, Porsche hopes this tech leads them down the path of even greater customization for its customers. We’re talking seats molded and designed for a specific person’s body shape and contour, much like seats for some motorsports are sculpted to fit the specific driver.
The organizations that have an intimate understanding of their target audience possess a competitive advantage over those that do not. Porsche establishes a one-to-one relationship and thorough knowledge of their target audience, which is a core responsibility for business in the 21st century and beyond.
The key takeaway
In today’s decision journey, consumer-driven marketing is increasingly important as customers seize control of the process and actively “pull” information helpful to them and consumers are more enamored with what’s new and continuously top of mind. Every brands need to be innovative and find ways to get into consumers’ consideration early and then try to continue on the journey with them afterward when they’re triggered to make their next purchase.
