Branding at its Best Written by Sahil Singh

Never so much keen in reality shows though, but one of the shows got me quite well. Crazy races, stunning cars, weird adventures, awful ideas, sense of humor are the cool stuff of the reality show “Top Gear” hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. That’s real fun. Believe me. Never watched a show such entertaining and full of excitement, thrill and fun. Crazy stuff aye! Wonder if I could be a part of it to experience such fantastic journeys.

Figure 1. Image showing Hosts of Top Gear.

You might be wondering why in this world the reality show Top Gear came in my mind. Well was just switching channels and suddenly got on TV3 and find it real interesting and motivating to watch “Top Gear” mainly because I have an interest in Cars, adventure and fun.

Figure 2. Screenshot of Latest Shows of Top Gear on TV3.

So why Top Gear so much entertaining? Why people like me get too much involved in it? Why people want to experience the same? Why their brand so popular? What they are doing that people like me felt cool about it?

What you think when you first encountered with Top Gear? Firstly, you’ll see a few stunning cars at the starting of the show like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Bugatti, Helicopters, Off-road bikes etc. That’s quite appealing and must say a good start. Let’s go through some of the insights of the show that might make us aware about some strategies or concepts which help Top Gear.

Figure 3. Snapshot- Top Gear.

Marketing Communication

IMC which is quite a technical term being Integrated Marketing Communication, have generally two types of goals such as generating short term revenue and building long term brand value (Tingstad, 2007). Cool! So in terms of communicating brand to the targeted audience, I think they have the goal of building long term brand value which will help them increase their brand value over the years. They’ve carefully targeted their markets as they showcase some issues related to automobile industry; innovative ideas as in like developing a speedy ambulance ; giving detailed insights of cars especially high end cars preferably with high quality, high performance, safety etc. ; drag races.

Figure 4. Snapshot of a scene of Top Gear.

They even try to influence their consumers through their practical approaches. For instance, in their recent 3rd Episode of Season 22, they were like developing an ambulance which should be speedy and provide safety to the patient at the same time. So, each of them namely James, Richard and Jeremy came up with the cars they would think can be an ambulance, went for the drag race and subsequently, found out some issues they face or might face in real world situations.

Figure 5. Snapshot of a scene of Top Gear (Season-22, Episode 3).

Target Audience

They showcase some pretty good stuff like awful ideas to solve a problem, testing cars in varied weather conditions, racing etc. with an added punch of humor at each and every corner of the show. Thus, target audience for Top Gear is young people and teenagers who at this age group are inclined towards this stuff as in adventure, fun etc.

It’s also targeted towards high end customers who have surplus wealth to invest in high performance automobiles. This can be traced to the detailed and minor insights of a car being showcased on the show. And it’s pretty clear how the show sends the message to the target audience as in motivating to solve any problem through creative, innovative ideas and by adopting practical approach.

Brand Awareness

The show is surrounded by various commercials such as of Haier products in which a baby enjoys and spills it food on his clothes, quite a misfit; can’t understand how this does support the show. Another commercial was of Caltex which is directly linked to the show giving it some personalized touch “Enjoy your journey with Caltex and Top Gear”. I also saw Heineken commercial which, I think, is another misfit. I even saw Mercedes-Benz commercial which very well supports the branded show as they generally showcase Mercs in their show.

People generally want to avoid commercials and those which are considered misfit for the show, merely gets any attention.

Figure 6. Screenshot of website of Top Gear.

The brand “Top Gear” is relatively popular as it’s the flagship brand of BBC, uses celebrities to promote its brand and even has its presence on various social networking sites as well including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube etc. It even has its own website which has all the updated contents such as latest shows, magazines, and new car launches etc. It’s popular, well positioned and enjoying its brand equity since 2002, when its 1st episode rolled out.

Figure 7. Snapshot of Jeremy Clarkson.

But the recent update might shake the brand as one of their hosts ‘Jeremy Clarkson’ has been fired on 25th March 2015 who’s being charged with attacking his producer (“Jeremy Clarkson dropped from Top Gear, BBC confirms,”2015). He was among the finest hosts of their show. I am now curious to know what BBC will do to protect its brand “Top Gear”.

References

Jeremy Clarkson dropped from Top Gear, BBC confirms. (2015, March 25). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32052736.

Tingstad (2007). Now it’s up to You! Retrieved from AUTonline.

Ang (2013). Purpose of IMC (p.4). Auckland, New Zealand.

Kevin Lane Keller (2003). Understanding brands, branding and brand equity (p.7-20). London, U.K.: Henry Stewart Publications.