The Big Interview: Mercedes-benz

Following on from Mercedes commitment to golf by renewing its sponsorships of both The Masters and The Open and signing Rickie Fowler as an international ambassador, Sport Industry Group spoke to Michael Bock, director Mercedes-Benz sport & lifestyle marketing…

Why did Mercedes choose to work with Rickie Fowler?

Basically it was quite simple, there is already a link with Rickie through our subsidiary in the US, plus he is number five which is an important thing for us and the main point from my perspective is that he is a young and exciting guy and he fits with the target group that we want to communicate with.

Do Rickie’s characteristics match Mercedes brand values or is it more he appeals to your target audience?

He fits to the brand values we have determined for us. Mercedes is a wide spread brand covering different target groups from the S class to the AMG GT R, GLE Coupe or the European A class so a guy like Bernhard Langer fits the brand but on the other side a guy like Rickie Fowler definitely does too. So different ambassadors for different cars.

Moving from ambassadors to tournament sponsorships, you have your own Mercedes Trophy which is an amateur tournament, tell us a little more about that.

We created that one 27 years ago, it gives us a possibility to promote with the full level of quality we want to have to a broad group of customers who like playing golf. There are more than 60,000 that get involved with that, it’s a big number of people and it gives our sales representatives in the various countries extremely close contact with these people, making a close link between our sales teams and these potential customers.

Have you ever looked at becoming a headline partner of a professional Tour event?

Yes, we evaluate that regularly but we are still convinced by the philosophy that we are using for many years and actually there is no argument which we see that will change our position.

Can you tell me more about that evaluation, how you measure the success of your sponsorships?

If we were to go for a title sponsorship then we have a kind of public orientated advertising programme; where we don’t have that quality oriented link or personal touch, as we have with the Mercedes Trophy where we have a direct possibility to approach people, to talk with people and to put them in our cars. A big asset for us is that if we have a personal contact with people that are interested in our product or towards the brand and we put them in a car, then eight out of ten will step out of the car convinced.

So is working with Rickie Fowler more about brand positioning?

On one side it is about a broad public-facing where we say okay Rickie Fowler is linked to Mercedes but also working closely with him during the day is where we have a possibility to incorporate him into the programmes that we are running then we get down to the real thing of having meet and greets, putting him together with customer groups which brings a different level of quality. Not high volume in number of interested people, but to a small group who are onsite.

At The Open we will have nearly 200 customers a day with us then if I have the opportunity to have Rickie with that customer group that makes 200 people happy.

Of all the tournaments that Mercedes are involved in, does one rank highest for you personally?

Well not for me as I am not a golfer. Unfortunately I am one of these guys that has to spend so much time in the office so I don’t find the time to play golf, not yet at least. I have worked for many years at Mercedes in different jobs, I have been in motorsports for a long time but I have only been working in sport sponsorship for six months. Put it this way, I am already hooked and I am trying to find my way to appreciate the golf more.

Looking at the golf tournaments you partner with, you have three of the four majors. At the US Open, Lexus are involved but if there was an opportunity would Mercedes look to get involved and be across all of the four majors?

Not sure, I’m not really convinced because by having the Masters and the PGA we are already I think well represented din the US and I don’t really see the need, also bearing in mind that it would need a certain level of activation so we are more concentrating on the three we have.

What does golf offer a commercial partner?

Golf is one of the sports that absolutely fits the target market that we have. The nice thing of golf is that it is not just a sport for older people, there is huge interest from younger people. It is a stylish sport, it’s not overdone and it fits from every perspective to the brand.

Does golf have a challenge to maintain that interest amongst the younger generation? Or is that a problem primarily in the amateur game do you think?

I’m personally convinced there is still the possibility to bring younger people to golf and make it interesting to them. We have a platform at elite level and our sales organisations are using that platform. The brand spreads very wide, from an A Class in Europe up to the S Class – those are totally different target groups and we have to cover that but we are interested in pulling younger people in with compact cars and they will grow, be successful in what they are doing and become E class and in the end S class drivers.

Finally, can you tell us a little more about what Mercedes will be doing at The Open?

We will be unveiling The World Premier of the “Mercedes-Benz Style Edition Garia Golf Car” will be at The Open but I can’t tell you more now as it is a surprise. What I can say is that it is the first time that Mercedes-Benz is using its expertise in mobility and its knowledge of golf to launch a new product – a golf car.