
SUPERYACHT #8 Spring 2006
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news

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Article by Tommaso Nastasi
This is a continuation of the article published in Superyacht
(N° 7 - Winter 2006); it is therefore a development of
certain concepts partially referred to in that article
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Analysis of luxury yacht marketing communications TREND TOWARDS A NEW WAY OF COMMUNICATING
Marketing communication is that type of communication aimed at
transforming the prospective customer into an effective customer.
That is to say, it is communication that acts directly on the
behaviour of potential customers (prospects) but not only:
marketing communication may also have important effects on company
positioning and may be useful for transmitting relevant messages
in corporate terms. As noted in the first part of the article, the
yachting world is characterised by a strong system of
relationships which must be strategically handled, including
through the development of integrated communication mixes aimed at
the selected target market.
The purpose of this analysis is not to describe elements connected
with the communication process and its operational phases: there
are marketing texts that describe and analyse this in depth. The
aim here is to analyse marketing communications in shipyards
operating on the luxury yacht market.
In this sense it is however important to point out the main goals
of marketing which shipyards could plan with their own
communications strategies. These may be summarised as follows:
- Affirmation of a precise company image ;
- Increased brand awareness;
- Development of clientele;
- Customer management, i.e. seeking to broaden the relationship with company clients through what is called cross selling;
- Achieving customer loyalty;
- Development of accreditation and authority.
For professionals handling shipyard marketing it is indispensable
to know in minute detail how company communications are carried
out. The fundamental elements of the communicating process are the
communicator (the shipyard) and the receiver (owner), while the
main instruments are the message and the medium.
Substantially, the shipyard transforms a thought, an idea, into a
symbolic function, developing a message that is none other than a
grouping of symbols that the communicator transmits. In encoding
the message it is also important to evaluate how the target public
will decode it. Shipyards should also develop feedback channels so
that the sender can know the receiver's response to the message
(marketing communications efficiency analysis).
In order for a message to be efficient the yard's encoding process
must be suited to the receiver's decoding process. The
communicator's task is to succeed in sending a simple, clear,
interesting message that may be repeated several times in order to
satisfy the given requisites.
Once the message has been defined the shipyard must define the
medium, i.e. the communications channel through which to send the
message to the receiver who will then decode it.
Marketing communications channels may be personal and non-
personal. Personal channels are characterised by the fact that two
or more people communicate directly. The efficacy of such channels
derives from the possibility of personal interaction and of
verification of the reaction to the various messages.
Non-personal communications channels consist of media which
transmit messages without any personal contact and without the
possibility of verifying their impact.
Considering the characteristics intrinsic to luxury yachts (for
further information see the first part of the article), since we
are dealing with a costly and high social profile product, the
personal channel certainly plays an important role in a shipyard's
marketing communications.
In the context of personal communications channels , social
channels take on particular importance because, in terms of
purchasing, verbal influence is more persuasive: word of mouth and
public relations are among the main marketing communications
instruments in the luxury yacht sector.
If it is to have a really strategic function, communication must
precisely define the typology of its interlocutors, its
objectives, the instruments it intends to employ, the expense
sustainable and the intervention time schedule (marketing
communications strategic approach).
The basic idea is that you don't have to wonder about how to sell
the product 'yacht' but rather about how the target's needs and
desires may be satisfied. As pointed out in the previous article,
communication moves within the axis of the four A's (awareness,
attitude, action, action two) which lie at the base of the target
market's behaviour. To optimise the lifetime value of the target
market, communication must also move along the axis of the four
A's, with attitude which conditions behaviour and vice versa.
Setting out downstream of the four A process "action of repeated
purchase" we find a loyal customer who is a great yacht buyer.
Here, substantially, we find those individuals who, having bought
a boat, become increasingly enthusiastic yachtsmen and seek boats
that are more suited to their needs and are increasingly larger
(owner's dimensional trade up cycle).
Carrying on along the axis, before having a repeated purchase we
must have the initial action or purchase. In many cases an owner
must have a positive attitude towards the boat before the initial
action can take place. The attitude towards a specific boat is
created through the image communicated by the yard, the way in
which it presents itself and a series of other factors which
influence potential customers' attitude.
It sometimes happens that there is such a positive attitude
towards a vessel as to induce purchase, but if there is a bad
experience in the past with the boat and/or yard, a negative
attitude is developed which leads not only to a refusal to buy
boats from that yard but also to spreading the negative attitude
among that person's circle of contacts and acquaintances. So
attitude automatically conditions action and action conditions attitude.
But it almost all cases one must know the product in order to have
either a superficial or profound attitude towards it. It is
important to specify that there are different kinds of awareness,
which may be classified as follows:
- top of mind: when the name of a yacht and its yard are the first
to be mentioned by target market customers if asked about the
category the boat belongs to;
- spontaneous awareness: when a boat or brand comes under a
grouping of products/brands which consumers remember without
having to be reminded;
- assisted awareness: when consumers recognise a boat or brand
when its name is shown or suggested.
The cumulative effect of the specific awareness levels and the
attitude generated by each of the tactical instruments permit
achievement of the general communications plan objectives. Global
communication of the plan, in turn, has the task of implementing
positioning through marketing strategies whose goal is to satisfy
the respective marketing objectives and thus achieve sales objectives.
Advertising has a fundamental role in building up the perception
of luxury. The process of inferring attributes of status,
prestige, dream and quality linked to an object, on the basis of
the elements that describe it, is a natural predisposition in
individuals. The role of advertising in conferring a certain
status on a product is concretised in the use of symbolic language
aimed at imbuing the goods with the attributes desired by the
vending company. To this end admen often use luxury "accessory"
and "background" elements in order to associate the product with
an ambience that reinforces its connotations of luxury (think for
example of the latest Benetti or Ferretti Yachts advertising campaigns).
Advertising has always been one of the main promotional
instruments used by shipyards for marketing communications. Once
more in the context of the four A's of communication, it is
important to specify that advertising is the most powerful
instrument for creating brand awareness. If the advertising is
also creative it may contribute to forming image and to some
extent also brand preference or at least acceptance. Figure 1
shows where advertising communication lies within a more strategic
vision of the shipyard company, such as for example company brand management.
In the context of this picture, with reference to the ends
assigned to advertising, the most common mistake made by shipyards
is to associate advertising with the single objective of
increasing sales rather than trying to favour a behaviour deemed
useful for company development (think for example of the
importance of brand awareness with view to choice of purchase
etc.). The main objective to assign to advertising - in the
specific case of yachts - is to improve yard image, reinforce
brand prestige and spread awareness of the range, new models
launched and so on.
From a survey carried out by the Nautical Market Observatory of
the Tor Vergata University of Rome (www.marketingnautico.net) it
emerged that most shipyards use advertising for promotional
reasons but only 16% of the shipyards analysed use it in a
strategic key with view to reinforcing brand and yard image.
Whereas it is felt that advertising communication in the luxury
yacht field assumes a fundamental role in building up the
perception of luxury and prestige. This is further confirmed by a
study carried out by a major management consultant (Deloitte)
which, listing the main strategies deemed highly useful in
evolution of the yachting sector, puts marketing investment in
second place and communications investment in fourth place. So
marketing communications, over and above operational value within
company operations, may also take on a strategic role. From an
analysis of the response given by the main advertising agencies
operating on the luxury yacht market to the question "In your
opinion, how is luxury yacht advertising compared with other
similar economic segments (luxury products)?" it emerges that
almost all the people interviewed feel that marketing
communication in the yachting market is substantially "mediaeval"
when compared with other high profile luxury product sectors.
The responses of the same advertising agencies to the question
"What do you think is the real weak point in luxury yacht
communications?" produced the following main points:
- limited budgets with limited strategic orientation;
- lack of original ideas;
- lack of synchronisation of the various communications instruments;
- lack of a precise company identity (excluding the main shipyards).
In analysing advertising communication, shipyards'
cultural/professional approach was also analysed. In particular,
the question "What's your overall evaluation of shipyards'
cultural/professional approach to the theme of marketing
communications?" revealed the prevailing opinion that most
shipyards use medium-low profile operators. So one of the limits
of shipyard marketing communications lies precisely in internal
skills that don't always manage to fully configure the role of
marketing communications within the company system.
A further point analysed has to do with potential evolution of
shipyards' way of communicating. In particular, the question "In
your professional opinion, when, how and with what contents and
methods will luxury yacht companies' way of communicating change?"
elicited a prevalent response that underlined the lack of a real
professional marketing management approach.
Proceeding with the survey, almost 88% of the sample stated that
shipyards do not check the efficacy of marketing communications
actions, not even through ad hoc consultants. So the picture that
emerges is a process of communication which is mainly unilateral
with an absence of the feedback processes necessary to efficiently
gauge all communication forces with view to backing up the
company's strategic positioning and planned marketing objectives.
With special reference to advertising, an attempt was made to
understand its position within the target customer's cognitive
system. Most of the advertising communications experts interviewed
(93.8%) opined that, in the specific case of luxury yachts,
advertising acts on the motivational system inasmuch as it permits
highlighting the link between the product image perceived and the
customer's desires, with the leverage of specific attributes.
With reference to efficacy level of the main communications
instruments as regards pursuing certain ends, Figure 2 supplies
further interesting data.
From analysis of the results it emerges that the main
communications instruments for spreading brand awareness are:
- advertisements in specialised magazines;
- advertisements in luxury and/or lifestyle magazines;
- boat shows;
- management events aimed at customers.
Prevalent opinion states that among the various communications
instruments the most effective with view to actual purchase is the
boat show which, not by chance, represents the main budget item.
Apropos of this it should be pointed out that, though boat shows
are important for sales, just as other communications instruments
are for other purposes described in Figure 2, the main challenge
in shipyard marketing communications is the development of
integrated communication capable of backing up, with the various
instruments/channels, the shipyard's growth process.
Going back to the content of advertising communications, an
analysis was carried out on the advertising messages launched in
recent years by certain leading yards operating in the luxury
yacht market (see Figures 3 to 11). Before going into depth on the
evolution of the advertising message, it is important to point out
that customers receive information from advertisement images and
then build up the status attributes of a given brand. So
communicating the symbolic aspects of the luxury brand through an
advertisement means emphasising the elements suitable for
supplying an indication of the desired abstract dimension to be
linked to the brand and product (e.g. prestige, exclusiveness, dream).








The analysis was carried out by tracking the main advertisements
on the international yachting scene over the past 20 years. It
should be mentioned that only the most important advertising pages
were used, both in terms of company and of reference period (the
comparative-evolutionary activity of the advertising message was
carried out with more or less 5 year steps).
The primary aim was to analyse evolution of the advertising
message adopted by shipyards over these years to spread awareness
in the target market.
The main result emerging from the analysis is that on the current
international yachting market there are two main reference
clusters in terms of marketing communications approach. On the one
hand there are companies which in recent years have restructured
their way of communicating, favoured by the development of a
specific positioning of value within the reference market: in this
context we have to mention the last Ferretti Yachts advertising
campaigns, centred not so much on product as on lifestyle: Essere
Ferretti (Being Ferretti). This cluster of companies aims at
conveying an advertising message that increasingly tends to be
unencumbered by product presentation (tangible factor) in order to
emphasise the intangible drivers of what the company offers, such
as lifestyle, exclusive relaxation, brand image, etc. On the other
hand there are shipyards which, though as a whole they evince an
evolution in the advertising structure of the message, aim at
product-centred campaigns. It is important to specify that in the
latter cluster there are not only small size shipyards or those
operating on the domestic market but also companies with precise
positioning in the luxury yacht sector.
Figures 3 and 4, which respectively represent the advertising
message evolution of Ferretti Yachts and Azimut Yachts, perfectly
highlight how in the last 20 years the advertising message has
evolved: from a simple and rudimentary presentation of the product
(1985) to the expression of modern, advanced luxury. Another
interesting case is Riva (see Figure 5) which in the last 15 years
has gone from exhibiting the complete product range towards
special accentuation of the brand (contributing to reinforcement
of the so-called historic myth of the Riva brand). The other
figures, each with its own specificity, demonstrate the evolution
of yachting advertising over these years.
Independently of the type of advertising message that tends to be
transmitted to the target market, it may be noted that the main
limitation in marketing communications management is the
difficulty of translating competitive advantages into high value
marketing drivers capable of favouring reinforcement of
competitive position. The competition picture today concerns not
only product but also a series of intangible factors that can make
a difference with regard to reference competitors: this is where
advertising plays a very precise role that should not be
underestimated.
On the whole the latest advertising data of these past 5 years
allow us to highlight the spreading, in a yachting context, of a
new advertising paradigm that is characterised by a substantial
overturning in the management of company communications. The
latest advertising campaigns of Benetti, Ferretti Yachts, Azimut
Yachts and CNL bear witness to the fact that a new way of
communicating is under way in the luxury yacht world.
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