Case Study: Brand Building

Client: Bavaria Yachts USA

Market Sector: U.S. sailboat market

Date: 2004 - present

Challenge: Bavaria Yachts is one of the best-known sailboat builders in Europe, but competes in the U.S. market against several well-established and better-known brands.

Strategy: The positioning strategy developed by Rhodes Communications’ creative team was to leverage on Germany’s reputation for excellence in automotive engineering while calling attention to Bavaria Yachts’ modern automated factory. The program was launched with a series of full-page color ads in major U.S. sailing magazines under the themeline of “German-Engineered Sailing Machines.” Successive ads reinforced the theme. The same theme and look were also incorporated into in a totally new website. The advertising campaign dovetailed with an aggressive PR blitz that resulted in a surge of publicity for Bavaria and its boats in the U.S. sailing press, including a multi-page article in Sail magazine featuring the Bavaria factory.

Results: Strong upsurge in inquiries and sales through Bavaria dealers in the U.S.