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Erhard BMW

'97 BMW 318ti

..............

Some Ads O'er What Appears To Be
A Very. Low Price. But When You Look
Closer The Low Price Is On A Car That
Is Also Low In Equipment.
Not So, Here!

Erhard BMW

THE DETRO

642-6565

102

4065 Maple
Just E. of Telegraph
Bloomfield Hills

Michigan's Largest and Most
Experienced BMW Dealer
Family Owned and Operated Since 1964

OPEN
SATURDAY
SALES
10 A.M.-4 P.M.

SERVICE/PARTS/SALES

Mon. - Thurs.
'til 9 p.m.

*36 month closed end lease subject to approved credit with BMWFS. $2500 non-refundable down payment required. Title, license and
use tax additional. A security deposit of $300.00 For 318ti. 10,000 miles per year limit, 15 cents per mile over limit. Option to purchase
at lease end of $15,283.80 for 318ti. Total payments equal to ad price + 6% x 36. Vehicle subject to availability and may need to be or-
dered. Scheduled Maintenance provided by BMW of North America for a period of 36 months or 36,000 miles. Offer ends June 30, 1997.

STONE, AUGUST, BAKER

page 101

Some larger companies at-
tempted to control this problem
with strong-willed communica-
tions management. The more
moderate sized companies said,
"We've got to have somebody who
can create a strategic focus and
then execute it in multiple disci-
plines."
"So now," Mr. August said, "we
have a public relations capability
here at the agency that, if it were
a stand-alone, would be well into
the top 10. We have a significant
amount of direct response work
here. We produce huge catalogs
for people. We do digital market-
ing that is incredibly sophisticat-
ed and • performs the kind of
marketing communications that
three or four years ago none of us
could even conceive of.
"There are CD-ROM executed
programs that communicate an
amount of information tailored to
a specific customer need. If we had
tried to print it, it would have tak-
en 10 books.
"There was no way you could
integrate this much information,
much less integrate it with video,
with talking experts, and with
shelf-space displays where you
can sit with a client and concep-
tualize a different way to make
a product. You can even show him
how to put it into the case, what
to replace, and figure out with him
what his return will be, and how
his profitability will change," said
Mr. August.
The ability to collect the infor-
mation and then to figure out
whats useful, and how to put it in
a useful order, is what Mr. August
calls information engineering.
But even with all the techno-
logical advancements, the agency
still does catalogs on paper. "Cer-
tainly people in this business who
are 25 do not always think there'll
be paper," said Mr. August. "Right
now, the difference between do-
ing it on paper and doing it on CD
is not very great. In order to make
the CD better, you have to invest
considerably more in doing video.
And that's what is holding it back.
"Our business is understand-
ing the customer and the mar-
ketplace, how it ticks, and how to
communicate with them," said
Mr. August. `That hasn't changed.
We bring an ability to create a
strategy for the client to present
what he has to sell: product, ser-
vice, or idea, in the way that has
the greatest power in the mar-
ketplace.
'We have a saying here that we
do not sell washing machines, we
sell clean clothes. Every client
wants to sell his washing ma-
chine. And that's okay, because
that's how he makes his living.
"Our job is to develop a strate-
gy to sell. We focus on the benefit.
It is back to the age-old question:
`What will your product do for me,
mister?' Everything is sold that
way. That's the way religion is
sold, that's the way sex is sold,

thatcs the way food is sold. Every-
thing is sold in terms of benefits,"
he said.
"And if you really understand
the consumer well enough, and
you understand the client, then
you can develop a strategy that
will help the client interpret what
he has to sell in terms that the
consumer wants to buy. You have
to make it relevant, believable, ex-
citing. And thatcs what we do.
"It's not enough to understand
the market. It's not enough to be
able to develop a strategy. You
also have to execute that strategy
in a way that is creative, inven-
tive, and makes human contact."
But surprisingly, Mr. August
said his agency has talked sever-
al clients out of the Internet Web
page scenario. "We have one client
that we are about completed with
a Web page that we delayed for
a year-and-a-half.
"One of the things you don't
want to do is draw people's atten-
tion to a dead Web page. Nothing
can hurt a company faster than a
bad and dull Web page. It has to
be in time with the marketplace.
"When I go to a Web page, the
first thing I look for is when was
the last time it was updated. So if
a client says, `I want a Web page,'
We want to know how he is going 4-4
to make it useful to his market-
place? And how is he going to
make money?
"Sure, it's important," said Mr.
August, "but you have to realize
that only some commerce is tak-
ing place on the Internet. The bulk
of commerce is taking place across
12 inches of counter space, or
across some buyer's desk.
"Will more people be having an
Internet presence? You bet. Will
commerce change? Yes, it will
evolve. There will be ways of us-
ing the Internet to do business
that we can not even imagine to-
day," said Mr. August.
An advertising major at the
Medill School ofJournalism, Mr.
August's first job in the adver-
tising industry was at Simons
and Michelson when he was 16.
He subsequently worked for
W.B. Doner, in their Golden Era
when they handled now-leg-
endary clients like Speedway 79,
the National Brewing Co., Altes
Beer, Hygrade Ball Park
Franks, and the Food Fair stores
— a predecessor of Farmer Jack.
He joined Ron Stone in 1968,
who had started a creative bou-
tique 10 years before and built
it into a small agency.
Mr. August's father, psychoan-
alyst Dr. Harry August, turned
99 in April. Dr. August was a
member of the Detroit Psychoan-
alytical Society with Dr. Fritz Redl
and Dr. Richard Sterba.
"I come from a tradition of
people who believe that partic-
ipating in the community was 4-4
one of the privleges that we
have, and I try to do that," said
James August.

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