The premium auto brand Infiniti has set itself an ambitious mission - to lift the brand to the same level with the dominant German luxury brands in terms of brand reputation, acceptance and premium status.

To achieve the objective, it gives priority to brand building instead of "chasing short-term gains in sales".

"We want consumers to feel the difference between us and the traditional German luxury brands which mainly emphasize cars' function and technology," said Daniel Kirchert, managing director of Infiniti China.

"Besides emphasizing the strength of our products, we want to create resonance between us and customers to make them feel the emotional ideas," he said.

Infiniti held a grand gala night - Infiniti China Festival at the Beijing National Stadium on Jan 11, where it announced its new brand concept of "Gan Ai", among a dazzling show of star performances.

Kirchert said the concept of "Gan Ai" is an important benchmark of Infiniti's brand localization in the Chinese market, which aims to build the emotional resonance with young-minded premium customers.

According to Vincent Liu, general manager of marketing and PR at Infiniti China, "Gan" represents the really challenging and daring spirit - going against the tradition and doing something extraordinary. "Ai" means love or passion of true feelings.

"We tried to put out our brand and activities around this kind of spirit. This is quite in line with our global brand values of performance, passion, precision and provocation," Kirchert added.

One success of the brand's "emotional marketing" was its sponsorship of last year's hit TV reality show Where Are We Going, Dad? that followed the adventures of five celebrity fathers and their children in rural China.

Kirchert described this sponsorship as the "natural" extension of Infiniti's emotional brand character. The show that underscored family love and bonds soon became a hot topic among urban middle class Chinese.

"In a very natural way, the interest in this topic not only helps in terms of doing a sponsorship of a car, but also having a good match to our brand."

Infiniti also held customer experience activities to underscore the emotional bond between the brand and customers beginning with the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, traditionally a time of family reunions.

To celebrate Valentine's Day this year the brand encouraged people to show their parents' love letters and tokens in the name of "Gan Ai for a lifetime" on Weibo and Wechat.

The best participants won prizes of wrapped-up roses for their parents delivered by a fleet of Infiniti SUVs.

Kirchert said Infiniti will continue to sponsor the second episode of Where Are We Going, Dad? and the second season of TV documentary "A Bite of China" later this year.

"No matter what we sponsor, we want to create a brand resonance between us and customers," Kirchert said.

"I wouldn't call us a latecomer despite we are later than some brands. We have big opportunity as we make the brand more relevant to our target consumers," he said.

xuxiao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/20/2014 page38)