A general Carrera discussion

6966 Views 73 Replies 23 Participants Last post by thomas, Jun 29, 2004

moped rider

Discussion Starter · Apr 27, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

Really this is a response to Tropi who has made a comment aimed at the UK market but I do applaude the efforts of Thomas to bring us Carrera news and European Carrera fans no doubt all give Thomas the big thumbs up.

Ultimately its all about how pro-active companies are and the amount of investment they make in the marketing of slot cars to the masses.

No amount of service matters if a company does not promote its products. The products will just gather dust.

Its one thing e-stockists stocking product, but is the product selling?

The issue for slot car companies worldwide is the nature of return that they get from any marketing investment.

Like tobacco companies are they attempting to switch existing users of other brands in what is perceived as a flat market, or expand the market as a whole and create growth?

Most slot car companies know where there marketing bread is buttered. Some retailers in the UK are good at promoting product locally by getting out and seeing the people but they possibly get support for this. No doubt the same situation occurs in Germany and Spain. This is over and above direct promotion of the hobby by the slot car manufactures themselves which can be very expensive and therefore has financial risk.

Considering for example that Carrera have exclusive rights to the Ferrari F1 cars, have any of you seen any promotional spend by Carrera at all in the UK to promote this fact?

They are simply reliant on the goodwill of enthusiasts in the UK to purchase the cars.

Argos carried an advert before Xmas on TV promoting Scalextric which was as a result of some effort by Hornby. Would Carrera have been willing to have made the same investment in the UK market?

And how has the "Argos" sale gone down with many of the e-tailors that we support here? Some of us know the answer!

I have said this before and I will say it again. To the great mass of the population Scalextric marketing in Germany broadly promotes Carrera. SCX marketing in the UK broadly promotes Hornby Scalextric. Hornby marketing as Superslot in Spain broadly promotes Spanish Scalextric. This is the conundrum for slot car manufacturers. America is the one market where it is a true free for all IMHO but there are Americans at SCI who would say otherwise.

UKsqueezea and a few others know where I am coming from here.

Moped

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Wankel Ickx

· #15 · Apr 28, 2004

Do Carrera have an independent importer here or is the import handled by a direct Carrera, Germany subsidiary? Only, until the parent company makes that investment I cannot see them featuring much on the high street outside of Argos.

Which is a shame because now I've fettled my Bentley, and it did require a lot, it runs quite tolerably and I could surely be tempted by one of those Ferraris - and this from a historical (hysterical?) Carrera and Ferrari hater.

I would also suggest that those ordinary punters who bought the cheap Carrera sets could be well pleased with their purchases as they paid peanuts, got solid well built goods and a big box to boot - the latter being quite important to some folk who just want to be seen to be giving 'big time.'

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Wankel Ickx

· #18 · Apr 28, 2004

QUOTE Putting all this into context I still would like to know why Carrera "deserve" wider recognition in the UK?

Running any number of roadshows doesn't earn you the right to respect and sales, especially if your product is carp (See my Corvette thread).

Having good product does. And I would venture that Carrera product is sufficiently improved to "deserve" more respect, recognition and sales.

This thread has gone off on one. I know it is possible to split threads but I'm not confident of my ability to acheive that one (I'm good at closing 'em down though!).

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Wankel Ickx

· #29 · Apr 29, 2004

QUOTE When are Carerra going to help local communites in the UK?

Forgot to pick up on that one the first time it appeared.

What on earth do you mean, Mope?

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Wankel Ickx

· #33 · Apr 29, 2004

Gun-slingers and Prima Donnas, all are welcome I believe, if they stay within the rules.

And if anyone gets bored, they can simply avoid the topics where the gun-slingers, mud-slingers, prima donnas and teasers are listed as having posted last. Can't they?

I think the case, I think my case, was wanting to know what on earth our regular contributor was on about with his cryptic, "support for local communities".

But he seems to have gone all sheepish and doesn't want to say much for the next one to two years!

I'm sure our Nuro would welcome the arrival of a Nikko representative on the board.

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Wankel Ickx

· #38 · Apr 29, 2004

Hey, Tonto! Get off your high horse.

I think the track record for closed threads ain't that bad when you consider how many we have running here.

Can you tell me what Moped meant then because I'm keen to know. Does he mean that some of the brands are funding community centres, buying buses for the disabled???

What did he mean? It's a simple question.

Put off posting? You've 1513 to your name.

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Wankel Ickx

· #44 · Apr 29, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

Let's all take a deep breath here, shall we.

First point. This thread was split from another because it was going off topic to allow the theme that developed further discussion. It could have been shut down. But it wasn't.

Secondly, there have been over 28,000 posts on this forum. I think, I'm not certain, that I have personally shut down three or four. Some others have also been shut down. I know not how many. But, to keep the cowboy motif going, I don't think the Mods can be accused of being trigger happy. This one's looking iffy now toys are being thrown out of prams but all Mope was asked to do was explain himself then it took on a different light.

It's not like anyone called him a name or anything, is it?

Thirdly. Moped does get a lot of flak, not just from Mods, for making statements that he cannot or will not back up. It's his style and it's what earnt him a ban previously. If I, or others have no knowledge of what he is talking about we are perfectly within our rights to ask him to enlighten us. Or aren't we?

I had no knowledge that Scaley had given so much as a warm throttle to any Hospital. Why on earth couldn't he say that, if that is what he was refering to. There are that know and there are those that don't know but would like to ask the question and get an answer.

I could definitely be more tolerant if there was less stuff, nonsense and hyperbole.

But dragging this kicking and screaming back to some semblance of the topic, Speedie is right about roadshows and alike. It's called marketing, it's called PR and it's supposed to grow the brand specifically. It ain't pure altruism. Hornby were stuck with a load of well used gear after that Short Circuits thing, they couldn't sell it, so they gave it away. And well done to 'em for not just sticking it in a skip. They get some column inches in a local rag and the Racer, the Hospital gets a nice facility for the kiddies and it's all tax deductable presumably. Everyone is a winner.

I said earlier words to the effect that I don't think Carrera will be much of a name in the mass market here in the UK until they set up a UK arm with budget to do just that sort of thing and a lot more because, as Jonny says, it's an uphill battle with Scaley on the home turf.

I'll now put my hands up and step away from this thread because passions are getting the better of folks and I don't want to be the one that closes this one down.

Remember it's toy cars.

Edited by Wankel - I added the bold to the existing word - "presumably"

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