Volvo has, since the ’70s all but owned “safety” in the automotive segment. Not a bad place to be…do you know anyone who’d prefer an unsafe car?
Brilliant work by Scali, McCabe, Sloves took Volvo from the choice of professors in tweed jackets to the boomer choice for family hauling. The Volvo wagon was a staple in the suburbs on both coasts. Volvo was even featured in the movie “Crazy People” where Dudley Moore played an ad man who decided that being honest was a good idea and suggested that Volvos were “Boxy but good:
While the brand became part of popular culture and owned safety, it has struggled with that one-dimensional view for years. Volvo has its loyalists who love the brand and it’s products but it also has more than its share of detractors for whom the truth of “boxy but good” was a real barrier to purchase. The challenge has always been how do you retain and nurture the safety reputation while also convincing a broader swath of the car buying population that the brand is cool and emotionally appealing. (more…)
Jeep is introducing the 2011 Grand Cherokee and it seems it is quite a vehicle:
“The newest generation of Jeep’s iconic luxury SUV can still rock-crawl with the best of them, but it looks a whole lot nicer doing it, both inside and out.” AutoWeek 7/5/10
The new advertising is impressive and seeks to re-invigorate some distinctly American values:
Let’s face it, as Americans we are feeling a little down. The worst recession in generations is a big part of the problem. Nagging unemployment, a recovery that is sputtering and concern over the looming deficit are not helping.
So I think Jeep’s strategy of appealing to values we all hold dear makes some sense. What American isn’t proud of our heritage as a “nation of builders, craftsmen, men and women for whom straight stitches and clean welds are a matter of pride.” We built the railroads, invented the airplane, built the Empire State Building, and created the original Jeep.
The idea that “the things that make us American are the things we make” strikes an emotional cord. A cord that makes us feel proud, and right now a little pride would help. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is something we can all be proud of because it was “imagined, drawn, carved, stamped, hewn and forged here in America.”
Powerful stuff, beautifully executed, leaves the viewer saying “yeah, bring it on.”
Only two things bother me about this commercial. (more…)
The D-segment of the luxury market is tough. The best luxury manufacturers in the world bring their best technology, design and engineering to the table and the result is the world’s best 4-door sedans: BMW 7-Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Lexus LS, are perennial best sellers. It’s tough to break-in, Audi has struggled for years to build volume in the segment with its A8 despite having what many would say is the best product.
So what makes Hyundai think they can introduce the Equus into this rarefied air and succeed?
Let’s get one thing out of the way. From a product perspective, the Hyundai Equus will be a very able competitor to the best luxury sedans in the business. Hyundai has demonstrated that they build exceptional quality cars at multiple price points, the most recent being the Genesis, a near to mid luxury entry. The Equus is already getting good reviews and at $55,000 will offer D-class luxury at a very reasonable price.
The issue for Hyundai is not the product or the price. (more…)
The last twenty-four hours has been full of articles, blogs, tweets, surveys, all questioning the wisdom of the folks at Chevrolet who were apparently seeking to remove “Chevy” from the brand’s lexicon (NYTs 6/10/10). Predictably, people were shocked and the Chevrolet folks accused of varying levels of insanity, some even questioning their patriotism.
Thankfully, as the day wore on, Chevrolet made an effort to explain that it had been mis-understood (see the press release) and that the memo leaked to the New York Times had been “poorly worded.” Unfortunately for the folks at GM, this whole incident has just added fuel to the fire for those folks who want to find fault with every thing the company tries to do. If you take the GM folks at their word, what they were trying to do really isn’t crazy.
At the heart of this dust-up is a real issue. How to most effectively manage a global automotive brand.
Here’s a video of Alan Batey explaining that indeed “Chevy” is just fine but that “Chevrolet” is the global brand:
Put aside Mr. Batey’s understandable defensiveness and his desire to assure us that “Chevy” is OK. (more…)
Yesterday’s Automotive News had a brief piece about Infiniti marketing that struck me as interesting. In it, they reported that “Infiniti has told its dealer advisory group that it is committing to a five-year run for the new ‘Way of Infiniti’ campaign–a long-term pledge intended to reassure retailers that the brand will have a consistent message.”
I immediately thought to myself “Good for them.”
Infiniti from the very beginning has had a difficult time establishing a brand identity and finding a way to execute it in communications. Introduced in 1989, Infiniti was Nissan’s response to the introductions of the other Japanese luxury marques, Acura and Lexus. The original Q45 was a sporty performance alternative to the Lexus. Unfortunately, Infiniti got off to a rough start when it introduced the car and brand with the infamous “rocks and trees” campaign created by its agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos.
The “rocks and trees” campaign sought to present Infiniti as the result of the unique Japanese culture and sensibility. The campaign attempted to make its Japanese origin an asset, similar to the way that the German brands have used their ‘German-ness.’ The Infiniti ads were very different than any automotive company had ever done (they didn’t even show the car initially). (more…)
For many years I have been concerned that many once great automotive brands have been allowed to fall into disrepair. Mercedes-Benz, a prime example, has been sliding ever since the early ’90s when it walked away from “Engineered like no other car in the world.” Superior engineering was deemed “unsupportable” in a market filled with able competitors like Lexus. Then unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz went through a period where its product quality was questionable. It seemed that the strategists were right, Mercedes-Benz could no longer hang it’s hat on its engineering creds.
That conclusion has always bothered me. I’ve always thought that Mercedes-Benz had a its own brand of engineering, it wasn’t always “better” than anyone else’s (although often it is), but I always felt it was “different” and therefore uniquely Mercedes-Benz. It always seemed crazy to walk away from one of the four or five true category drivers. But in an effort to “broaden” the appeal of Mercedes-Benz, they gave themselves credit for engineering and assumed that all their customers and prospects understood the core of the brand.
After years of neglect, it seems to me that the marketers at Mercedes-Benz are returning to the brand’s authentic roots and regaining their focus on engineering. Here are two commercials that have been on-air recently:
What a difference a year makes. It’s 2010 and the auto industry is beginning to recover.
After an incredibly tough 2009, consumers seem to be coming back. For the first time in recent memory, Americans’ perception of domestic automobiles seems to be on the mend (Business Week 4/23). Ford’s bet that Americans will buy smaller, fully featured automobiles looks like it may pay off. GM’s product plan created by soon-to-retire Bob Lutz is leading a resurgence for the General. Hyundai and Kia, supported my excellent product quality, have taken advantage of recessionary sensibilities and grown share of market. Audi , Subaru and Mini have come out of the recession on a tear.
On the other side of the ledger, Toyota continues to struggle with recalls and concerns about quality. This has led to unprecedented incentives by Toyota and the predictable response by competitors to match them. So a good number of consumers who had been sitting on sidelines during the recession have come back to dealerships looking to for a good deal. After 2009, it’s a relief to see traffic in the stores but at the same time if the incentives continue that will not be good for the industry long term. In 2009, some progress had been made at reducing the use of incentives, but the moment Toyota jumped in to defend its franchise, that opened the floodgates again.
So the good news is that customers are returning to the stores, but are they coming back for the right reasons?
When I first saw this Acura commercial it got me thinking about what constitutes “old news” versus something relevant and important:
This Acura commercial is about crumple zones and their ability to absorb energy in a crash while directing it around the passengers ensconced in a safety cage. It’s a nicely executed commercial that provides people with information that gives them confidence that Acuras are safe.
But it isn’t new and it certainly isn’t exclusive to Acura. Many of us would say that crumple zones are “old news.”
In 1952, Mercedes-Benz received a patent for a crumple zone in an automobile. Up until that point rigidity was regarded as the key to protecting passengers in an automobile accident. The 1959 Mercedes-Benz W111 series included crumple zones and was actively crash tested by the company.
I can still vividly remember the first time I actually saw a crash test. It was at the Mercedes Benz Safety Center in the Sindelfingen plant outside Stuttgart. I was amazed at the devastation created by a thirty mile an hour off-set crash. Right then and there I learned the value of a crumple zone.
Today, every automobile manufacturer uses crumple zones to make their cars safer.
Yet here is Acura, using their version of a crumple zone to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
If every car has crumple zones, then what’s differentiating about Acura’s? (more…)
Amid all the drama surrounding GM, every so often I see something that strikes me a smart. In Geneva, Cadillac announced it’s aspirations for Europe (WSJ 3/8/10 Sub required, NYT 3/2/10).
After a number of high profile failures to enter the European market in a big way, the folks at Cadillac want to be a niche player and are willing to accept the lower volumes that go along with such a strategy. By keeping volumes low, and presumably margins high, they expect that they can be profitable from year 1.
I think this strategy is sound and will succeed. Cadillac’s current design language is unique and appealing. There has always been a segment of the automotive market that is interested in something different and Europe is no different than the United States in this regard. In Europe where Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and BMWs are common and cover a multitude of uses including taxis, rental cars, executive cars and the vehicles of choice for captains of industry, there is an opportunity for something “different.”
The sentimental favorites won the Super Bowl…at least the football game part.
Generally speaking I thought the advertising game within the game was just OK, not great. Within the automotive segment, six manufacturers stepped up for the Super Bowl:
As I said in an earlier post, the tough part about advertising in the Super Bowl is that while the football game is the primary draw, the advertising contest comes in a close second. As an advertiser you have to be willing to do work that will stand out and entertain because the very next day the “results” of the ad contest will be published in USAToday.
I always watch the Super Bowl hoping that one or more of the automobile manufacturers will break out of the category mold and amaze us. Here’s my take on the automotive commercials, from best to worst: (more…)
