New Subaru commercial <vs.> political mudslinging campaigns (longish)
11-06-2001, 06:13 AM
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New Subaru commercial <vs.> political mudslinging campaigns (longish)
I noticed in their new commercials Subaru purports to offer much more car for far less cost than their competitors (which they presume to be BMW and Audi - though I don't see how Subaru is even in the same league as either of these manufacturers). They flash a few MSRPs for new Audis and BMWs (though they don't specify which models they're basing their comparison on) and the Subaru is noticeably cheaper.
Other manufacturers - oftentimes American - resort to this type of "yes, but our competitors don't offer you this" type of marketing. Case in point - the new Kia commercials. You know the ones where two women are talking and the Kia owner is telling the other women basically how stupid she is for buying anything but a Kia? I would never buy anything - let alone a car - from any manufacturer that feels they need to resort to bashing their competitors to sell their own product. You never see any European car manufacturers doing this. I don't recall having ever seen an Audi or BMW commerical where they talk about anything except what a great quality product their own cars are.
And it's not just "luxury" manufacturers either. A great example of this is VW. Their marketing campaign is perhaps one of the best in the business. Their ads don't sell their cars directly; they try to sell more or an idea or a certain feeling or emotion that one should associate with the VW name.
In light of recent political campaigns and having been bombarded with the latest rash of "don't vote for Mr. X - he's a baby killer, and a pedophile and an embezzler", I just can't help but notice this loose corelation.
And as far as I'm concerned ... neither sells products. At least not to me.
Other manufacturers - oftentimes American - resort to this type of "yes, but our competitors don't offer you this" type of marketing. Case in point - the new Kia commercials. You know the ones where two women are talking and the Kia owner is telling the other women basically how stupid she is for buying anything but a Kia? I would never buy anything - let alone a car - from any manufacturer that feels they need to resort to bashing their competitors to sell their own product. You never see any European car manufacturers doing this. I don't recall having ever seen an Audi or BMW commerical where they talk about anything except what a great quality product their own cars are.
And it's not just "luxury" manufacturers either. A great example of this is VW. Their marketing campaign is perhaps one of the best in the business. Their ads don't sell their cars directly; they try to sell more or an idea or a certain feeling or emotion that one should associate with the VW name.
In light of recent political campaigns and having been bombarded with the latest rash of "don't vote for Mr. X - he's a baby killer, and a pedophile and an embezzler", I just can't help but notice this loose corelation.
And as far as I'm concerned ... neither sells products. At least not to me.
11-06-2001, 06:48 AM
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Nah, it's (a small) part of why I don't watch TV, all these people are constantly bombarding you w/
spurious information and images of things you should be desirous of and all sorts of crap... I mean it feels like one is constantly hyper-saturated with "information" and we don't always have the time or resources to filter through all the bull feces to get to the core truth of the matter. It's not only advertising, we get these kinds of messages from all sorts of sources, the media comes to mind. Talk about vested interests and the conveyance of false information!!!
And, of course, the least common denominator attack method, that which you outline above, used by people marketing cars, politics and probably religion (were that advertised) is the most appalling of all tactics... The "We're better than so-and-so, because they suck donkey-ball$" approach to sales is an immediate turn-off to me. If your product has merit of its own right, then by all means flaunt it, otherwise just shut the hell up, I say!!!
What I mean by all of this blather, is that I bought the TT because it is an incredible excercise in automotive design and fit within my set of constraints. I did not see any ads for it and probably would not have been enticed by them, had I. However, if I had seen an ad. and it was essentially a mud-slinging campaign, touting the virtues of the TT's design over that of the Z3 (blech!), I would have been less inclined to buy the car... I really don't understand how that tactic works, or what the target audience is for those campaigns.
just my $.02... :-)
And, of course, the least common denominator attack method, that which you outline above, used by people marketing cars, politics and probably religion (were that advertised) is the most appalling of all tactics... The "We're better than so-and-so, because they suck donkey-ball$" approach to sales is an immediate turn-off to me. If your product has merit of its own right, then by all means flaunt it, otherwise just shut the hell up, I say!!!
What I mean by all of this blather, is that I bought the TT because it is an incredible excercise in automotive design and fit within my set of constraints. I did not see any ads for it and probably would not have been enticed by them, had I. However, if I had seen an ad. and it was essentially a mud-slinging campaign, touting the virtues of the TT's design over that of the Z3 (blech!), I would have been less inclined to buy the car... I really don't understand how that tactic works, or what the target audience is for those campaigns.
just my $.02... :-)
11-06-2001, 07:27 AM
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I agree...The thing I see is...
that neither car is in the same class as the other one. I'll be honest. I was looking at the TT. Then I saw the WRX. I completely lost interest in the TT and wanted a WRX. Then I came back to the TT just for these reasons:
1. It looks better. The WRX is a sedan, I mean, c'mon.
2. Just as much horsepower and better AWD as far as I'm concerned.
3. Heated Seats
4. Leather
5. Torque
6. It's just a beefier car.
Of course it's going to cost more. You're getting more also. The WRX doesn't even come with leather, but just cheap *** cloth that's ugly as sin. No heated seats. No sunroof. The interior styling reminds me of my grandmother's car, besides the pedals...
I think my favorite thing to laugh at is on the commercial when they are talking about the hp and AWD, that they say, "If you don't have this, then you suck." I laugh, just because I have something that IS better....
1. It looks better. The WRX is a sedan, I mean, c'mon.
2. Just as much horsepower and better AWD as far as I'm concerned.
3. Heated Seats
4. Leather
5. Torque
6. It's just a beefier car.
Of course it's going to cost more. You're getting more also. The WRX doesn't even come with leather, but just cheap *** cloth that's ugly as sin. No heated seats. No sunroof. The interior styling reminds me of my grandmother's car, besides the pedals...
I think my favorite thing to laugh at is on the commercial when they are talking about the hp and AWD, that they say, "If you don't have this, then you suck." I laugh, just because I have something that IS better....
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11-06-2001, 07:55 AM
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about car ads ...
they may do a little to reinforce my opinions about a car, but otherwise they don't count for much. if I wasn't a car nut that generally keeps up with the new models coming out via the car magazines, a TV or magazine ad might serve to show me something that I wanted to look further into... but it would only be a starting point. I wouldn't buy a car because some TV ad said it was great!? There's a lot more research to do before taking all those dollars out of the bank...
it's unfortunate that some auto makers have wedded themselves (along with their marketing agencies) to such lousy ad campaigns.
seems like the cheaper makes, and the American makes (GM, Ford, Chrysler to a lesser extent) are tied to commercials yelling and screaming about the best deal, the lowest finance rate, etc. for years, Mazda made some nice cars, but they had the same lousy ads as everyonbe else (until they switched agencies and started ZoomZoomZoom ...)
then you have VW and Mercedes and some others that have absolutely great ads, interesting/entertaining to watch, with neat little stories or cool tunes...
either the mass car-buying public is dumber than I'd like to think, or else the auto makers that pick the ad campaigns are dumber than I'd like to think.
the worst part is: it's probably a bit of both... :-(
it's unfortunate that some auto makers have wedded themselves (along with their marketing agencies) to such lousy ad campaigns.
seems like the cheaper makes, and the American makes (GM, Ford, Chrysler to a lesser extent) are tied to commercials yelling and screaming about the best deal, the lowest finance rate, etc. for years, Mazda made some nice cars, but they had the same lousy ads as everyonbe else (until they switched agencies and started ZoomZoomZoom ...)
then you have VW and Mercedes and some others that have absolutely great ads, interesting/entertaining to watch, with neat little stories or cool tunes...
either the mass car-buying public is dumber than I'd like to think, or else the auto makers that pick the ad campaigns are dumber than I'd like to think.
the worst part is: it's probably a bit of both... :-(