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Archive for April 30th, 2010

The Consumer Is Not A Moron. Or Am I?

After nearly 150000 miles my car is finally starting to act like a decrepit senior citizen. Time to start thinking about a replacement. With no particular car I really want Ive become an impressionable customer open to looking around.

So here I am now playing Mr. Target Audience. But am I too jaded to pay attention to car ads? When you work in advertising can you ever really turn off the work valve and act like a true consumer? Does advertising work on you?

Having worked on automotive advertising at the local regional and national levels I never once worked on advertising that actually talked to consumers in a humanistic tone. Mostly it was clichd babbling about the car the dealership or the yearend closeout event.

Like a good media junkie I started leafing through the auto section of the newspaper. I poked around on the web. Even halfway through listening to some local idiot yelling on the radio Id perk up my ears and see if this weekend was the best time to head to East Bumble to get a incredible deal on an 06.

None of it worked. No one was really influencing me.

Then I grabbed a couple of car magazines just to see if anything caught my eye. I jotted down a list of all the taglines I saw in the ads.

Some of the brands imploring me to do certain things:
Acura: Advance.
Audi: Never Follow
Hyundai: Drive your way
Lincoln: Reach Higher
Nissan: Shift_2.0 getting clever here with the webspeak

Some talk about their cars:
Chrysler: Inspiration Comes Standard
Saab: Born From Jets
Hummer: Like Nothing Else.

And many are just meaningless chestbeating anthems:
Suzuki: Way of Life! Yes there really is an exclamation point!
Chevy: An American Revolution
BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine
Cadillac: Life. Liberty. And The Pursuit.
Toyota. Moving Forward.
Volvo. For Life
Buick: Beyond Precision
Ford: Bold Moves.
Mazda: Zoom Zoom
Maserati: Excellence Through Passion
MercedezBenz: Unlike any other

Now I dont necessarily believe automotive advertising directly correlates to sales. Friends family Consumer Reports the area of the country one lives inall play a role in what you drive. But now I see the vast amounts of cash automakers are spendingand wastingtrying to convince me to life the lifestyle their brand says I should.

Would buying a Ford Focus really be a Bold Move on my part? Can I truly Advance in an Acura or Never Follow if Im in an Audi? Hyundai tells me to Drive Your Way but I sure cant do that because Id like to run red lights when no ones at the intersection and drive 85 down a sparsely populated highway.

Frankly as both an advertising professional and a consumer with disposable income I will readily admit I have been swayed by advertising in the past. I dont think Im above its influencenobody is.

Yet my foray into car buying and car advertising has convinced me that our industry regularly loses sight of how we really should be speaking to people. Were pretty good at identifying and profiling our target audiences but we rarely seem to find the right message and tone to communicate to them.

If you want to know whether an ad campaign is on the right track just ask yourself this: Would I really want to be talked to that way?

Believe me we are part of the audience. And if we ever find a way to rid ourselves of the chestbeating condescension and other nasty habits that permeate most of what we produce advertising will be vastly improved. Now that really would be an American revolution.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Branding. Religion. Censorship. Office politics. Global politics. Sexual politics. And getting drunk during a job interview.
Since 2002 Danny G. a.k.a. Dan Goldgeier has been writing the most provocative advertising columns ever published. They’re all witty thoughtful and probing and a must read for those who want a perspective rarely seen in traditional industry publications.
An Atlantabased copywriter and ad school graduate Dan has worked at shops big and small. He reads incessantly about advertising and is a whiz at rock roll trivia. Learn more about him by visiting his copywriting website or AdColumnist.com the View From The Cheap Seats Archive website. You may also find articles by Danny G at TalentZoo.com.