New Car Ads Focus on Relationships

"Like Me" Branding Strategy
In a break from hawking horsepower and leather upholstery, automakers are now trying to show customers they want to be their friend as well.

Honda and Volkswagen both are unveiling emotional ad campaigns this week that emphasize relationships — how well they know you and your needs and foibles -- rather than the car.

Honda’s campaign is themed “It all starts with you.”

It aims to tug on people’s heartstrings as it depicts consumers going through everyday life and making mistakes along the way.

Volkswagen is unleashing a TV and social-media package called “Why VW,” with the tagline “It’s not the miles, it’s how you live them.”

The campaign is for the brand, rather than individual models.

Both campaigns are unusual given how automakers have long relied on touting the features and attributes of cars, says David Stewart, a marketing professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

General Motors showed how emotional ties could build a brand when it launched the Saturn brand more than 20 years ago, but it hasn’t been tried much since, except for Chrysler’s moody Super Bowl ads.

“It has been less common in the auto industry,” he says. “A lot of this has to do with the auto industry still being engineering-driven.”

Of the two campaigns, Honda’s will probably be harder to miss, particularly on TV. Honda is mounting the biggest ad blitz in its history in the U.S. to launch the new 2013 Accord flagship sedan.

A lot of the campaign’s creation involved developing a knowledge of habits that most people take for granted.

Volkswagen, like Honda, is taking advantage of having built a loyal base of customers over the years who have genuine affection for their cars; in VW’s case, going back to the lovable Bug. The TV ad for the “Why VW” brand campaign — showing happy people — in fact never shows a car.

But the part I like best, Volkswagen of America is attempting to offer TV watchers across the country a foil to the nastiness and mud-slinging in the mist of the Nov. 5 political election campaign.

The carmaker released the special spot tied to the presidential race which it says will "deliver a lighthearted break" from the election cycle. The commercial is by VW's agency Deutsch, Los Angeles, and in a highly unusual move in the world of auto advertising, the ad doesn't show a single car, let alone depict the usual product shots or typical performance claims that most car ads do.

Instead, over the course of the 30-second commercial -- which is called "Smiles" -- all we see is a selection of random people, from babies to senior citizens, of all different nationalities, laughing and smiling. The spot closes with the following message: "It's not the miles, it's how you live them. That's the power of German engineering."

What do you think? Does the spot grab your attention and provide a welcome change to election ads? Or does the lack of product shown in the ads seem befuddling and detract from the VW brand?

Sources

1. Dale Buss, “Volkswagen Grows Up with New ‘Why VW’ Marketing Campaing,” Forbes, September 18, 2012

2. Rupal Parekn, “Volkswagen Ad Aims to Give Americans a ‘Break’ From Tone of Election Year,” Ad Age, September 18, 29012

3. Chris Woodyard, “Car Ads Shift Strategy, Focus on Relationships,”  USA Today, September 21, 2012