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Something about this thread is JDLR (just doesn't look right).
While it may not look right you can be sure car companies have people pouring over such data with a fine tooth comb to see why certain vehicles appeal to certain demographic groups and to try to appeal to those groups who can afford their vehicles as a new car purchase to try to entice them into their showrooms or create targeted tv, print, or online advertising targeted to those particular groups.
Not an urban legend at all. Subaru specifically targeted lesbian consumers starting in the 1990's.
Subaru opened their US factory in 1989 to build the Legacy (Outback Wagons were considered a Legacy trim). The Legacy was meant to compete with the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry instead of just the smaller quirky vehicles they were importing from Japan.
In 1988 Wieden+Kennedy originated the blunt "Just Do It" (JDI) for the shoe company Nike. The "Just Do It" campaign allowed Nike to further increase its share of the North American domestic sport-shoe business from 18% to 43%, from 1988 to 1998.
The JDI campaign lured Subaru into hiring Wieden+Kennedy as their first automotive contract (a highly prized measure of success for advertising agencies as even small automakers spend a lot of money on advertising). Wieden+Kennedy conceived of a campaign for Subaru that was what we might say today was "intentionally ironic". They would make fun of the values endorsed by most conventional automobile advertising campaigns. The campaign was called "What to drive" and tried to use reverse snobbery.
This is one of three famous Subaru commercial launched by Wieden+ Kennedy for the SVX which was Subaru's premier performance vehicle at the time.
The third commercial was the "Punk Rock" commercial that launched a young Jeremy Davies' career (who would later play Daniel Faraday on the ABC series Lost 2008–2010).
The campaign was much admired by the industry, but it was a disaster at selling cars. Subaru had to terminate the advertising contract and did a deep dive to find out detailed descriptions of their existing customer database. Subaru chose not to fight larger car companies over white, 18-to-35-year-olds living in the suburbs.
Health Care Professionals were obvious fans, because they frequently had to drive in all kinds of trecherous weather. Outdoorsy types is another obvious demographic. Less obvious was teachers and educators and IT professionals.
The final category they discovered was lesbians, who were fiercely loyal to Subarus. Of course, no one had ever launched a national advertising campaign aimed at homosexuals. In 1994, IKEA became the first company to run a TV commercial featuring a same sex couple in the United States. The 30-second spot showcased two romantically-involved men browsing an IKEA store in search of a dining room table while discussing their relationship.Of course, this non-incendiary commercial resulted in IKEA executives getting death threats.
So Subaru did not create the demand among lesbians. They discovered it initially, then they began to promote it in their advertising in very subtle ways at first. By 2000 they were less subtle and hired Martina Navritolova who had never received a major product endorsement despite being one of the best athletes in the country and turning pro 26 years earlier. The commercial featured the tagline "What do we know? We're just girls."
Subaru also changed their engineering and in 1997 stopped making turbo charged or 6 cylinder engines. They introduced their first SUV, the Forester, in 1998 and their whole lineup consisted of 137hp and 165hp naturally aspirated engines. That period last for four years and in 2002 they introduced a 227 hp Impreza with a turbocharged engine.
Most Asian women are not 'car savvy',they just know how to drive and most live in metropolitan area,they just want a reliable car to go from store to home to school.
Japanese cars like Toyota and Honda are reliable and affordable for middle class Asian females.
Asian men would prefer a BMW,Mercedes if they can afford it.
Quality is important to them,and they dont know enough / dont like getting their hands dirty fixing their cars.
[quote=PacoMartin;63846818
The JDI campaign lured Subaru into hiring Wieden+Kennedy as their first automotive contract (a highly prized measure of success for advertising agencies as even small automakers spend a lot of money on advertising). Wieden+Kennedy conceived of a campaign for Subaru that was what we might say today was "intentionally ironic". They would make fun of the values endorsed by most conventional automobile advertising campaigns. The campaign was called "What to drive" and tried to use reverse snobbery.
[/quote]
VW ads did this years before (when VWs had their engines in the rear).
VW ads did this years before (when VWs had their engines in the rear).
Well the VW ads were funny, The Subaru ads were more Portland hipster philsophical. I don't know if you played any of those youtube recordings of the commercial
Brian Keith’s voice-over as the camera pans workers welding on an assembly line. ”A car is a car. It won’t make you handsome or prettier or younger. And if it improves your standing with the neighbors, then you live among snobs.”
There was a movie that came out in 1990 called "Crazy People" where Dudley Moore is an advertising executive who has a mental breakdown. He ends up putting together ad campaigns where he uses the mental patients. They decide to simply tell the truth in their ads, and the ads end up making products hugely popular. The Weiden and Kennedy ads were very much in the same vein as these movie ads.
Buicks, Chevy sedans, Ford Sedans, domestic trucks, etc… if there are things old conservatives still lean towards anymore, though that list is 20-30 years out of date.
Has anyone else noticed that you can pretty much guess who the driver of a car is based on the model of car. I have found the following to be true about 90% of the time.
Early to mid 2000s Lexus RX - Indian or Asian driver
Early to mid 2000s Toyota Camry - Indian or Asian driver
Newer Mercedes SUV - White blonde woman in her 40s
Subaru - Liberal/outdoorsy younger person or couple
Any grandma car (Buick Regal, Chevy Caprice) with big rims - black male with gold teeth
Chrysler 300 or 10yr old Dodge Charger - black male
Nissan Altima - black female or male
Pre-2000 pickup truck - Redneck looking man with a duck dynasty beard
Newer lifted pickup truck - White male between age 25 and 45
Lowered Mitsubishi Lancer - younger looking Asian male
Early 2000s Chevy Tahoe - Hispanic male
It's kind of amusing because you'd never see an Asian woman driving a big lifted truck and I don't think you'd ever see a black female driving a Subaru. Why do you think cars are so specific based on demographics?
I used to make a daily walk to a shopping mall, passing by a church. One Sunday, took a stroll through the church lot, counting US badges, compared to foreign makes. It's been about 15 years now, but as I recall, US makes had about 65% of the church-goers, and only 30% of the people who spent those ours at the mall.
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