reprinted from Learned on Woman
I
noticed, with great interest, a brief article on the Saturn brand's
"second coming," in yesterday's (11.5.06) New York Times.
Early
on in the 1990s, Saturn had been a shining example of transparent
marketing to women. The no-dicker sticker they were known for tended
to women's ways of buying without thinking pink. The tagline back then
was "A Different Kind of Car Company," and that definitely seemed in
line with the community it built (where Saturn owners met up for
weekends at the Spring Hill, TN, facilities to get to know the folks
who put their cars together) and its emotion-filled ad campaigns (a
dealer handing the key to a young woman first-time car buyer, for one).
But,
where did all that positive momentum go? According to the article, the
assembly lines in Spring Hill are closing in March, due to this fact,
among others: "The number of returning buyers fell to 27 percent by
2000, from 52 percent in the early 1990s." Yikes.
Saturn fans originally flocked to the company (some despite its GM
roots) to check out this "different kind of car company." But, today
Saturn is no longer independent of GM, which makes it a lot less
"different." There is now a very big disconnect from its original
independent, community-focused branding - and, women, who had been key
Saturn customers, have serious radar for such inconsistency. Minor
glitches in branding vs. experience continuity are one thing and can be
forgiveable, but, over time, Saturn customers have seen nothing new and
the company has gotten lax in maintaining connection with its initially
very passionate customer base.
As Pat Fallon and Fred Senn wrote in their new book, Juicing the Orange (HBS Press, 2006):
"...GM
and Saturn took a risk in basing their branding no on the car but on a
radically re-thought relationship between buyers and dealers. This
brand position required the total commitment of employees, dealers and
salespeople (and they pulled it off gallantly), but we argue that the
real risk would have been for GM to ignore the emotional truth that
Riney's [referring to the ad agency, Hal Riney] planners had uncovered."
Fallon
and Senn went on to mention how Saturn marketers neglected the
advantage they had initially created.. which leads us back to
yesterday's New York Times article.
It's too bad. I loved pointing to it as a great example of effective
marketing to women that didn't alienate men, and clearly all sorts of
customers were ready for that different kind of car company (and still
are!). But, Saturn couldn't live up to the expectations it created
for itself.
The
company is coming out with new models, hoping to regain the attention
and loyalty of those people who originally loved the brand, without
really liking the cars enough to repeat the purchase. Saturn's tagline
is now "Like always. Like never before," and it will be interesting to
see if car buyers.. well.. buy it.
by Andrea Low from Learned on Women, author of Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy -- and How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market