Archive for May, 2010

It doesn’t get much more American than baseball and Chevrolet.

General Motors is trying out a new marketing tactic with a Chevy-branded exhibition version of Flick Baseball Pro.  The app is available for download on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and allows users to play 3- or 9-inning games with “life-like control of pitching and hitting via the accelerometer.”

The automotive tie-in comes courtesy of the Chevy Dugout portion of the app, where players can learn more about Chevy vehicles, like the iconic Corvette or hot-selling Equinox.  Fans who enter the dugout can also enter for a chance to win a trip to the 2010 All Star game.

Yes, this Americana-laden promotion is a bit cheesy.  And yes, there is some schlepping of products involved.  But as far as marketing and advertising is concerned, GM may be on to a grand slam concept here.

The baseball fan wants a fun game to play.  The automaker wants exposure to an audience that’s receptive to its message.  When GM sponsors the app – which normally retails for $2.99 – both parties benefit from the transaction.

That’s a nice change from billboards and television commercials where viewers are frustrated by the distractions and advertisers are frustrated by the lack of attention paid to their messages.

And while sponsored content is not exactly new in the marketing world, GM is among the first to offer a sponsored app like this for the iPad.

The Detroit automaker was also clever to tie into social media with a feature by Plus+ that allows players to brag about their baseballs skills to friends on Facebook.  This makes it convenient for users to share and it increases the chance for the app to go viral and spread to a larger audience.

If this app succeeds, it’s likely that other advertisers will jump in with sponsored content of their own.  But hey: if you’re going to be advertised to, you might as well get something in return.

For all of the Nineties and most of the Naughties, Subaru was known for standard all-wheel drive, gobs of ground clearance, and great gas mileage.  They were the kinds of vehicles that could go anywhere and bring any gear and sustain the ecosystem to which you were bringing your roof-mounted kayak.

My aunt and uncle are quintessential Subaru people.  A pair of aging hippies who live in upstate New York, they look for transport that can tackle snow, sip gasoline, and repel McCain/Palin bumper stickers like the wrong end of a magnet.  They brag that their 2001 Forester and 2004 Legacy are even groovier than the VW Bus my uncle called home in the ’70s.  But for their next cars, my aunt and uncle are looking elsewhere.

Why?  Because Subarus have become too conventional, they claim.

Subaru used to be as alternative as a Nirvana concert.  But in the past five years Subaru has decided to graduate from college and ditch the flannel wardrobe.  Why go mainstream now?  And can the brand retain its existing core customers in the transition to adulthood?

Subaru’s interesting reputation has largely been the result of interesting products.  Its quirky car lineup served two loyal niches: blue-state liberals and red-blooded car enthusiasts.  Polar opposites at first glance, the two demographics were united by their love of standard all-wheel drive and by their respective penchants for the peculiar.

The first group, which my aunt and uncle fall into, could be described as outdoorsy, off-the-beaten-track types.  They loved the unique combination of utility and frugality.  Subarus were segment-buster and they had character.

There’s no way you’d find The Man sitting behind the wheel of a Subaru.  This is the brand that produced the Outback, a “Sport Utility Sedan” with the ground clearance of a Dodge Durango.  This is the brand that gave us the Forester, which GayWheels affectionately called, “a woman-appreciating superhero in sheetmetal.”  And this is the brand that brought you the BRAT, a high-mpg cult classic car with a pickup truck bed.

The automaker’s other group of loyal followers are adrenaline-junkie boy racers who love Subaru’s unique take on practical performance.  It turns out that the same all-wheel drive system that can claw through New England winters is also great for carving up twisty roads.

Inspired by their success in World Rally Championship racing, Subaru released the Impreza WRX and STI in North American as performance flagships.  With their gigantic hood scoops and enormous rear wings and Porsche-inspired turbocharged engines, enthusiasts were drawn to the brand.

Look at Subarus today, however, and you’ll see products and advertisements intended for – gasp – normal people!

The brand is now hoping to lure buyers away from mainstream adversaries by conventionalizing its entire vehicle lineup.  From a numerical standpoint the plan is working.  Subaru sold more cars than ever in 2009 and is on track for a new record in 2010.  A sign of success with the everyday crowd: Subaru won the Automotive Lease Guide’s 2010 Best Mainstream Brand award.

But lest you think that Subaru is giving up pine trees for profits, consider that the brand won a 2009 Corporate Responsibility Award from GLAAD for its ”long-standing and public commitment to the LGBT consumer.”  Subaru’s factory in Indiana is also the first of its kind to reach zero-landfill status; 100% of waste is reused or recycled.  And every new Subaru product is at or near the top of its class for fuel mileage.

Though the styling may be less quirky than it once was, Subaru vehicles can still go anywhere, carry everything, and sip gasoline without breaking the bank.  The sales numbers and awards are proving that it is possible for a small brand to grow beyond niche status without losing its core constituency.  And that means that there’s a whole new group of Subie owners who will Feel The Love.

Volvo is nursing a bruised ego this week after a safety demonstration in front of several dozen members of the press went horribly wrong.  An unmanned S60 sedan was launched toward the back of a semi truck trailer to demonstrate the effectiveness of the automaker’s latest collision mitigation system.  But instead of sensing the obstacle and automatically bringing the car to a safe stop as planned, the S60 continued onward and smashed into the truck.

As cameras clicked and laughter filled the stands, engineers rushed to the car to see what went wrong.  A Volvo spokesman trying to make the best of the situation quipped, “Obviously, the dummy did not respond to the collision warning.”

Volvo technicians later explained that the embarrassing failure was due to a problem with the test car’s battery and not the collision mitigation system.  Perhaps someone forgot to connect the red wire?

Despite the unfortunate mistake, the event at Volvo’s private testing center was an excellent showcase for the automaker’s cutting-edge ‘active safety’ technologies.  Active safety is an emerging category of features that attempt to prevent traffic accidents – as opposed to conventional safety features which are designed to protect occupants during an accident.

Active safety systems use various sensors to detect danger and alert the driver to take action.  The most sophisticated of these can even brake or steer the car to avoid a collision or reduce impact forces if the driver fails to react in time.

After falling slightly behind rivals at BMW, Mercedes, and Infiniti in this field, Volvo has been fighting its way back up to the top.  With the launch of the XC60 crossover utility vehicle last year, Volvo released a new feature called City Safety that can automatically detect an impending collision and bring the XC60 to a full stop if the vehicle is traveling at 9 miles per hour or less.  Unlike other manufacturers, who routinely charge thousands of dollars for similar systems, Volvo made City Safety a standard feature on the XC60.

Their all-new S60 sedan will debut later this year with a world’s first Pedestrian Detection system.  The feature uses a combination of radar sensor and camera to identify human shapes and measure the distance to them.  If a driver fails to react to a warning in time, the Pedestrian Detection system will automatically brake the car at speeds up to 22 miles per hour.

Will fuel cells be the next to kill the electric car?  Conventional wisdom says of course not.  GM has been talking about fuel cells for years and they have brought our more than a handful of concepts over the years.  What do you think the future of the fuel cell is?

Remember $4.00 per gallon gasoline?  Daimler CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche made comments at the Beijing Auto Show that hint at high oil prices and much more in the near future:

“If you look at the population and the growth here [in China], you quickly reach the conclusion that it would be unthinkable to provide these people with traditional gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles. There just isn’t enough oil for that. So there has to be personal transportation that is not dependent on oil and is CO2-free to the greatest possible extent.”

Zetsche’s comment signals a new outlook from the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars.  The CEO envisions a future in which the world is forced to find new sources of energy for personal transportation.  Daimler is clearly anticipating the approach of high oil prices – and potential oil shortages – as growth in China, India, and other emerging markets begins to strain global resources.

As Renault-Nissan CEO and fellow electric vehicle proponent, Carlos Ghosn said at the Tokyo Auto Salon a few months ago: “If all your transportation relies on one commodity, you’re in trouble.”

Though EVs run solely on electricity, the energy they need can come from a diverse range of sources like solar, wind, nuclear, coal, and natural gas.  Though it will take time to build additional power plants and a public charging infrastructure, Ghosn and Zetsche see a need for this kind of flexibility in an oil-strained future.

Daimler is currently producing about 1,000 electric vehicles for a real-world market test and is involved with Chinese automobile company, BYD, to design and build an electric vehicle tailored specifically for the Chinese market.  Nissan intends to launch their first mass-market electric vehicle, the Leaf, later this year.  Its French partner, Renault will launch an all-electric sedan called Fluence in 2011.

Other manufacturers are ramping up their EV efforts, as well.  Chevrolet is due to launch their extended-range electric vehicle, the Volt, in a few short months.  And as we reported here a few weeks ago, BMW recently announced a new manufacturing plant in Washington State that will produce lightweight body panels for their own upcoming “megacity” electric vehicle in 2013.

Assuming that Dr. Zetsche’s bold prediction for the future is correct, how high would fuel prices have to rise to get you to switch from a gasoline- or diesel-powered car to an electric vehicle?