Back on January 23, I made a few remarks about a Mitsubishi commercial I saw on television. To elucidate, here’s what I said: “Funny how these commercials are remarkably similar to beer commercials which only serve to prove that beer does, in fact, make you behave quite stupidly. Meaning, it’s a negative implication against the product, and yet it’s so cute it somehow serves to advertise the product…”
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t too far off the mark. In reading the recent issue of Business 2.0, which is all about the 100 dumbest moves by businesses in 2003, Mitsubishi’s advertising tactics got a mention. Here’s what they had to say:
“#26 Next time, try lifestyle-oriented and emotional and cool and creditworthy and … oh, hell, we give up.
After marketing its sporty Eclipse coupe to 20-something slacker types through a mix of ultrahip ads and zero-percent financing, Mitsubishi Motors announces a $469 million loss from loan defaults. New CEO Rolf Eckrodt says the company’s mistake was ‘aiming at customers interested in products which are lifestyle-oriented and emotional and cool.’ The fix? Aiming at customers with money. The move looks good on paper
Why would that be a good market for them? I would think Sports Center watchers would tend to skew young and not necessarilly affluent. Wouldn’t a better show for them be something like West Wing or 60 Minutes?
Umm… you’re not 19 yet dear…
Steve – You can usually judge the target audience of a show, especially something like sports center, by the age and approach of the hosts. If Sports Center were skewing young and not necessarily affluent, they wouldn’t have older hosts. Instead they would have gorgeous babes announcing the sports news over techno music – just look at what CNN Headline News has done. And that’s exactly why they did it. Instead, Sports Center’s female announcer is Linda Cohn – a nice, attractive woman, but by no means one of the super models they hired over at CNN. Instead, she’s older and actually knows what she’s talking about. She just fits better in an older target audience.
And Not-Nineteen-Man – Is it such a sin to round to the nearest number? I am nine days short of being nineteen, so I think I can start trying to get used to saying I’m 19. I barely got used to saying 18 at all, and now it’s nearly over. This time, I’m practicing beforehand so it’s not so much of a shock. 🙂
lol….those who fuss over nine days must have nothing better to do….
i have a lot better to do. just that when they get to a certain age, women tend to subtract years, so i’m not gonna let them get away with adding years now…