Thursday, February 26, 2009 - 07:33 pm, by: Steve Millward(Mallard)
I'm asking this question because I know some of you must have read everything to do with Lexus at some time or another.
I recall a story I read about Lexus's marketing when they were setting up the brand, and I can't find a record of it anywhere. I'm wondering now if I imagined it. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
The story is this. Lexus discovered that the way to make well-off people accept that something was prestige was not through telling THEM how high quality and expensive it was. Instead they found out that well-off people want less well-off people to see it as something they want but can't afford. Therefore, it becomes something exclusive. Therefore Lexus spent considerable marketing resources advertising Lexus in media that were not aimed at their target market. The idea was that ordinary people would say "Wow those Lexuses are expensive, I wish I could afford one as they are top notch". That established Lexus as a premium product in the mind of the people were the target market, because it was seen as something that others coveted.
Friday, February 27, 2009 - 07:18 am, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
I would want to see the evidence that they did that. If they are not advertising to their target market, why would their target market see the advertising?
If their non-target market saw Lexus advertised in "4WD Billy-carts" then how would that make those people feel the Lexus was an exclusive car? They would believe it only if they came across it in an expensive magazine like "Wheels for Wankers".
Back to the target market, if they became aware that Lexus was advertised in "4WD Billy-carts" then why would they want to touch such a car with a barge pole?
Of course they had the car tested in the usual car magazines for favourable comparisons with Mercedes and others which are tested in the same magazines, but that is part of everyone's marketing not some stealthy snobbery thing.
Friday, March 06, 2009 - 09:53 am, by: Michael Crimp(Zen1953)
It was about quality and price and respect for the product. I remember the launch of Lexus and the media appeared to stress that Lexus provided more luxury and fun and more toys and build quality for about 25% less than other established european marques. That Lexus was way ahead of the competition and that the only way for Toyota/Lexus to get into the luxury/sport market and get appropriate respect and margins was to Re Brand the product. No Westerner was going to pay $100k to $140k (32) for a "Toyota" in 1991.
Friday, March 06, 2009 - 10:36 am, by: David Vaughan(Davidv)
Actually, it was about wanking as well but aren't they all?
There are two early advertisements for the SC400 floating around the internet (and my computer). One of them is about driving, showing a V8 growling through a pretty and curvy wooded road while the voice-over talks about living far from the city, with the punch line "You could own a home closer to the city, or you could own the road in between."
The second, and this is pure gold-plated wank, simply shows an SC400 stopped at traffic lights in early evening, exhaust smoke condensing, people walking by, with voice-over about how people randomly encounter others for 20 seconds and finishing with, "How will you be remembered?" .
You could interpret the ads as aimed at anyone but the target market depends on which shows they were placed.
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