Yesterday Comcast decided to shut down my business for the afternoon, so I loaded the kids into the Dodge Grand Caravan and we headed to the movies. We went to see the summer blockbuster Transformers. In the movie, I was transported to a place where the men in the military are brave, dedicated and a model of precision/efficiency [yeah!] and GM products are the cutting edge of cool.
WARNING: Possible Movie Spoilers ahead.
The Transformers movie features a Mustang and a Camaro doing battle. According to Auto Blog:
A bright orange Chevy Camaro Concept that’s more than meets the eye will play the good-natured Transformer named Bumblebee, which has traditionally been portrayed by the Volkswagen Beetle. Meanwhile, a Decepticon named Brawl that reportedly "jacks-up poor Bumblebee" is being played by the Ford Mustang.
In essence, the entire movie serves as a 2 hour commercial for the Chevy Camaro. Bumblebee begins as a 1974 Chevrolet Camaro and transforms into the new 2008 concept Camaro.
Excuse me, Brawl was a Ford Mustang? It didn’t even register. My lust was entirely focused upon that sexy Camaro concept car. (Despite my "advanced" age and role as a parental unit, I do remember what it was like to drive a sexy car…. even though parent hood has banished me to mini-van land for a decade or two.)
Combine the movie’s targeted demographic with the target audience for this car, and you’ve got the essence of niche marketing 2.0. Transformers serves as a 144 minute commercial for GM products… where the good guys are GM… the bad guys are Ford and that’s got to be good news for BOTH automakers.
Not since the Matrix Reloaded served as a launching pad for the Cadillac Escalade EXT has there been a better vehicle to whet the appetite of potential buyers.
According to Concept Carz:
The Escalade EXT has exposed Cadillac to new generations and categories of buyers who might not have considered the marque in the past. Like its sibling, Escalade, the EXT has appeared in music videos and custom wheel advertisements and is often found in the garages of professional athletes and celebrities.
True, it’s hard to remember the time when a Cadillac was your grandmother’s car, yet appearing in the cult classic "Matrix Reloaded" launched the car into the preferred vehicle for the ultra hip and ultra cool.
Movies as car commercials…. now that’s Niche Marketing 2.0!
[…] ready to buy the new Camaro I’d seen in the movie. I wrote about the experience in “Transforming Your Business by Targeting Your Niche.” It was a GREAT marketing move by GM. There were reports of people putting down deposits […]