Chrysler is a registered trademark of Chrysler Group LLC., Fiat is a registered trademark of Fiat Group Automobiles SpA
We all know about the troubles of the Big Three automakers in America. Deteriorating market share, strengthening competition, buyouts, bailouts, selloffs, consolidations, greening, heath care costs, unions, suppliers, loans, losses, more losses, our money, their money, someone else’s money… in the eternal words of Shaggy Rogers (of Scooby-Doo fame)…zoinks!
Forgetting about the healthier two of the trio for the moment, let’s talk about Chrysler. Chrysler is in a unique and unenviable position. Always the underdog, Chrysler has been on the ropes for quite a while. After the Daimler/Chrysler foxtrot fizzled, a new dance partner stepped in, the venture capital firm Cerberus. A few months later, yet another dancer stepped into the ring, Mr. Economy. The ménage á trois of Cerebus, Chrysler and Mr. Economy quickly started to circle the sombrero of diminishing returns. With mounting losses and no new venture capital to be found the Cerberus/Crysler newlyweds, (along with their distant cousin, General Motors) went to Capitol Hill looking for a loan. We all know what happened there, we gave them money. But with Chrysler there was a caveat, they must find yet another new dancer to tango with, enter Fiat SpA. Expensive shoes, nicely coiffed hair, and some old world style.
So you may be asking how this applies to marketing? I’m getting to that. You see Fiat and Chrysler have little problem, it’s called time. Because of production cycles, engineering workload, scales of economy, exchange rates, legal wrangling, and perhaps the moon, the first big influx of Fiat-based Chrysler products won’t be released until model year 2012. That’s one-and-a-half model years before new products with new engineering and the new Fiat/Chrysler brand strategy are fully in place. One-and-a-half years of scraping together a viable product line. One-and-a-half years of gap filling marketing. One-and-a-half years is an eternity for a company losing market share and sucking wind as hard as Chrysler. So what are Fiat SpA and Chrysler going to do?
Well, the first step was to re-brand the Dodge Ram truck series into its own singular brand now called Ram. A new ad campaign featuring five TV spots showcasing the recreational and vocational attributes of the new Ram brand. Seven print ads, and a new website, RamTrucks.com to support the spots. To further support the work hard, play hard attitude of Ram Truck customers, Fiat SpA/Chrysler came up with the Outfitter.RamTrucks.com site. Within this online wonderland, you can purchase a Ram brand G-Shock watch or an 18-can camouflaged cooler, or a bunch of t-shirts and other apparel emblazoned with Ram brandiness. Or maybe that’s Brand Raminess. Oh and they also have a blog, “Ram Zone”, and they say they will also leverage social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and the like to connect with like-minded Ram loyalists.
Next was to re-focus Dodge as a fun/lifestyle brand. Many of us have seen the “Man’s Last Stand” Super Bowl ad and the “We Make Getaway Cars” ad featuring the wheel-spinning tire-smoking, bad-ass Dodge Charger. These two ads, coming from distinctly different viewpoints, male and female, show how misogyny and misandry can both be relieved by pressing your right foot down really really hard on a gas petal. I’m not sure how these two TV spots speak to fun or lifestyle unless you enjoy lousy painful relationships.
Part three, re-focus Jeep to be a “dreamers/adventurers” brand. Jeep product advertising will center on lifestyle with the message that Jeep owners live life by their own set of rules/terms, “I live. I ride. I am. Jeep.” Kim Adams House, head of Jeep Brand Communications, “We want to expand the reach of the brand and provide examples…to see inside the people’s lives who embrace the Jeep lifestyle.” This is a switch from the traditional Jeep branding, the outdoor, go anywhere, macho vehicle that goes where no man has gone before, unless he had a Jeep of course. The new dreamers/adventurers advertising features a woman driving a convertible Jeep Wrangler after a visiting a hair salon in “It’s Only Hair,” a woman driving a carpool in a Jeep Liberty in “Open Lane,” a father and son and a Jeep Grand Cherokee story with a dad on a skateboard in “Dinner’s Ready,” and a Chihuahua in a Jeep Patriot living the good life in “This Dog’s Life.” Not your typical Jeep story lines.
Step D, do something with the Chrysler brand. Push it upscale? We know a couple models will be dropped, the PT Cruiser, and the woeful Sebring (it will be heavily reworked and brought back with a different name). That will leave the Chrysler brand with the 300 sedan and the Town and Country minivan. Not much of a brand lineup. There is talk of Fiat SpA bringing the Alfa Romeo brand back to the U.S., selling it through the Chrysler dealer network. It would give Chrysler a premium brand to compete against the likes of Lexus, Audi, Infinity, and Acura. But with Alfa having left the U.S. market during the mid-1990s with such a poor track record, will the memories and prejudices be able to be overcome? The campaign for that one will be most interesting.
So, as the next year and a half progresses Chrysler and Fiat SpA will have many challenges with repositioning, re-building and clawing their way out of the American automobile abyss. I have a feeling there will be more than one media rep with a smiling face, who will receive the windfall of this colossal reshaping of American perceptions. So turn off your DVRs, re-up your subscriptions, start watching those pitiful sitcoms and healthcare based dramas, and enjoy the front row seat watching it all happen. Besides, in the end, you probably paid for it.
