The case of Seat that, with the new spot, defines its target in a strong and clear way and does even more. And it’s not the only case…
How important is the target in your advertising and communication campaigns? Can you afford to snub, not to say categorically exclude certain groups of people from your strategies?
In this article, I want to tell you what happened to me the other day.
I was driving back from a meeting with a customer when turning on the car radio I ran into the new Seat spot and, more precisely, the Seat Leon. Have you already listened to it?
Seat is not among my clients and, just to be clear, I don’t drive even one so we clear the field from the idea that I want to push my client or potential client.
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Let’s get back to us right away.
I was in the car, the commercial started and…
After listening to it, I had to pull over the car and stop for a second. At first I felt it distractedly, but something caught my attention immediately. Something that few (very few) have used in their communication strategies.
In any case, the translated script reads more or less: “At 20 you have heart and liver, but not the brain. At 50 you have the brain and the heart, but not the liver. At 30 you have a brain, heart and liver. Use them or you will lose them “.
Ergo, Seat knows perfectly well that the target for his Leon model is the thirties. But he does not limit himself to making a communication for that target, he even makes it explicit in a clear and decisive way. But here comes the beauty. There is a motivational element that on the one hand pushes those in their thirties to buy and, on the other, challenges the twenties and fifties to do the same. Will young people have the brain to do it? And will mature men instead have the guts to choose this car?
In just over thirty seconds, everything that can be written about the importance of the target has been strongly condensed.
So I went to see the previous commercials and, although there was a marked emotional element and the protagonists were boys in their 30s, there was no reference to the target.
The point is that among many entrepreneurs (and even between some agency and marketing professional) there is always that fear in target segmentation. I’m not talking about being afraid of making mistakes, God forbid. Nowadays those who work in marketing, especially in the digital world, have the tools to define and segment their target audience, yet the risk of foreclosing someone, of playing some chance is always scary.
Matter of points of view. Seat has chosen to earn as much as possible by investing everything in its target audience, without wasting anything or entrusting it to chance. He did so, as we have seen in a witty way, without “offending” the excluded, who are not excluded if they choose to accept the challenge.
The mass approach has been overtaken for a while, this is obvious. And defining the target audience for its products / services is not a novelty but an imperative for companies that want to implement winning marketing strategies.
Age, economic status, geographical origin but also sexual preferences are just some of the most common parameters that are used to segment your target audience and identify the perfect lead. But how far are you willing to push yourself to succeed?
Another courageous example that I remember was that of the Norwegian Airlines that, in the aftermath of the separation between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, published a print ad that simply read “Brad is single” to advertise the flights to Los Angeles on offer. Of course the target of this commercial is clearly female, but the strong leverage remains the price on offer and, the claim does not in any way exclude men or elderly.
The example of Seat, from this point of view is clearer.
The car is a world that has given us many masterpieces over the years. In particular, I remember two very different BMW spots. One, very recent, runs on the net in these weeks and, with irony, “greets” the CEO of Mercedes, the main competitors of the group with the propeller, which retires.
Another commercial that comes to mind is very old and concerns the so-called comparative advertising that appeared in the newspapers almost twenty years ago or so. In this case, the gauntlet is launched against Jaguar with the predator that escapes in front of the unmistakable BMW Angel eyes.
These are calculated hazards, ironic challenges to direct competitors. But that of Seat is a brand new in the automotive world. Or at least, I don’t remember cars that have staked so clearly on a very precise target
By the way, if you remember any commercials or do you have other relevant examples, would you like to share them with me and other readers by commenting on this article?
All the commercials that I mentioned in this article, beyond the target, have something in common. Courage, originality, strength. Often, in communication and digital marketing, entrepreneurs are afraid to dare, to exaggerate. But as you have noticed, in these commercials there is not an exaggeration but a strong ironic (and self-ironic) vein that tears, together with the interest, also the smile of who reads or listens.
Author Bio:
Maria is a specialist in content marketing, she has a vast experience in writing different content on various topics. Currently she is associated with the TV Production Companies in Dubai. In a meantime she also manage her own blog and reading books.