Yesterday I listened to NPR on the way to work and conservative talk radio on the way home. A little bit of both worlds. At any rate I heard something that made me think GM - yes, General Motors - is starting to understand marketing in a more modern sense.
Listening to the Sean Hannity show on the radio, he announced that listeners to his show would be able to win a car by registering on his show and listening for their names. Those that called in - or had a friend listen and alert the person whose name was drawn - would be eligible to win a car. What's more, Hannity and GM were going to do this over several weeks, and each week two or three cars would be featured.
What's interesting about this is that it returns radio to a more prominent national marketing media, which it had been before television, and targets a very select and specific audience. I don't know the profile of the Sean Hannity show, but I am willing to bet it is conservative, white, "middle america" 25-49 age group, mostly single men and married couples, probably more suburban and rural in nature. GM is targeting this group of buyers through a channel that receives great loyalty. Fans of talk radio tend to love or hate the main celebrity and often use products and services the celebrity recommends.
GM is reaching a very targeted audience, and one it was probably starting to lose to foreign imports and getting a chance to align itself with a person who is popular and credible with that audience. Again, this takes us back to the time when radio and television personalities would advertise automobiles and other consumer goods.
What I like about this approach is that it is very targeted, very specific in nature, GM aligns itself and gains credibility and audience support from a celebrity, and it completely flies under the radar for the rest of the population. If you aren't a talk radio listener, you probably don't know about the contest and it does not matter to you. This is an example of GM moving from mass marketing to niche marketing, which I suspect will be more successful and less expensive.
What may hamper the campaign is that the Sean Hannity show is only on for three hours a day, so listeners may not tune in enough to hear the advertisements, but most talk radio listeners are very loyal and tune in regularly. Hannity wins because he provides his listeners with another reason to tune in - and even encourage their friends to listen. GM doesn't care so much about reach in this campaign, mostly about affinity.
I think GM is demonstrating some real marketing ingenuity in the automobile industry. Now, let's see if the cars they deliver are interesting and valuable enough to validate the marketing efforts.
This is really a classical use of a "star" or "celebrity" endorsement. There isn't much new about it except maybe that GM has begun using the tactic.
One thing to realize, though, is that this approach is difficult to scale, certainly in a way that will make a meaningful impact on GM's business.
You're right, it's a nice start for GM, if they'll only see it as a starting point.
Posted by: Brett Astor | October 10, 2006 at 02:04 PM