Suzuki, unlike some of its Asian car-making counterparts, hasn’t done a huge amount of local advertising and has largely relied on international material (and high profile sponsorships like 3 Sport and The Warriors). But to celebrate taking top spot in the Canstar Blue customer satisfaction award, it has created a new 30 second spot via GSL Promotus showing a bunch of New Zealanders getting it on with their cars.
As it says on the YouTube clip: “According to a nationwide independent survey, Suzuki owners are the most satisfied car owners in the land. Not only did you vote us the winner, we were the only car brand to score a five star rating in all six categories. We want to thank our wonderful dealer network and most importantly, you, our customers.”
Ford, Kia, Mazda and Holden were behind Suzuki. And, surprisingly, Toyota, New Zealand’s best selling car brand, was at the bottom of the list.
While advertising often hams up the love people have for products (the ads below for Chevy Dart fit into that category, but they take a different, more comedic approach), ‘objectum sexuality’ is a real thing and there are plenty of examples of strange humans going all the way and marrying inanimate objects. Let’s just hope those in the Suzuki ad aren’t giving their vehicles a tender post-coital embrace.
While Suzuki is doing well in surveys, new car sales have been up and down over the past few years, with 4,752 in 2011, 5,327 in 2012 and 4,732 in 2013. It has had most success in the small car market, and GSL Promotus helped by running a campaign around the idea that “smaller cars are the way of the future“.
As it says on its website: “The new car market is clearly trending towards smaller vehicles, with rapidly increasing petrol prices and ‘green’ issues influencing sales trends. So we recognised the potential for a brand campaign that positions Suzuki as the brand of choice for buyers considering a small or compact new car. What needed to be sold is Suzuki’s superior knowledge and experience in the market segment, together with their unique model range and ability to provide the right solution. As this was an overarching brand positioning campaign that ran alongside other tactical sales promotions, it is difficult to attribute a level of success directly to the campaign. However, Suzuki sales results continue to impress, as they retain their position in the top six vehicle brands in the New Zealand market, including many months being the number one seller in passenger cars with their top-selling Supermini, the popular Suzuki Swift.”
