Unnecessary Nastiness: Why Women Won’t Buy
Television ads these days are often not all that unique or compelling even when they are considered "good," yet when they are bad – they can be really, really bad.
Case in point: A currently running Hummer television ad came up in conversation with a friend of mine just the other day. And, it wasn’t because we were getting into the environmental politics or gas mileage issues, but because we were discussing men and women in communication (my new favorite topic). The "attitude," with a capital A, reflected in this particular ad just wouldn’t seem familiar/relevant to any mother of young children either my friend or I knows. It isn’t in a young mother’s language. In fact, the tone was downright negative and nasty.
Here’s the scenario, as closely as I can recall: Two moms of young children are at a playground watching their kids in line for the slide. One of the kids shoves the other kid out of the way and the shoving kid’s mom just shrugs. The other mom is peeved and then her brain starts working and we see her go to the nearby Hummer showroom where she snaps one up (not sure exactly which model) to prove that she’s going to "beat up" anyone who messes with her or her kid from then on… I guess.
Hmmm. Obviously intended for the women’s market, this ad still has the metallic aftertaste of a more typically male status/positioning communication style. Perhaps the marketing team thought it was humorous in some way, but did they honestly run the finished product by any women in their core market? I suspect that even existing female Hummer owners, pre-disposed to loving the brand, would have balked. It isn’t the way most women act, so it resonates with few, if any prospective buyers. I suspect not even one woman has been inspired to buy a Hummer because "she just had to get herself one of those to drive over the Jones’s Prius…" Yuck.
What the ad had going for it – in terms of marketing to women:
- Hummer realizes that moms are potentially a good market for their vehicles.
- A real-life scenario is portrayed – young moms at a playground.
What the ad/campaign does wrong:
- Negative, nasty tone.
- Humor was off by a mile.
- People remember the negative situation/tone more than the brand or it permanently taints their view of the brand.
- There is no clue to any real reason why a woman should want to buy a Hummer over a mini-van, or another kid-hauling vehicle.
- There’s no web site that correlates to explain the story further (which might have softened the nasty tone in "back story" or something.)
Grade: D. Good concept. Poor execution.
Anyone else seen this ad and wondered what Hummer was thinking?
P.S. If you are interested in marketing cars or just in how women make independent buying decisions (whether they are married or not)… you may want to check out the piece I recently contributed the blog at AskPatty.com which starts off this way:
Car dealerships aren’t the only retailers that just can’t
seem to get used to the idea that women are buying their products independent
of men – but that business is one that may have the worst reputation for making
that mistake. This could be greatly
harming an industry where more than 50% of purchases are made directly by
women, and up to 80% of all purchases are in some way influenced by them.
(be they husbands, partners, fathers or friends), so that makes it tricky for a
salesperson to decipher (just ask AskPatty’s Jody Devere about her recent
purchase), but here’s the thing: why not
consider women independent car buyers as the rule of thumb, rather than an oddity? The figures seem to be saying that if a
salesperson sees a male/female couple walking in, it is more risky to direct
all the eye contact and body language toward the man.
