Brilliant? New Campaign Touts There Are Still People With Blue Hair Driving Buicks

Remember the old annoyance about the older woman driving the Buick in front of you that was going 15 miles an hour in a 45 mile an hour zone? Those women were called "Blue Hairs" - or at least they were where I come from, and yes, they were mostly driving Buicks. Somehow a Buick became an older generation's car and not something that was a young person's vehicle of choice, because of the stigma attached.

Well, Buick is using that to their advantage with some brilliant advertising this month. While reading Vanity Fair August, I came upon this double page spread and it stopped me in my tracks. A good advertisement hasn't done that for as long as I can remember. I sat there, taking in everything from the font to the main picture, the cars to the logo and layout of the page. And all it took was a good line to rope me in. And what a line, "Yes, there are still people with blue hair that drive a Buick." The quote runs alongside the twenty-something girl sporting blue hair and smiling like she doesn't have a car in the world. There is just something so magnificent about this whole setup, and yes it did make me want to go and test drive a Buick. Who ever dreamt of saying that?

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TheSteve - 5/26/2015 12:11:26 PM

+3 Boost

I recently learned that marketing might not be consistent with reality, so I take this with a huge grain of salt.

Agent009 - 5/26/2015 12:56:01 PM

-1 Boost

I guess it is all about perception. I also read but did not verify 1 in 5 Buick buyers were in their 70's. If true that is pretty scary.

TheSteve - 5/27/2015 11:23:00 AM

+1 Boost

'009 writes "...I guess it is all about perception..."

In many ways, yes! Lots of people perceive Buick to be an "old man's car," so the brand isn't even on their radar, and they invest zero offer to validate that perception by investigating Buick's offerings. Buick, meanwhile, is trying desperately to change that using ad campaigns as you see here.

Once you've earned a reputation, it's hard to shake it. We don't hear about "former alcoholics" or "ex-alcoholics". We hear about alcoholics who've been sober for a while, or an "old man" car company that has some new models that seem pretty okay.

You know, once a brand name has that sort of baggage, and the company aspires to create vehicles that are nothing like their reputation, then it might serve them to realize that the brand name and its reputation is hindering their efforts. It might be easier just to close the brand and divert the efforts to a less tainted GM brand.

carsnyc - 5/26/2015 1:08:28 PM

+1 Boost

Good thing is that Buick is on the right path. Bad thing is that it will still take them a few more years before the old image wears off. What's more, it was a big mistake on their part to not have built the Avenir

Agent009 - 5/26/2015 4:19:52 PM

0 Boost

Agreed

TomM - 5/26/2015 6:33:11 PM

+2 Boost

Actually - the average age of Buick owners has dropped fom 64 to 57 in the last 5 years. When you consider that the average age for the INDUSTRY for new car buyers is about 52 - you must begin to realize that as prices continue to escalate for cars - it takes an older person to be able to afford them. Buick's best stat though is that 41% of its sales are new to Buick Customers. So compare the average age of a buyer to
Mercedes - 54.7 - Chrysler 54.7 - Smart 55.3 - Bentley 56.2 - Jaguar 56.6
Lexus 56.9 - Cadillac 59.5 - Bugatti 59.5 - Lincoln 61. (These stats are from 2012-2013 - the Buick stats are current)

MDarringer - 5/27/2015 8:41:15 AM

+1 Boost

The sooner Buick moves to the Avenir styling language the better. All of the current Buicks are dreadfully dull looking.