Jeep believes bobbleheads will help sell the Compass
Chrysler has an interesting advertising campaign coming up to sell the Jeep Compass to the 22-30 year-old urban demographic -- lure 'em in with bobbleheads.
The vehicle, which marks Jeep's first foray into strictly on-road territory, is expected to appeal to a much more diverse and urban audience than other Jeep vehicles. To reach this audience, Jeep has created four 30-second commercials depicting bobbleheads bouncing along to KRS-One's "Steady Bounce," which conveniently has lyrics about Jeeps on the New York streets.
One ad depicts a bobblehead driving a Compass down the street while other bobbleheads eye his rims. Closing out the commercial, bobbleheads break it down under a disco ball in the club--er, back of the Compass decked out to look like a club.
Jeep decided to go with the bobblehead idea because bobbleheads apparently heavily appeal to the company's target market for the Compass.
Our last foray into a discussion on the urban demographic devolved pretty quickly, so please keep the comments respectful.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Alex Nunez 11:50AM (7/22/2006)
This actually sounds like a potentially interesting series of TV spots. Looking forward to seeing them.
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asolar 12:53PM (7/22/2006)
I wonder if will feature the pet dog bobble head shown in the taxi in the movie "Bullit". I've always wanted one of those since seeing that movie, but I've never encountered one.
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Johnny B 12:53PM (7/22/2006)
I could think of nothing else that would be more moronic...Sad
...God help us if this is the best they can do!
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Keith 12:57PM (7/22/2006)
Add this to my blacklist of products to never buy.
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jamie 1:06PM (7/22/2006)
I have Mary Kate and Ashley Olson on my wish list for bobblehead twins!!
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Automatica 1:15PM (7/22/2006)
Nothing, and I mean this...nothing is more disapointing than the direction Jeep approved for this vehicle. Bobbleheads appeal to the target market? Are they serious?
How about the fact that this vehicle will probably appeal more to women than men? How about a nice sweeping shot of a nice looking twenty-something and her companion driving down the California coast with the windows down and the wind in their hair? Was that lame? I'm sorry, was it any lamer than A DISCO BALL IN THE BACK OF A COMPASS WHILE LITTLE PEOPLE DANCE?!
I could stop now but I'm on a soapbox and I don't want to get off it yet. You know who you blame? Blame the Jeep marketing team at DCX for coasting on this one. To be complacent with your ad agency and not challenging them to come up with something BETTER because this my friends in Auburn Hills, sucks.
Of course there's no real way to measure the success of this campaign. The Compass will fly off dealer lots, but not due to the effectiveness of its marketing, but more because gas prices suck right now.
Just to be clear, I'm ok with shifting the paradigm a little when it comes to who you're marketing your first foray in cars to. But to screw over God knows how many years of Jeep heritage for this crap...If I'm BBDO New York I'm packing my bags and uploading my resume to monster.com.
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Juan 1:37PM (7/22/2006)
"Jeep decided to go with the bobblehead idea because bobbleheads apparently heavily appeal to the company's target market for the Compass."
Focus groups have taken the place of good sociology and psychology, again.
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Avery 1:52PM (7/22/2006)
Wait a second, didn't Honda do this like a year ago with the Civic? Right down to the guy eyeing the other guy's rims? (Or was that a Canada-only ad?)
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Moebius 2:28PM (7/22/2006)
Kudos to DCX for getting KRS-ONE for their marketing. That's some serious street cred right there.
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Howard Kerr 2:57PM (7/22/2006)
Another example of marketing copping out by following focus groups around, instead of giving folks a "cool" item/object to focus ON. This is probably the same kind of market-think that told JEEP they have a huge untapped market to exploit if they only sold a "soft roader"/cute ute.
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Smoove D 3:59PM (7/22/2006)
Oh. My. God.
I once owned a Grand Cherokee because it had one of the best four wheel drive systems available. Unfortunately, the transmission didn't last 45,000 miles.
This is not the direction Jeep should be taking. They should be focused on continuously improving their off road vehicles, not coming up with stupid crap invented by focus groups. For the MBA/marketing types, I'll translate that - Jeep should focus on their core competency, which is building off road vehicles with advanced four wheel drive systems.
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John 4:22PM (7/22/2006)
I think it's safe to say the "directed at the urban consumer" ads for the Commander were less than successful. I'm surprised they're trying this yet again with bobble heads.
Someone's April Fools gag at BBDO must have taken a sharp turn for the worse.
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Michael Karesh 4:50PM (7/22/2006)
Do some people find this vehicle remotely attractive?
Maybe bobbleheads could have sold the Aztek.
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doglet 6:28PM (7/22/2006)
isnt the caliber suposed to be the mad tuff cute ute? they should be marketing this to the same girls who just cant find a 2wd wrangler.
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hmmmm 6:47PM (7/22/2006)
bobble heads are so cute and so much fun for like 2 minutes then im bored ! i saw a compass at the dealer last tuesday and it was even uglier and repulsive in person than it was in pics ! aint no freaking bobble heads or hot chicks gonna sell that ugly front end ! so it better be real cheap (price) like its interior.....
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Mick 8:06PM (7/22/2006)
First it was "negroes", then "black", and most recently "African-Americans." Now the "urban demographic" is apparently made up of "bobbleheads!" So that's what Daimler-Chrylser think you are: Bobbleheads. I see a new euphemism entering the language.
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Zam-Boo-Ca 8:59PM (7/22/2006)
I'm going to clear up a few misnomers about these ads.
First and foremost, the "urban" direction for the Compass was not created by BBDO. Their ideas were actually less pleasing than the bobbleheads we see before us.
The bobblehead creative can be credited (or blamed on pending your perception) to Global Hue, DCX's multicultural agency of record. During a media presentation a few months back, Jay Kuhnie, Director of Marketing for Jeep made a comment about how the Compass will transcend cultures. These are the results of that speech.
Global Hue somewhat snuck through the back door and presented their idea to the clients without the knowledge of BBDO. As soon as BBDO realized what was happening, it was too late. The client, a few years from retiring and easily manipulatable, approved the direction and there you have it: multicultural bobbleheads.
BBDO isn't indemnified from this stinker of a campaign however. Since they couldn't drum up a single appealing idea to the client, especially now that BBDO's creative direction is coming out of New York and not Detroit, this does nothing but make them look like bigger fools than they already are.
I can't help but think the bobblehead direction could be as disastrous as the Celine Dion Chrysler campaign a few years back. I'd be pretty nervous right now if I were sitting on the 5th floor of the Chrysler building.
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cordobaman 9:16PM (7/22/2006)
Although as a 40ish male these ads do not appeal to me, Definately would appeal to my college-age nephews. Got all the catch-items they "need". Get them interested as a first-time jeep buyer right out of school, then as they move up the pay scale ladder move onto Grand Cherokees.
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hmmmm 1:06AM (7/23/2006)
Their ideas were actually less pleasing than the bobbleheads we see before us. (and what was that?)
The bobblehead creative can be credited to DCX's multicultural agency of record. comment about how the Compass will transcend cultures.
bobbleheads snuck through the back door and presented their idea to DCX As soon as DCX realized what was happening, it was too late. The client, approved the direction and there you have it: multicultural bobbleheads, DCX hope's multi cultural people will buy this cause aint no white folk gonna buy this ugly crap ! DCX would be smart to yank this ad before it appears so not to offend anyone !!!!
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Toby 1:25AM (7/23/2006)
How sad.
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