Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Dodge
Dodge shortens ad slogan. Grabs life, but not horns.
BrandWeek reports that Dodge is abandoning its familiar "Grab Life By The Horns" ad tagline. In its stead, the automaker will move to the shorter, simpler. "Grab Life." The reason, according to BrandWeek is to soften the brand's image to make it more palatable to potential female customers, as the original slogan apparently was too masculine in nature.
The revised campaign reportedly kicks off next month. It'll be interesting to see how Dodge's new ads change to reflect this new focus, but we're not exactly sure that modifying the brand's marketing jargon will suddenly cause women to discover Dodge. Building cars that women want, however, would go a long way, new slogan or otherwise.
UPDATE: We asked the Chrysler Group's VP of Communications, Jason Vines, for additional comment on the change, and here's what he had to say:
"It broadens the appeal to car consumers without dissing the truck owners who will complete the phrase on their own -- by the horns. That broadening is not just to women, but anyone. You will see the truck ads as touting the capability, boldness and durability of the trucks, especially our new entries in the commercial arena. As far as the cars, we've really bolstered the lineup with Caliber, Avenger and the upcoming Caravan and Challenger."
[Source: BrandWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brooksie 10:17AM (4/12/2007)
"Grab Life." = transparent meaningless over researched attempt at a call to action.
I hear they're going to start making all the new cars with vanilla scent.
But hey, maybe they can pull it off in execution.
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Scott 10:59AM (4/12/2007)
Seems to me all Dodge has been going after for the past decade is male customers, it'll take more than an ad slogan to change that. Hell, look at all the names they've decided to use for their cars - Ram, Magnum, Caliber, Viper, Avenger, Charger, Nitro. It's like a bad episode of American Gladiators for chrissake.
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JD 11:13AM (4/12/2007)
Well, this is sorta strange. They build the most masculine cars in the industry, to the point of being comical (Nitro, anyone?), but they want to attract female customers? I don't know about that. Their marketing guys should talk to their design guys. The sooner, the better.
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ni 11:16AM (4/12/2007)
Not too surprising. Here in TX, at least, 9/10 Dodge pickups are driven by some undereducated 5'2" aggressive macho bully boy. I wasn't surprised when they ran that ad a while back, where the hillbilly jumps on the trailer bed and goes "Eet's gawt a Hemii!!"
And now with "grab life", ok. What a bunch of marketing bull.
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Tim 11:21AM (4/12/2007)
This is the latest stumble in a series of missteps. Women now out earn men and have an average education that is higher than men. Dodge has gone after the male demo 18-30 and have suffered for it as this is the least moneyed and lowest educated group to come along in the past 20 years
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pr4N4y 11:33AM (4/12/2007)
What? So now Dodge will tell me to "Get a Life"?!!
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Dodge 11:33AM (4/12/2007)
Little off topic but that shot makes the avenger look quite good, if only it looked so good at all angles
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Owain Ozymandias Buck 12:31PM (4/12/2007)
I always thought Chrysler was female oriented and Dodge was geared towards marketing to men. So when they rebadge one car it could be like this: "presenting the all-new Dodge Phallus and Chrysler Clitoris." Kinda works in the Chrysler marketing structure!
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cluebyfour 1:38PM (4/12/2007)
I would have preferred "Grab Life By The Balls", myself. But Dodge may have been afraid someone would take that a little too literally. . . .
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SocalObserver 1:39PM (4/12/2007)
"Grab Life" means absolutely nothing. At least when it was "Grab Life By the Horns" it actually made some sense, since it was a play on "Grab the bull by the horns," and their logo is the ram with huge horns. This is just lame, and reeks of desperation...almost as bad as the Taurus re-name over at Ford.
Interesting to note, however, that Dodge isn't the first company to truncate their tagline like this. Lexus was originally "The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection," then "The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection" and now "The Pursuit of Perfection." In the Lexus' case, though, it makes some sense, since I don't think they were able to fool even themselves that any Lexus vehicle contains the slightest trace of passion.
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BCM 2:45PM (4/12/2007)
Well, I wasn't aware Dodge actually had an advertising tagline--and I know I've seen their ads on TV. Maybe the change won't make much difference.
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Don 5:03PM (4/12/2007)
I've got one: "Grab Sales if You Can".
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CaliberSRT4 5:04PM (4/12/2007)
That's dumb! If it ain't broke don't fix it. Women don't care what the slogan is, all they care is if it is cute and if it will match their outfits or whatever.
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PJ 5:37PM (4/12/2007)
They'd just shorten it to "Grope Life."
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NYchzck 9:28PM (4/12/2007)
Huh????? Make it more palatable to female customers??
Have they (marketing geniuses) NOT noticed there are more female drivers of trucks and SUV's than ever before? As a proud Dodge Durango owner, I take that as an insult... as if women have less gusto or something! We are not made of the same fibers as the Harriet Nelson's of generations gone by. We are strong, opinionated, we enjoy our new found power behind the wheel. Whatever the reason for the slogan snafu, please don't lay upon that lame rationale.
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Owain Ozymandias Buck 8:02AM (4/13/2007)
"we enjoy our new found power behind the wheel"
Uh, yeah. I can tell you do. The most annoyingly aggressive drivers around here are usually women in big SUV's and short guys with 3/4 ton diesels who most definitely are not farmers and don't tow anything. What these folks need is to "grab a little courtesy".
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TeamNutmeg 3:55PM (4/13/2007)
Dodge seems to be doing just fine selling cars to women as it is - every Caliber driver I see around here is a middle-aged woman, so much so that it's become a joke among my friends.
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Mike G 8:17PM (4/13/2007)
Aww it's ok guys if you don't like the new slogan, it will change in two years; the new catch phrase is certainly no "ultimate driving machine" in longevity or potency.
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