| JOMC 170 | |
| 09.26.00 |
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Isuzu
Case Study
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American Isuzu
Motors, Incorportated: Going Farther
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| One of advertising's main objectives is to create a solid brand image in order to give consumers a positive impression of a specific product. American Isuzu Motors, Incorporated has successfully done this by making critical advertising decisions concerning their top of the line sport utility vehicles. Isuzu considers themselves the SUV Specialists and rightfully so. This is because the only model of automobiles they manufacture are high-performance, high-quality, well thought-out and designed sport utilities. |
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| It was 1916 when Isuzu Motors Limited, American Isuzu Motors, Incorporated's parent company, built Japan's first car. From then on they have designed and created everything from Japan's first bus to inspiring Japan's first expedition to the North Pole. Exuding from Isuzu Motor Limited's great success, American Isuzu Motors, Inc. was founded in 1980 in the United States. That year was used to establish a strong backbone of quality dealerships across the country to ensure excellent sales service and immense product knowledge. The following year, AIMI began marketing and selling automobiles in the United States. Today, Isuzu is America's best-selling import brand of sport utilities with two of their models earning top seller positions in their respective classes. As one of the biggest automotive distributors of SUVs in the world, AIMI named power executive Yishito Mochazuki to the position of president in May of 2000 along with Norihiko Oda as Chief Executive Officer. | |
| When Isuzu's first SUV, the Trooper, was introduced to the market in 1985, American Isuzu Motors, Inc. knew they needed something to catch the consumer's attention and draw them in to their product. They accomplished this with the help from a man named Jerry Della Femina. His company devised a character named Joe Isuzu who would say anything to get consumers to buy his car. Portrayed by actor David Leisure (Empty Nest), Joe Isuzu was a car dealer who outright lied to his audience by saying things such as, "You could buy an Isuzu for ten dollars. And if you buy an Isuzu in the next 24 hours, you'll also get a free house." As he made these statements concerning certain aspects of the Trooper, the words, "He's lying" ran across the bottom of the screen followed by the actual facts. For spending a combined amount of only $7 million on the campaign, Isuzu experienced incredible results as Americans laughed at the commercial and bought the SUV that could go up to "300 mph." Before this ad campaign not many people were familiar with Isuzu, but following it the Isuzu Trooper and Joe Isuzu became household names. | |
| Obviously, this breakthrough advertising campaign proved successful for American Isuzu Motors, Inc. In 1988, three years after the inexpensive Joe Isuzu ad was released, AIMI, was raking in enough revenue to increase their advertising budget to $90 million. This increase in advertising paralleled the fact that Isuzu was now America's best-selling import brand of sport utility. |  |
| In March fo 1998, under creative counsel from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, an advertising agency in San Francisco, California, Isuzu launched a new television campaign. The 30-second spot for the Isuzu Amigo spoofed Slinky's advertisement used in the 1970s. Young people dressed in bright, hippy-ishg clothing happily sand the catchy jingle altered to fit the fun SUV, as the consumer saw the Amigo driving down stairs and around in circles on a beach. According to Ad Track, USA Today's poll that measures the popularity and effectiveness of advertisements, the ad was considered fun, innovative, and quite popular, but wasn't very effective with adult consumers. | |
| In 1998, as specified by Competitive Media Reporting, Isuzu spend $140 million on their advertising campaign. This was a fifty-percent increase from the previous year's spending. In October of 1998, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners created an innovative and humorous TV campaign that assaulted cars with the tagline "Isuzu: We Don't Make Cars." The campaign was estimated at $20 million through the end of that year. The company drastically cut advertising expenditures in 1999 to $82 million in order to focus their advertising on narrowly defined demographics. Isuzu decided to reduce their spending on prime-time network shows and begin advertising during more athletic events, such as the Discovery Channel's "Eco Challenge," the world-famous Ironman Triathlon, and the "Escape from Alcatraz" triathlon. AIMI's goal in advertising promoting and during these events was to get people to associate Isuzu with certain athletic characteristics: strength, endurance, aggressiveness, and especially the ability to "Go Farther." From targeting this specific audience through certain cable channels, Isuzu reached a smaller demographic group - those that aim high and play hard. It is estimated that through this campaign of "Go Farther, created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Isuzu hit more that 100 million customers in 1999. | |
| In order to raise awareness with consumers concerning AIMI's newest family addition, Isuzu along with GS & P, created an advertising campaign in late 1999 to run for the VehiCROSS. The campaign concentrated on the power and speed of the vehicle as well as its outrageous shape and turn of the century features. The tag line "Cars, prepare for extinction," exhibits the unique qualities of the SUV and reinforces the fact that Isuzu "doesn't make cars." With a campaign totoal of $226,722, the total sales from teh special promotion event reached an amazing $15 million. AIMI has also designed an Ironman Triathlon edition of the Isuzu VehiCROSS, which sports the Ironman logo inside and out. With a base price of $28,000, Isuzu expects the typical consumer will be thirty to forty year old sporty types who like to play "with serious toys." |
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| In 1999, Answerthink, an eBusiness company, helped AIMI widen their range of target audience by setting them up online with a Dealer Link Program. By doing this, both companies hoped to raise awareness of the Isuzu brand to the base market. Their efforts were successful as the program was responsible for over $60 million in gross sales during the last year of the century. According to a report from Answerthink, the Dealer Link Program became an important part of Isuzu's sales plans as well as a vital step in dealership relations with consumers. The campaign cost only a fraction of AIMI's advertising budget, but proved to be highly effective. | |
| The estimated budget of AIMI's 2000 ad campaign is still a decrease from subsequent years. At $25 million, Isuzu depended on Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to come up with some new, innovative, and somewhat inexpesive ideas. They did just that. Isuzu's try tagline, "Go Farther," is still intact, being displayed everywhere from CBS's coverage of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, to the internet, to various radio stations across the country. | |
| Good news came to both American Isuzu Motors, Inc. and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in June of 2000, when Isuzu won the Silver Effie in the "automobiles/vehicles" category for the "Isuzu: No Cars" campaign. This was a combined print and television ad campaign, which helped raise consumer awareness of the exclusive production of SUVs by AIMI. With the help from this campaign, Isuzu sales were up 12 percent from 1998 to 1999. At the beginning of the second quarter, sales are already up 25 percent from 1999. The campaign definitely had a positive impact in promoting the Isuzu brand name as well as the individual sport utilities Isuzu has to offer. | |
| Just from the statistics alone, one can see that the advertising campaigns of American Isuzu Motors, Inc. have previously and are still today having a dramatic effect on the consumer. From the classic Joe Isuzu commercials in the 1980s to the play hard advertising in the late 1990s, consumers have found Isuzu offers sport utility vehicles that they can depend on to be rugged and sporty and at the same time reliable and high-performing. With the help from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, vital information concerning the distinct SUVs Isuzu has to offer has been relayed to the consumer who seems to be swallowing it whole. I believe that the "Go Farther" campaign is working like a charm. It aims its standards high and refuses to settle for anything less than extraordinary. This specific advertising campaign has hit everyone from the play-hard type, to the college student, to the retiree as one can see driving around town. In an age where everyone who is anyone wants to own an SUV, Isuzu offers a wide, diverse selection that will satisfy the executive to the marathoner as well as offer reliability, quality, and strength. It seems that much of the American poplulation has an Isuzu SUV and I have a gut feeling that this is due in great part to the advertising decisions made by the company and their agency. The future of sport utilities belongs in the hands of Isuzu, it's as simple as that. | |
Bibliography
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"Isuzu ad touts warranty,
targets sports types." Automotive News; Detroit; March 20, 2000.
Jean Holliday
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| "Isuzu looks to pick its spots." Advertising Age; Chicago; May 15, 2000. Shere R. Curry. |
| "Echo awards: American Isuzu Motors, Inc." Direct Marketing; Garden City; November 1999. Anonymous. |
| "Goodby spoofs '70s ad." Adweek; New York; March 16, 1998. Jane Irene Kelly. |
| "Consumers find Amigo ads unfriendly." USA Today; Arlington; April 27, 1998; Dottie Enrico. |
| "Isuzu slams cars in ads for its trucks and SUVs." Advertising Age; Chicago; September 21, 1998; Alice Z. Cuneo |
| Isuzu Desktop Reference (obtained from Isuzu dealership) |
| www.theautochannel.com |
| www.rideanddrive.com |
| www.answerthink.com |
| www.autointell.com |
| www.isuzu.com |