For the past 10+ years, Buick has been attempting to reinvent itself — almost in the same way a person would reinvent him or herself — by being patient and consistently saying one thing, “We’re not your grandpa’s Buick anymore.” This method of conveying a message is priceless. In the words of one of Clinton’s advisers, his name slips my mind, and Made To Stick authors, Chip and Dan Heath, “If you say 10 things, you say nothing.” No one is going to remember everything — not even that infomercial guy who says he can skim a book or newspaper and remember subjects and what page they were on. This idea of a hip yet sophisticated Buick is one sticky idea. Let’s look at how Chip and Dan Heath’s Six Principles of Sticky Ideas applies to Buick.
Six Principles of Sticky Ideas
SIMPLICITY
How do we find the essential core of our ideas? Just like any other conclusion to brainstorming meetings, the key players must compile the hottest proposals and find the commonalities of them all — usually, someone noticed it in the first few outbursts. In this case, it was that Buick is, as I stated above, hip yet sophisticated, hence their new slogan, “The New Class of World Class.” This might seem easy, but it leads me to the next point.
UNEXPECTEDNESS
How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? The concept must destroy preconceived notions. This forces people to stop, think, and remember. Being hip yet sophisticated was, in fact, unexpected from Buick. Though they weren’t always an automobile for Seniors (remember the sporty 2-seater Reatta or the extremely fast and luxurious Riviera?), that is what they had become — at least in the US. Buick could have kept that demographic, but they chose to do something out of the ordinary by becoming a major competitor with Lexus.
CONCRETENESS
How do we make our ideas clear? First, find out who your target market is. Second, find out what they do and how they communicate. Third, talk to them the way they talk to each other. Last, don’t say too much. Too many words will more than likely confuse someone or will be misconstrued.
CREDIBILITY
How do we make people believe our ideas? With most manufacturers — the product doesn’t matter for this point — they have to simply develop a product that does what they say it does. It doesn’t have to be the very best, but if if doesn’t do what they say it can do, people will be upset. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they’ll actively try to dispute your message!
EMOTIONS
How do we get people to care about our ideas? Appeal to emotional needs. Everyone is self-conscious about something to one degree or another. Don’t get me wrong, no one should abuse that, but looking good and being paid attention to makes people feel good and playing to that can be golden. Everyone needs to feel comforted as well — especially in a car and especially if you’ve been in a car accident — and Buick has commercials for that also. Every car company likes to tote their security features.
STORIES
How do we get people to act on our ideas? Telling a story gets people to pay closer attention and feel more connected. To sum this up in two words… great commercials.
All-in-all, if you take these ingredients and put it into one bowl, you’re bound to make something sweet.
Tags: branding, Buick, cars, Chip Heath, Dan Heath, Enclave, General Motors, GM, LaCrosse, Lexus, Lucerne, Made To Stick, marketing, Regal, Regal GS
