MEDIA & MARKETING:The Italian marque has fallen out of favour with Irish consumers – but is social media the answer?
ALFA ROMEO makes great cars but the brand has fallen from grace with Irish motorists. Ten years ago the sporty Italian marque sold 2,100 new cars in Ireland but last year the new sales total was down to 124. Now the brand, part of Fiat, is hoping that a social media promotion might rev up interest.
A few months ago, Alfa Romeo, advised by Hunter PR, launched an online competition that offered eight people the chance to drive its Giulietta for one year, tax and insurance included. From a shortlist of 40, the eight winners were selected on the basis of having the most Facebook “likes” for their entries.
Presumably the idea here is that if one of the winners has, say, 1,600 fans of their entry, then those fans will check back onto the winner’s Facebook page to see how they’re getting on with their free car.
The eight winners will write a regular blog of their driving experience, with the promise from Alfa Romeo that the writer of the best blog gets to keep the car. The blogs are collated at a contest website called realpeople.ie.
As you might expect, all the bloggers love their Giulietta. Here’s Alan Ludden: “I tested
the car on some of Kerry’s back roads and it handles like a dream. It is very responsive when navigating uneven roads and tight corners.”
In his first posting, test driver Jonathan Travers gushed: “It is a pleasure to drive and I can already see the benefit of the improved fuel consumption figures over my own car.”
Guinea pig Frank Kelly is of a more poetic bent. “So is your life now full of fun?/ More vibrant, filled with flair?/ And when you dream of blue skies and sun/ Does your Giulietta take you there?”
Hold on there.
If the Giulietta is such a delight, how come Skoda outsells Alfa Romeo in Ireland by a factor of 40 to one? In a very rare negative observation, Alan McNamee writes “she’s a little too heavy to hold”, before adding that “everybody has been impressed by her beauty and poise”.
Robert O’Brien’s blog may have pulled ahead in Alfa’s estimation after he noted that “the distances seem shorter due to the comfortable seats and smooth driving and the economy is excellent”.
Not far behind is Therese Coveney. “Been a great week with the fancy new wheels, the guys next door thought we won the Lotto. Our sparkling new Alfa has given our old beloved beamer the heave ho. How fickle one can be when intoxicated by an Alfa Romeo!”
Alfa could be on to a winner if the whole country started reading all this guff. Chances are though that the biggest readership those bloggers will ever get will be via the quotes used in this column.
“Kimberly, Mikado and Coconut Cream, someone you love, would love some, Mum” was a catchy little jingle which belonged to simpler times.
But it seems that Maureen Potter and glove puppets just won’t cut it these days. So Jacob Fruitfield’s new TV commercials feature three young models cavorting in a fantasy garden. The puppets have been given the boot and the reworked jingle sees the word “Mum” replaced with “fun” and it’s not hard to see why.
“Come Play With Us” is the theme of the new ad, which shows the girls called Kim, Mika and Coco licking their lips, singing hello boys and legs akimbo in giant tea cups at a Mad Hatter-style tea party.
It is a very grown-up ad which should certainly play well with the dads – but what about the children? Whether it’s age appropriate at all for a biscuit brand is open to question.
Loretta Dignam, marketing and technical director at Jacob Fruitfield says: “The creative idea was to create three personalities for the biscuits. It’s aimed at the Katy Perry generation.”
As well as television ads, Jacobs is supporting the campaign with in-store displays and a mini set of the ad will pop up in shopping centres throughout April. In addition, there’s the obligatory presence on Facebook, the trendy social media platform that is generating a handy new revenue stream for pinched ad agencies.
Says Dignam: “These days you have to talk to consumers in all the different ways that they are consuming media. Digital is just another format for delivering your media message.”
While social media has upsides for brands, it also has downsides. So far reaction to the Jacobs commercials from consumers on Boards.ie and other message boards has been mixed at best.
