How Subaru marketing found the 'Love'

A key to Subaru of America's decade of great success has been "Love" — an advertising campaign that Alan Bethke, the company's senior vice president of marketing, says comes in many forms: "love of the product, love of the brand and love of what Subaru means."

But before Subaru found "Love," the company endured nearly 40 years of advertising heartbreak.

Oh sure, Subaru's TV and print ads were often memorable and fun and groundbreaking in one way or another, but not always successful in carving out a customer base.

They went from ads mocking its own cars to celebrity showcases that highlighted safety and all-wheel drive.

Seven advertising agencies have been involved since 1968, when Subarus went on sale in this country. The current agency, Carmichael Lynch, launched "Love" in 2008.

Even the brand's proprietors did not claim to be in love with the first Subaru sold in the U.S. — a 360 mini launched in 1968 with a two-stroke engine and 66 mpg. The original ads, the brainchild of co- founder Malcolm Bricklin, touted "Cheap and Ugly does It."

Priced at $1,297, the 360 was about $400 less than the $1,700 Volkswagen Beetle.

In 1970, Subaru hired its first agency, Green Dolmatch, and began to distance itself from its German competitor by emphasizing: "This Subaru is not a Japanese Beetle."

That did little for Subaru sales and the agency was fired in 1973. Spiro & Associates of Philadelphia came on board with ads that hit on Subarus' durability and low repair costs. The effort seemed to work until the 1973-75 U.S. recession crippled auto sales.

The next round of ads, in 1975, were designed by George Lois and his Lois Holland Callaway agency. They sought to tie Japanese baseball great Masaichi Kaneda to Subaru. Kaneda was featured in a showroom with the tag line "Subaru, the star of Japanese Cars." The ads were pulled when it was discovered Kaneda was born to Korean parents, not Japanese. The agency was canned.

One early approach did work. In 1976, the DL — available as a sedan, coupe and wagon — became the official car of the U.S. ski team, the brand's first important tie-in with a lifestyle popular among Subaru owners. The relationship lasted until 1994. Early ads showed a Subaru wagon emblazoned with a U.S. ski team logo driving uphill on a snowy road. The tag line: "When the U.S. Ski Team says they are driving a Subaru, they are not snowing you."

A 1984 TV spot depicted other ski teams getting stuck in the snow as the U.S. team whizzed by effortlessly in a Subaru wagon.

In 1993, Subaru ran its first Super Bowl commercials to help launch the compact Impreza. The humorless 15-second spots showed pictures of engines and antilock brakes. They placed at the bottom of USA Today's Super Bowl ranking of the game's TV spots.

That effort and other blunders by Subaru's agency at the time, Wieden & Kennedy of Portland, Ore., were detailed in the 1995 book Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign, by Randall Rothenberg.

Wieden & Kennedy was fired in 1994 and replaced by Dallas agency Temerlin McClain, which held the account until 2005.

In the early 1990s, Subaru's marketing focus turned to the Outback and all-wheel-drive technology with the "The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive" campaign. Ads, which emphasized that awd was standard, were the creative work of Temerlin McClain. They showed cars with bicycles and canoes on roof racks — underscoring that Subaru owners are active individuals.

"We decided if we wanted to sell awd, we had to get a serious understanding of the best type of customer to target," said former Subaru marketing chief Tim Mahoney, now Chevrolet's global marketing boss. "It was a bold move — over 40 percent of the volume was front-wheel drive."

By the mid-1990s, Subaru was "targeting certain consumer/lifestyle segments," Mahoney said.

It was looking to buyers who could afford more expensive vehicles but liked the incognito design, safety and go-anywhere attributes of the vehicles. To help boost the effort, in the late 1990s Subaru turned to celebrities to increase brand awareness. To pitch the Outback, commercials featured actor Paul Hogan — the weathered Aussie bushman in Crocodile Dundee movies. In 2000, commercials with tennis star Martina Navratilova began running.

Hogan and Navratilova remained spokespeople until 2003 when cycling champion Lance Armstrong became the face of Subaru advertising with the tag lines "Driven," "Tough" and "Muscular."

Awareness increased but the celebrities received more attention than Subaru, said Subaru of America spokesman Michael McHale.

In late 2006, studies showed two-thirds of potential buyers in the U.S. were unaware of the brand. It was time to move from highlighting vehicle attributes to emotion. With Mahoney leading marketing after a stint at Porsche Cars North America, Subaru hired Carmichael Lynch in late 2007 as its agency. The "Love" campaign was launched the next year.

"Love" has tied together the attributes Subaru had been highlighting for decades, including safety and reliability. It became the umbrella for the brand's advertising, promotions, partnerships, sponsorships, dealer and corporate websites and charity work.

Advertising Age has called the campaign "among the most recognizable and enduring marketing efforts in the automobile category."

The "Love" campaign also has been pitched to dog owners because 60 percent of Subaru owners also have dogs. In 2008, the brand became a major sponsor of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl, which broadcasts pups frolicking on a football-like field on Super Bowl Sunday. The sponsorship has continued.

Bethke says the Puppy Bowl is an example of Subaru becoming "super targeted."

"We have become more laser — and not shotgun — focused," he said.

Subaru has also spread the "Love" into its year-end marketing rather than focusing on price cuts and rebates.

Every December since 2008, Subaru has run the "Share the Love" campaign that donates $250 to charities for every car sold. It has given away more than $120 million in the past decade.

Says Bethke, "Subaru is the company that likes to give back."