Truly great marketing communications must be simple, easy to understand, and evocative. They must provide a clean, simple articulation of extremely big ideas: they need to reflect where a brand has been, where it is going, and must acknowledge all the impressions people have about the brand. The product isn’t the only thing a brand represents: Rice Krispies are so much more than just breakfast cereal, aren’t they?
I am legitimately awestruck by Chrysler’s new positioning: “Imported from Detroit”. With three simple words, Portland-based Wieden + Kennedy have evoked the history and legacy of the American automotive industry, and even America itself. They acknowledge the power that imported vehicles now have on the auto industry, but remind us that America is a big country - Detroit may as well be on the other side of the world from Texas, California or Oregon. Detroit is positioned as a nation unto itself - for better or worse – and it kind of is if you think about it.
Furthermore, the folklore of Detroit is wrapped into a modern, relevant package by engaging a Detroit-based spokesperson in Eminem. This is a man who, if nothing else, is one of the most credible, respected people in American entertainment. He has also had his own ups-and-downs before coming back on top. He brings authenticity, immediacy and legitimacy to Chrysler’s born-in-Detroit positioning. They couldn’t have done better if Sinatra came back to life – and had been from Detroit in the first place (and never left).
Detroit has famously been in decline for decades, but if there’s one thing America loves, it is an underdog story. What greater underdog is there than Detroit, this faded colossus in American mythology? Chrysler has laid claim to one of the most significant anchors in the evolution of the American dream – the Motor City – with all of the baggage, dreams, fortunes, and tragedies that go along with that. It seems risky, but I don’t think it is: if Detroit is positioned as a rising Phoenix, then Chrysler will also catch fire and burn brightly.
America loves positive stories of National pride, and this positioning taps into a deep well of American passion: “it's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.” It is genius in its simplicity – the same kind of sharp understanding of human nature that built the Motor City in the first place.
I bet the folks at Ford are kicking themselves (or are undertaking an agency review). The most simple, effective marketing solutions often remain the most difficult to articulate, but Wieden + Kennedy nailed this one for Chrysler with evocative, effective positioning.
Footnote: Wieden + Kennedy are the folks behind my other favourite brand re-positioning of last year, the now-legendary Old Spice campaign, which also turned an old-and-tired brand with significant baggage (Eddie Murphy’s ‘Delirious’, anyone?) into a new-and-vibrant brand again. If Wieden + Kennedy folks are reading, and want to open a Canadian office, we need to talk….
