Today’s announcement that the Cadillac Escalde is America’s "most stolen car" has to have the Caddy marketing types jumping for joy. What may seem like negative news to most is, in fact, the best possible type of buzz marketing for the brand. That’s because the news confirms that the Escalade is, in fact, a "hot" car in every sense of the word.
The Escalade helped resuscitate the then-dying Cadillac brand when it was embraced by Hip-Hop musicians, urban high-flyers and Mafiosa wanna-be’s (it was Tony Soprano’s car of choice). Once it became uber-cool, the Escalade became a "must have" for all those American drivers who aspired to be seen as a little bit naughty and a whole lot cutting-edge, and wanted their wheels to reflect such a personna.
The news that more thieves steel Cadillacs than any other brand reinforces its bad boy image and should make the Escalade in particular an even hotter property. I can just imagine the commercials that could be created based upon the news: "The Cadillac Escalade: it’s so hot you literally won’t be able to hang onto it" or "We’ll gladly sell you the new 2007 Cadillac Escalade, but it’s up to you to hang onto it."
Talk about a buzz marketing bonanza! On the other side of the equation, though, the Ford Taurus people have to be scratching their heads with how best to market their ranking: in the same just-released survey, the Ford Taurus station wagon was America’s least stolen car. Guess the bad guys think it’s just too tame.
Jacki: Sure, most people will opt for safe cars but, trust me, the Cadillac folks are loving this sort of buzz. While it may turn off some consumers, others wil revel in the fact that they they’ve just purchased the biggest, baddest car in the land.
So Steve, you seem to be implying that there is no such thing as bad publicity? To be honest I agree with you that there will be a whole load of buzz about this BUT I am sure that the majority of the car buying public would prefer to spend their hard earned on a car with good security. Never mind that the Caddy is now seen as trendy and ‘down with the hood’it’s still an expensive purchase. People might buy it because they want to look like a ‘bad boy’ but I am sure that they don’t want to be car-jacked by a bad boy!