Via Leo Burnett, GM is launching a new campaign for the subcompact crossover in a fantasy/science fiction realm. The ad features the car dodging a stegosaurus and navigating through the legs of a brontosaurus in city streets.
Buick bought heavy exposure throughout the NCAA Tournament for men’s basketball, which the GM division is sponsoring. It debuts Sunday on ESPN’s “30 for 30” program and airs during the tournament games on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV.
GM is betting that March Madness will give Encore the boost it needs to increase awareness for a vehicle type that is new to Buick.
“This idea of maneuverability, the idea of having all the luxury amenities in a right-size package is really the theme,” Tony DiSalle, vice president of U.S. marketing for Buick and GMC, told Hispanic Business.
The Encore reflects GM’s latest effort to attract younger buyers to Buick, which was once known in the 1950s and ’60s as the “doctor’s car,” DiSalle said. The company sold 1,571 Encores in February, its first full month of sales, with dealers taking an average of 12 days to sell each vehicle.
With the help of the late-2011 introduction of the Buick Verano compact sedan, the average age of Buick buyers is now 57, down from 64 several years ago.
DiSalle said GM has identified two groups of consumers for the Encore: young professional couples, perhaps with a young child, and baby boomers who have recently become empty-nesters.
“These are two distinct, yet very common groups when it comes to need,” DiSalle said. “They’re looking to right-size.”
In related news, Shaquille O’Neal returned to TV screens across the country 3/2 in a new Buick TV spot titled “More Than I Expected,” the latest in the “You Don’t Know Buick” campaign. In his second ad for the LaCrosse, the basketball legend discovers it offers more than a typical luxury sedan.
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