Chrysler Launches Dodge Journey with ‘Value’ Messages
April 08, 2008

By Dale Buss

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -- In the all-new 2009 Dodge Journey, Chrysler’s product-development pipeline has delivered what seems to be the right vehicle at the right time. Now, it’s up to the company’s marketing and sales chiefs, and its dealers nationwide, to get American consumers interested in Chrysler’s first true crossover product since the ill-fated Chrysler Pacifica.

Top Chrysler marketing executives unveiled their plans here Monday, combining confidence in Journey’s capabilities with positive reports about early sales and consumer reactions. They believe that the reasonably priced, relatively high-mileage new entry is perfectly aimed with a “value” proposition at Americans who are being made palpably anxious by belt-tightening at home and sky-high prices at the gas pump.

“If you can dream it, do it” will be the Journey’s theme line when the campaign breaks on Tuesday, spotlighting the vehicle’s combination of innovative features, versatility and flexibility.

“It’s a machine that enables your dreams,” explained Mark Spencer, senior manager of Dodge communications. Crossover vehicles are “one of the bright spots” in the moribund U.S. auto market right now, making Journey’s debut “a conquest opportunity for Dodge.” Seventy percent of Journey buyers, he predicted, “will be new to the corporation.”

Journey’s introduction comes, Spencer continued, as “part of the trend of moderation” in American life as consumers “elimat[e] excesses.”

Sticker prices begin at $19,985 and extend to nearly $25,000 for the top-of-the-line version. The Journey’s pricing sweet spot will be $23,000 to $24,000, said Deborah Meyer, Chrysler’s chief marketing officer.

Targets are ‘Optimistic’ Types

The vehicle, Dodge’s first crossover, trickled into showrooms in March and only now is arriving en masse. Still, Spencer said that “all indicators” in terms of returns from the minimal marketing expenditures on Journey so far “look very good.”

Dodge’s goal was to create 293 million marketing impressions for Journey, which executives expected to generate about a half-million visits to the Journey web site; 15,000 “hand raisers” for more information about the vehicle; and 60,000 look-ups of Chrysler dealers online.

Exceeding expectations, Chrysler’s early marketing generated 299 million impressions, which elicited 1.1 million web-site visits – more than double the goal – as well as 18,700 hand-raisers and 271,000 “dealer locators.” All of that activity was converted into more than 2,300 Journey sales pre-launch, Spencer said, more than double what Chrysler expected.

But now comes the harder part. Dodge has selected two broad demographics – young couples and empty nesters – as primary targets for the Journey advertising campaign that unfolds this week online, on television, in print and in out-of-home venues such as in cinema advertisements.

Dodge expects about half of Journey buyers to be older baby boomers, who will skew male and will tend to come to the vehicle after downsizing from SUVs, Spencer said. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of Journey customers will be Gen Xers who will switch to Journey from cars, many of them from imports, he said, and be predominantly female.

“What unifies the two groups?” Spencer said. “They’re both very optimistic about the changes in their lives.”

Digital Leap for Dodge

Journey will comprise what Spencer called Dodge’s “largest digital launch ever,” with about 29 percent of its media mix being deployed online. That includes ads on search sites. “Our goal is to drive web traffic and bring new consumers into the brand,” he said. For Dodge’s last launch, the new Grand Caravan last summer, digital received about 20% of the budget, Spencer said. Eighteen months ago on Dodge launches, he added, 10% was a “typical” portion.

TV will receive about 54 percent of Journey advertising expenditures, Spencer said, a number which represents the fact that the brand is spending proportionally “less and less” of its launch advertising on the medium. About 9 percent will go to print and 5 percent to out-of-home media.

Journey’s interactive programs will include home-page “takeovers” of America Online, Yahoo! and MSN tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, respectively, with additional “behavioral” targeting on HGTV, Univision, Tremor Media, Revenue Science, and Car & Driver. Journey also will splash onto travel, wellness, finance, sports and entertainment web sites including ABC, NBC, CBS Sportsline, NHL, TNT, NBA, Sports Illustrated, BET Awards and Billboard de la Musica Latina.

“Live a bigger life” will be another Journey tag line on the internet. Overall, Dodge has tested about 20 different messages so that it can optimize its online expenditures. “’Value’ and fuel economy are the best-performing messages,” Spencer explained, while one that touts Journey’s all-wheel-drive capabilities is among the underperformers that Dodge already has killed.

Among other subtleties of online advertising, Spencer reported: Dodge learned that a blue background works better in Journey’s banners than a green one.

Journey’s Intriguing Soccer Match

On TV, Journey was scheduled to debut on Tuesday with two general-market ads and two multicultural spots, one aimed at African-Americans and the other at Hispanics.

In the 30-second general-market spot titled Water Slide, a Journey pulls up on a crowded city street on a sweltering day. From its flexible interior space – which includes an optional third-row seat, as well as an innovative Flip ‘n Stow compartment underneath the front passenger seat – emerge various pieces that are used to build a 700-foot water slide, which Chrysler alleged was “the world’s largest.” Professional types quit their offices and come out to see what all the commotion is about.

“It’s a car that lets you do anything,” marveled one of that spot’s directors in a “documentary” piece that Chrysler showed automotive press on Monday. Water Slide also will be produced in a 60-second version that will be shown before new-movie releases starting at the end of the month, continuing through May, in more than 1,870 theaters in 186 markets.

The other general TV spot, Animates, is a 30-second ad that puts a real Journey in an animated scene with a highly stylized background during which an animated family takes advantage of various Journey features, including its rear-seat DVD.

Dodge also will become a sponsor of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team on behalf of Journey and “what can happen when you dream.” The brand also has entered a two-year “official vehicle” deal with both U.S. women’s and men’s soccer teams, Spencer said, pointing out that this is a Summer Olympics year.

In partnering with the women’s team, the brand hopes to “appeal to young, empowered women,” Spencer explained. He noted the team’s record of often-surprising success over the last several years – including in 1999 when, after the American women shocked China to win the World Cup, Brandi Chastain celebrated by peeling off her jersey and kneeling to the ground in her sports bra.

Journey’s link to the women’s team will culminate in a 30-second TV ad called Team, due out later this spring. It depicts American women’s team members embarking on a “road trip” in a Journey from their San Diego headquarters to Brazil. They practice Portuguese all the way and use Journey features including the Chill Zone beverage storage bin. When they again meet the Brazilian team – to whom the U.S. women famously lost last year – the Americans repeat the phrase to them, and viewers see the English subtitle: “We want another game.” Journey is called “the new crossover that’s ready for anything.”

PROA (Print Relies on Acronyms)

The other highlights of the upcoming Journey campaign will be print advertisements that will be splattered across a variety of news, entertainment and other magazines in two executions.

The first is a series of single-page ads called Acronym that use acronyms for headlines. “Now with extra PSPM (Personal Style Per Mile)” will be a headline for Journey ads in health and wellness publications, for instance, while People and other celebrity books will feature an ad with the headline, “Comes with More RHM (Rotating Heads per Minute).”

Dodge also will invest in events such as a mobile-marketing tour that begins this month. The Dodge Grab Life Tour will travel to events across the country including three NASCAR races. And in a contest partnership with Time Inc. publications and web sites called Dodge Journey of a Lifetime, entrants will be directed to a micro web site for the chance to win one of four unique “compelling journeys.”

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