Cultivating a Cult : GM’s Saturn Unit Pushes ‘Relationship Marketing’ to Next Level With 2-Day Fete
John Tylka is about to drive his motor home 2,058 miles so he can personally ask General Motors Corp. executives why he can’t get two more inches of legroom in his Saturn.
This will probably surprise the folks at Saturn, who think that the Monrovia resident--and nearly 25,000 other Saturn owners--will start gathering in Spring Hill, Tenn., on June 24 to enjoy music and sunshine. A two-day festival, marketed as a “Saturn Homecoming,” has been carefully orchestrated by the General Motors division to be a sort of blue-collar Woodstock-on-wheels.
Saturn is trying to take “relationship marketing” to the next level. The premise is simple: Develop an ongoing dialogue with your customers, and they might stick around.
Saturn has striven to distance itself as much as possible from the cold, impersonal image of the behemoth General Motors. Its ads rarely mention the GM name. Instead, they are mostly tales about individual customers--many of the stories suggested by Saturn owners themselves.
From the minute a customer buys a Saturn, the company tries to forge a bond by sending the entire dealership staff out to give a hardy cheer. Most Saturn buyers receive a Polaroid photograph of this ceremony. Some Saturn dealers host weekend barbecues and car care clinics. And after getting their cars serviced, most Saturn owners are sent detailed surveys.
Now Saturn is trying to cement its relationship with current customers by throwing a bash that celebrates itself. It will spend an estimated $5 million to make sure everyone has a good ol’ time.
The celebration--complete with plant tours, child care and a day at country music’s Opryland theme park--will also feature country singer Wynonna Judd and Olympic champion Dan Jansen.
Although vehicle makers from Harley-Davidson to Volkswagen have hosted get-togethers for enthusiasts, Saturn is the first to so heavily promote such a gathering.
Saturn executives concede they’ve borrowed a page from Harley-Davidson. In fact, when the motorcycle maker hosted a massive get-together for more than 100,000 owners in Milwaukee last year, executives from Saturn were there observing.
“When a company the size of General Motors says they want to do what we do, we consider it a compliment,” said Mike Keefe, director of marketing at Harley-Davidson.
All Saturn owners have been sent brochures and personalized letters promoting the event. Advance tickets to the two-day festival are $34 for adults and $17 for kids.
“If you’re wondering why we’re holding the event,” says the letter signed by Saturn President Skip LeFauve, “the answer is this: We wanted to show our appreciation for the special relationship we have with our customers.”
Not everyone buys that logic. Although Saturn may have latched on to a very good idea, “there is a little too much turbocharging going on here” on Saturn’s part, said Al Ries, chairman of the corporate identity firm Trout & Ries. “I sense a forcing of the issue.”
The United States is a nation prone to car cults, and General Motors is trying to forge a cult of Saturn owners, said Jim Hillson, senior vice president of the Beverly Hills consulting firm Phase One. “This is certainly not a grass-roots movement. It is a GM promotion.”
One academic offered even harsher words. “This is a contrived cult,” said George Gerbner, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. “It defines people not by who they are, but by what they buy.”
But executives at Saturn insist the upcoming wingding is merely a response to customer pleas.
“Maybe it smacks of a marketing ploy, but this is purely the result of Saturn owners who wrote us and asked to see the plant,” said Steve Shannon, director of marketing. “This is not a sales event. It’s a genuine thank-you to the 650,000 who have purchased Saturns.”
For his part, Tylka, a retired Air Force colonel, isn’t going just to celebrate. Ever since he bought his Saturn--which he still says he likes better than his former Mercedes--he has repeatedly phoned and written the company to help him get more legroom. But he’s received no satisfaction. “All I’m asking for is two inches,” he said.
But Saturn is expecting more happy campers than sourpusses at its automotive extravaganza.
The festival has recently been ballyhooed in Saturn TV spots. The ads feature bewildered park rangers at uncharacteristically deserted tourist spots such as Yellowstone National Park and Mt. Rushmore, presented as tourism’s victims to the “Saturn Homecoming.”
“Saturn owners are all part of a little family,” said James Dalthorp, creative director at the San Francisco agency Hal Riney & Partners, which created the ads for Saturn. “It’s as if Saturn fills a gap that people have in their own personal lives.”
Dalthorp will be at the event--along with an agency crew--videotaping highlights. And some of what’s captured on tape may be used in future marketing efforts. There is also speculation that Saturn will piece together an infomercial from the event.
One marketing expert says Saturn’s efforts are a perfect strategy for reaching its target market.’From Day One, they’ve been trying to build brand loyalty among the one group that is least brand-loyal: baby boomers,” said Susan Mitchell, editor of the Boomer Report. “They never let their customers stop thinking of themselves as anything but Saturn owners.”
But while thousands of Saturn groupies gather in camaraderie next weekend, Saturn owner Michael Rushlow is content to remain at home in Santa Monica.
“I love my car,” said Rushlow, a graphic artist who rates his Saturn a 10. But Rushlow is no fan of country music. And he’s not about to spend his summer vacation on a trek to Spring Hill. Besides, he said, “I don’t even know anyone else who owns a Saturn.”
Briefly . . .
The Los Angeles office of BBDO Worldwide has been fired from the estimated $10-million Blue Cross of California account. The Woodland Hills-based company said it is seeking a new agency. . . . The Los Angeles agency Mendelsohn/Zien has picked up the $2-million account for Long Beach-based Acapulco Restaurants. . . . Los Angeles-based Italia/Gal Advertising has picked up an advertising assignment for the Century 21 Commercial Investment Division. . . . Those “Get Fat” billboards all over town are promoting a new slogan for the Fatburger chain created by the Los Angeles agency Schroffel & Associates.
