But Subaru had been looking for niche groups like skiers and kayakers-not lesbian couples. This was the type of discovery that the small, struggling automaker was looking for. Lesbians liked their dependability and size, and even the name “Subaru.” They were four times more likely than the average consumer to buy a Subaru.
This search for niche groups led Subaru to the 3rd rail of marketing: They discovered that lesbians loved their cars. Rather than compete directly with Ford, Toyota, and other carmakers that dwarfed Subaru in size, executives decided to return to its old focus on marketing Subaru cars to niche groups-like outdoorsy types who liked that Subaru cars could handle dirt roads. The new approach had fallen flat when the ad men took irony too far: One ad touted the new sports car’s top speed of 140 MPH, then asked, “How important is that, with extended urban gridlock, gas at $1.38 a gallon and highways full of patrolmen?”Īfter firing the hip ad agency, Subaru of America changed its approach. To reverse the company’s fortunes, Subaru of America had created its first luxury car-even though the small automaker was known for plain but dependable cars-and hired a trendy advertising agency to introduce it to the public.
It was the mid 1990s, and sales of Subaru cars were in decline. Subaru’s marketing strategy had just died in a fit of irony.
