It's the ultimate marketing challenge: Persuading people to buy something that they don't seem to want anymore.
These days, that something would be gas guzzlers. Sales of light trucks declined 28% in June from the same period last year, according to Autodata Corp. With dealers stuck with tens of thousands of big vehicles on their lots, the automakers' advertising agencies are under pressure to come up with a way to move them.
"Every carmaker is having the same conversation: 'How do we motivate people to buy in a climate when oil is $140 a barrel?' " said Rob Schwartz, executive creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, a Los Angeles ad agency.
Right now, automakers are taking multiple tacks and seeing whether anything works. Some want to appear to be tackling the issue head-on and are talking about fuel economy -- even when they're plugging sport utility vehicles. Others are making a play with discounts. Another strategy is to avoid mentioning the gas guzzlers altogether and focus on smaller cars instead.
If you stop fast-forwarding through TV commercials you might be surprised to see some touting the fuel economy of the new Ford Flex, the Cadillac Escalade and the Dodge Journey -- all big vehicles that make a Prius look like a mouse.
Talking about miles per gallon is essential, some automakers say. If Ford didn't mention that its seven-passenger Flex gets 24 mpg on the highway, "it wouldn't even make buyers' consideration," said Jennifer Flake, a Ford spokeswoman.
"We've transitioned to talk about fuel economy because it's what's first and foremost in consumers' minds," said Steve Rosenblum, director of marketing for GMC, which advertises its Acadia as having the best fuel economy of any eight-passenger SUV. It gets a combined city-highway 18 mpg.
Isn't that a bit like an elephant bragging that he's lighter than a hippopotamus?
"If you're the elephant, it matters," Rosenblum said. "What you want to do is get the best within the category."
That might be why Hummer ran a print ad stating that the 2008 H3 has a "lower annual fuel cost than many SUVs." It's a bit unclear which SUVs Hummer could be referring to: The H3 gets 15 mpg combined, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
A Hummer spokesman said the company used EPA data to make its claim, and that vehicles such as the Nissan Pathfinder, Audi Q7, Infiniti FX45 and Lexus LX570 have higher annual fuel costs than the H3. The claim is partly true: H3 has a lower annual fuel cost of all of those vehicles -- except some versions of the Pathfinder and the Audi. The versions with smaller engines have a lower annual fuel cost than the H3's.
