• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, April 17, 2019

Mazda North American CMO Dino Bernacchi told a rapt audience this morning about a chairman who let him practically “lay in a bunker” for several months to excavate information on who the brand’s buyer is. “We talked about psychographics and said almost nothing about demographics.” 

Mazda buyers are driven, they’re discoverers with values, they’re influencers who are creative and experience-oriented. “People who have a thirst and love for life,” he said.

Bernacchi worked to put Mazda into a select group of brands who make the discussion always around the customer. Brands like Apple, Dyson, Amazon, Google, Nike and Nordstrom.

So the root of the company has become about feeling, he said, going back to its Japanese roots, “the joy of driving.” Mazda engineers to a feeling, not a spec. The company’s engineers study the human body and its responses.

Bernacchi left his audience with some advice. “Focus on what the right information is and the right idea will come.”

Mazda, he said, “wants to be the most relevant, trusted and beloved product to our fans — not just in the automotive category,” adding, “We will get to that space.”