• by Paul Gough , July 3, 2003

Last week Volkswagen announced its entry into the SUV category with a major ad campaign. Now a more traditional player in the SUV field has gone back to television to boost its flagship vehicle after a half-decade hiatus.

Land Rover North America is using a mixture of traditional and nontraditional marketing efforts to launch the 2004 Range Rover, a year after the luxury SUV was redesigned. The six-week campaign includes national cable and local spot TV, magazine and newspaper ads plus radio spots. But it also includes a traveling show that highlights the Range Rover's abilities among other luxury items like rare orchid displays and the tasting of expensive chocolate.

Andrew Polsinelli, marketing communications manager for Land Rover North America, said Range Rover's return to television is designed to position it among SUVs and luxury vehicles.

"Range Rover is the pinnacle of SUVs," Polsinelli said. The price tag and quality - about $70,000 per vehicle - makes it attractive to not only drivers looking for a high-quality SUV but for a luxury vehicle comparable to the S-Class Mercedes, a BMW or the Porsche 911. He said there's been an explosion in the SUV market . Land Rover's challenge for Range Rover is to tell customers about it when it's not on enough shopping lists, Polsinelli said.

While it is the first time in five years that Range Rover has been featured on television spots, it's not been that long for other Land Rover products. Both the Freelander and Discovery have had television spots. Polsinelli said Land Rover hadn't used television in the recent past because the company has found that the potential Range Rover customer is a pretty elusive target.

"They're not really heavy TV consumers. They watch TV in spots for information and sometimes for entertainment. It's not the most efficient media for us to find them," Polsinelli said. So the television portion of the campaign uses that yardstick in its media plan. The cable buys are national, taking advantage of the upscale consumer's desire to get information from several TV sources like CNN, CNBC, Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. Spot TV is trickier. Because Range Rover isn't available in all areas, the media plan focuses on local television on its top 15 markets. Polsinelli said its consumer isn't immune to television and they do watch it in broadcast on an appointment nature.

If the typical Range Rover consumer is elusive in television, the company knows where to find them in print. The print component of the campaign has remained steady even though television had been absent.

"We're consistent on Range Rover in print. The consumer tends to read a lot and consume a lot of print," Polsinelli said. The campaign advertises in automotive but also goes into financial magazines like Forbes and Fortune, lifestyle magazines like Architectural Digest and skiing magazines. There is some national and local spot newspaper as well.

A growing part of the campaign is outdoor, which Polsinelli said helps to tie the print and television together. It's done in Range Rover's top five markets and they've been pleased with its presence. The Internet is also growing, with the ability to see the TV spots, download a Range Rover screensaver and learn the options about vehicles.

The final part of the campaign is the sort of one-on-one marketing that automakers are leaning heavily toward these days. For Land Rover, a traveling road show called The Range Rover Experience. There have been six events throughout the country, from the sand and coastal scenes of Montauk on Long Island to the hills of Sonoma, Calif. Each have been either in high-class resort locations or private country homes, designed to show potential customers what it's like to drive the Range Rover, complete with off-road instruction provided from the company's professional drivers.

Polsinelli said that the company wants to show Range Rover in its element, among luxury items. It's as much about being a part of the luxury lifestyle than the vehicle itself. Past Range Rover Experiences have included expensive chococate tasting, rare orchid displays, instruction on the art of clay shooting, a falconry demonstration and a demonstration of outdoor grilling techniques.

"With event marketing, it's a real high touch thing, and the consumer who considers a Range Rover wants to be able to smell it, touch it and feel it, and doesn't necessarily want to be advertised to," he said.

Range Rover's new advertising campaign was designed by Y&R Co. in Irvine, Calif., where Land Rover is based, and the media planning and buying is done by Media Edge.