The Range Rover Evoque is facing a massive speed bump. A few weeks ago, Land Rover decided to revive the memories of the Evoque in people’s minds through a 1990s-style advertising campaign. The Evoque was a revolutionary vehicle when it was first revealed in 2011, when Spotify wasn’t available to the US market.
After seven years featuring lots of new competitors and the increased importance of driving assistance in automotive industry, the Evoque feels like an outdated SUV that is approaching the end of its product lifecycle. However, Land Rover needs to sell the Evoque. So, they have decided to go back to the 1990s, and connect the brand with the people through a dialup modem.
The speed bump is a proper 1990’s campaign. They placed an exaggerated problem in daily life, and the product (the Evoque) is the only car that is able to overcome the problem. When we were connecting to the internet through a dialup modem, we would have found this campaign very creative and exciting.
However, we live in 2018, and the 1990’s-style campaigns don’t really work. They seem to be working, based on what we can see from the view count and the comments. Yes, the campaign is working! However, can Land Rover sell this Evoque to someone who is a car expert or someone who reads about cars all the time? Of course not!
In the short term you can see positive feedback and high view number. However, what about the long term results? Can this campaign change the decision of someone who is planning to buy the new BMW X3?
Based on my experience, any SUV on the market can easily tackle this problem. Actually, someone who has off road experience with a passenger car can also tackle it as well. When you approach the situation from the right angle, and you have the traction control, the rest is based on your experience. To be honest, a Ford Fiesta Fusion from 2004 can tackle this speed bump as well as the Evoque.
If the Evoque is so great, why didn’t Land Rover approach it directly?
Photo Credit // Land Rover