Subaru Advertising Over the Years

2010
 

1/25- 2/14/2010. Subaru True Love Event.  a campaign designed to run late January through Valentine's Day 2010. Includes mirror hangers, door signs and banners, newspaper ad templates, radio spots etc. Dealers can purchase and give away a box with a heart shaped chocolate, and a flip open lid where you can put a business card.

1/4/2010 advertising review - what's love got to do with it?
'It is just one of a spate of campaigns focused on love, a sentiment enthralling Madison Avenue in spite of - or perhaps as an antidote to - a downturn and two wars. Love is selling cars (“Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru), LensCrafters eyeglasses (“See what you love, love what you see.”) and Payless shoes (“I [heart] shoes.”), not to mention long-running campaigns for McDonald’s (“I’m lovin’ it.”) and Olay (“Love the skin you’re in.”).
How the word for the most profound of human emotions came to be so popular for peddling consumer goods has less to do with linguistics than psychology.
“There are left-brain and right-brain approaches to advertising,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of the Kaplan Thaler Group, part of the Publicis Groupe. “For a long time, there was a left-brain approach” that highlighted “rational reasons and good selling points, but in the last several years studies have shown that emotional attachments really are a crucial factor in purchasing decisions.”...
'... In an ad for Subaru — by Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, part of the Interpublic Group — a man drives his Forrester for two days to “Subaru Heaven,” a junkyard where Subarus are left for parts.
“You don’t just let some wrecker haul off your 300,000-mile Forrester to who knows where,” says the driver. “You give that car a chance to live on — one part at a time.”
The commercial is based on a letter sent by a customer, said Kevin Mayer, director of marketing communication at Subaru, which introduced the “It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru” campaign in 2007.
“We think of our customers as experience seekers, and the response they fed back to us over and over is the love they had for the brand and how the product enables their lifestyles,” Mr. Mayer said, adding that many Subaru owners are skiers or kayakers traveling unpredictable roads, and they choose four-wheel-drive vehicles...' the full article

2009
11/21/200 -1/4/2010 Share the Love v2 This past January (2009) at the end of the Share The Love Event v.1, Subaru donated $1,000,000 each to ASPCA, Meals On Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, National Wildlife Federation, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and again there will be a Share the Love Event for 2009. From November 21, 2009 - January 4, 2010 Subaru will donate $250 for every new Subaru sold or leased to the customer's choice of  ASPCA, Meals On Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, National Wildlife Federation, or Boys & Girls Clubs of America. v. 1 was successful and lets hope v. 2 is as well.

11/6 Advertising with a difference! Subaru of Canada goes for effect and message as an Outback driver beats up on a Snuggie ad.
"The spot opens with the now-familiar Snuggie ad that took late-night airwaves by storm a year ago and led to record sales for the fleece blanket with sleeves: a shot of a woman, cozying up on her couch, whose hands are "trapped inside" a regular blanket, is then seen happily cocooned in a royal blue version of the Snuggie robe. Suddenly, a giant crowbar appears to rip the infomercial off of the TV screen. A flattened image of people in Snuggie robes crashes at the side of a mountain lake onto a beach where we see a silver Subaru Outback. A man in jeans and a henley shirt looks satisfied with the destruction he has wrought. Wordless, he turns away from the front of the screen and returns to the car, crowbar in hand, as a tag line graces the screen: "Maybe you should get out more."
...people who are watching lot of TV, [we thought] let's literally interrupt it -- let's be disruptive." For Subaru, which describes its target Outback consumer as a person with an "active lifestyle" aged 35 to 55, the Snuggie subversion is a sign the automaker is willing to take chances -- particularly noteworthy in a sea of supposedly humorous creative automotive-industry executions that are generally broad and forgettable.
While the message is tailored to the medium in most advertising campaigns, it's also rare that TV advertising participates in a metafictional exercise that appears to chide couch potatoes, or -- quel horreur! -- another brand.
..Last year, DDB drew attention for an ad featuring a group of boisterous German car engineers test driving a Subaru Impreza as they circled a driving track, singing along to the 1980s Falco hit Rock Me Amadeus. (The tag line was "Subaru, the Japanese car the Germans wish they'd made.") Along with scoring high consumer and industry ratings for its vehicles, Subaru appears to be getting results with the playful creative. Subaru Canada's sales were up 8.5% in the first nine months of the year, says Desrosiers Automotive Consultants, bucking almost all the other brands in the industry -- only Hyundai and Audi have shown more overall growth in the light-vehicle category this year.
The "savvy" Outback target consumer would likely appreciate the humour of the Snuggie mash-up, Mr. Simon said. But what's more surprising, so did the folks at Allstar Products Group LLC, who have sold more than six million Snuggies worldwide since it debuted the blanket and its memorable infomercial a year ago. "It's a smart move on [Snuggie's] part," said Scott Reid, creative director at Philter Communications Inc..."  read the article Montreal Gazette
10/28 Advertising to the gay community. 'GLAAD Honors Gay-Friendly Brands at Inaugural Media Awards in Advertising. Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation hosted its inaugural Media Awards in Advertising..
The awards show is the work of GLAAD's Advertising Media Program, launched in May to carry on the watchdog duties of the now-defunct Commercial Closet Association. In his opening remarks, GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios explained the media program's mission to "give advertisers the resources and incentives to include the [gay] community in its advertising."...
..Perhaps the most poignant moment of the evening came when Subaru CMO Tim Mahoney accepted his company's Corporate Responsibility Award. Subaru was the first national automaker to extend benefits to same-sex domestic partners. And for more than 15 years, it's been a respected example of brand building by a marketer that chose to tap a growing consumer niche despite obvious corporate hurdles and cultural taboos. "I remember thinking, I could get fired for this," Mr. Mahoney said of his decision to present gay-specific research findings to Subaru's execs back in the early '90s. The most common soundbite from focus groups at the time was, "All my friends who have Subarus are lesbians."
Subaru's embrace of the gay community in the '90s coincided with its decision to equip its vehicles with all-wheel drive. The brand's definitive slogan from the decade -- "It's not a choice. It's the way we're built" -- clearly spoke to more than transmission.
Mr. Mahoney also credited the brand's success in a recession -- Subaru sales are up 10% in 2009, he said -- to its share of LGBT buyers.
Lisa Sherman, general manager of Logo, presented Subaru with its award. Her advice for marketers debating whether to build gay-targeted advertising into their budgets was the evening's most memorable: "Not only is it good business, but it's the right thing to do." the article
10/4 Advertising Subaru is promoting both the Legacy sedan and the idea of one's personal legacy through a 6 month ad campaign with Logo. 'The effort focuses on prominent gay and lesbian entertainers and leaders and what "legacy" means to them.  Videos feature film director Angela Robinson, "Top Chef" contestant Jamie Lauren, comedienne Sandra Valls, model and actress Jenny Shimizu, actor Cheyenne Jackson, writer/producer/actor/director Patrik-Ian Polk and actor Bryan Batt. The videos will be featured on LogoOnline.com and several other Logo Web sites, like AfterEllen.com, AfterElton.com and Downelink.com. AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com will launch a series of posts tracing the legacy of lesbians and gays in pop culture, and Downelink.com will launch a contest urging its members to submit a video expressing what each of their legacies will be...' the article
9/30/09 Subaru sent hey sent out an Outback detergent postcard offering free soap, and a funny video. Stop by your local dealer for a sample while supplies last.... and be sure to check out the video
9/9/09  Subaru Outback detergent - ad campaign placard, skunk hand puppet and a stain remover stick. With the new Outback so back-road capable, this detergent gets out the stains only the new Outback puts in... (see image below). They sent out a postcard offering free soap, and a funny video. Stop by your local dealer for a sample while supplies last.... and be sure to check out the video

Winter 2009 'Go Love Spring Event' through 3/3/09 - 4/1/09 with increased rebates and lower interest rates on Legacy and Outback. See images below
6/27/09  SoA better off because of its niche status. "We shouldn't have the ups and downs like everyone else,"  (SoA chief) Doll said. "We kind of bat out singles."
Subaru's niche is smallish, rugged crossover vehicles for outdoorsy people of comfortable means. Even its sedans come with standard all-wheel drive. About 21 percent of buyers pay cash. The company sold 187,699 cars in 2008, and it now holds a 1.9 percent market share, its record high...
As an import brand, Subaru was battered by a weak U.S. dollar in the '80s. Prices for its cars skyrocketed, and sales collapsed. On corporate performance charts, the period from 1987 to 1994 is labeled "Valley of Despair."
Subaru climbed out with the introduction of its hit Outback wagon, memorably promoted by Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan...
The company's strategy as it waits out the downturn is to lay down a groundwork of strong fundamentals, including extra-attentive customer service. "Customers have long memories," he said, "particularly when times are tight."   the article
6/26/09 advertising, is Subaru's Love Your Car ad campaign silly and effective or demeaning and effective, and if it's effective does it matter?   Subaru '...has an entire campaign devoted to the theme of "love" as the prevailing emotion evoked by its products. There's even an ad on YouTube.com called "Love Letters," in which real Subaru owners read personal letters about their attachments to their cars...
...what bugs me is our cultural fixation on feelings as the basis for every sort of decision, from which car we park in our garages to which candidate we elect to public office.
As a society, we're much less interested in what something does than in how it makes us feel. This is why a Subaru is all about "love" while a campaign for the Cadillac CTS featured Kate Walsh pondering the question, "When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?" Um ... yuck.
If Thomas Paine made the 18th century famous as the "Age of Reason," American marketers and media must certainly be responsible for our current "Age of Emotion." ..
I'd like to think Subaru buyers are more emotionally mature than their car company believes them to be. When they say, "I love my Subaru," I'd like to think it's shorthand for "it's reliable ... it's safe ... runs great ... gets good gas mileage."
By hijacking "love," Subaru has reduced its buyers to a trite and emotionally immature lot, and quite honestly, they haven't done much to uplift the idea of love, either. Ah, but in the "Age of Emotion," love is everything. Reason, not so much...' read more from MaryBeth Hicks at the Wa. Times
6/6/09 More on Oscar winner Robert De Nero's Subaru Legacy advertisement
'As the boxer Jake La Motta, he roared the word “Why?” almost 40 times, his bare fists pounding cruel desolation on to the stone walls of Dade County Stockade.
Nearly 30 years and two Oscars later, Robert De Niro looks a little different in his latest performance. He jaunts out of his house, nods archly into the rearview mirror, and takes off in a Subaru Legacy. Speeding through unidentifiable Arcady, he passes a sheep. He nearly grins. The words “Love Your Life” fill the screen...
Fade to nausea.
The 30-second advert is a horror that can mean only one thing in these dark economic times: arguably the finest actor in Hollywood has become a star hawking a reasonably priced Japanese family car.
In honour of their hard-won thespian megastar, the manufacturers of Subaru, Fuji Heavy Industries, have not skimped on production values. Compared with Harrison Ford’s pub-based touting of Kirin lager and Nicholas Cage’s sedentary, crimson-suited pitch for pinball machines, De Niro’s spot is high art. The director of photography is Bob Richardson, a two-time Oscar-winner, and the background music is by the Scottish rock band Travis.
Fuji Heavy keep the numbers vague, but it is thought that the star of Goodfellas and Cape Fear was paid about $1.2 million (£750,000) for approximately ten seconds of on-screen appearance.
De Niro’s decision to take the Tokyo shilling, say Japanese advertising industry analysts, is surprising on several levels — not least because De Niro has been in hot demand from Japan for many years but has previously resisted. Many other Hollywood stars before him have given in to the temptation of easy Japanese money: Brad Pitt, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster and Sir Sean Connery feature prominently on the list, but more than 100 other stars of music and screen have trodden the same embarrassing path...' the article

2008

Dec. 17, 2008 Automotive Marketer of the Year (updated 1/3/09, see below) Subaru of America has been named Automotive Marketer of the Year by Mediapost.com, media, marketing and advertising website for news, social networking and research.
'Recognizing Subaru's thoughtful and disciplined approach to its marketing in 2008, Mediapost.com singled out the "Love. It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru" work and the launch of the all-new Subaru Forester, along with the charity-based "Share the Love" campaign that is running currently, as ways the company has managed to maintain sales in a down market. Mediapost also noted Subaru of America's behind-the-scenes work in developing its marketing efforts, such as the introduction of a new Integrated Lead Management system (ILM) and a full-scale Web Redesign to better serve Subaru Dealers with strong lead generation and handling.
Karl Greenberg, editor at Mediapost.com said, "Subaru is an anomaly in the auto business for a couple of reasons. First, Subaru has the kind of brand equity and staunch loyalty you usually find in luxury marques, which means they can keep their message on product and brand, not deals. Also, they have turned a factor that could have limited sales to snow states - standard all-wheel drive - into a performance attribute that helps create a connection between all the vehicles, from crossovers like Forester to younger-skewing performance cars like the Impreza WRX STI (which is hot in sun-belt states like California). Adds Greenberg, "The work that the company has done this year to bring the brand to new consumers by highlighting the passion of its existing buyers has been very effective."
"Our strategy in 2008 was to raise our standards for connecting with consumers at an emotional level by providing more discipline to our Brand communications architecture while overhauling our media and digital strategies to improve our targeting capabilities," said Kevin Mayer, director of marketing for Subaru. "We wanted to make sure we created a compelling message that would reach the right customers at the right point of media consumption for them."
In a difficult year for carmakers, Subaru is the only full-line brand whose year-to-date sales are ahead of the same time in 2007 - and the brand is also recording its highest U.S. market share ever. The launch of the all-new Subaru Forester, recently voted Motor Trend's 2009 Sport/Utility of the Year, was key to the brand's marketing in 2008, as well as reinforcement of Subaru's key strengths to consumers.
"At a time when the industry is in difficulty, we wanted to make sure that we kept a disciplined and steady hand on our brand," said Tim Mahoney, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "An important aspect of our strategy has been to acknowledge that purchasing a vehicle is an emotional, rational and economic decision. Subaru offers distinct competitive advantages in each of these areas and we have been able to communicate our strengths of reliability, capability, value and a rewarding ownership experience in a way that has allowed us to grow our share in a challenging market." ' the article at Mediapost

1/3/09 update 'Dreadful. This may be the first "Marketer of the Year" story ever written that begins with that word. But this is the first year in maybe forever (or at least since Warren G. Harding was president) that has been, for marketers, dreadful. Especially auto marketers. Yet a few bucked the trend. Subaru was one. That is quite an accomplishment for a mid-market brand with a limited vehicle portfolio and marketing clout.
Considering its budget, which is less than some automakers spend on a single vehicle launch, it's surprising that Subaru was able to stay afloat at all--and do it without offering huge discounts.
Actually, the Cherry Hill, N.J. company has always been something of an anomaly in the U.S. car business: standard features like all-wheel-drive and an airplane-style boxer engine make for great rally racers, but tend to focus sales in the snow states.
But the brand, perhaps better known as the wagon of choice for the progressive set, is also in the unusual position of being a non-luxury brand that appeals to those who can afford a Mercedes or BMW.
And this year, the company has also increased sales. Granted, 1% for the year through November would not be striking in, say, 2002--but this year it is. The company did not see the kind of massive losses that others experienced.
With automotive industry sales down 35% in November, Subaru's minus-8% performance looks damned good--something like a positive 27%. The company also exited November with 1.9% share of the U.S. market--almost an all-time record, according to Kevin Mayer, director of marketing: "So we are nipping at VW and Mazda."
And the company's most recent launch--the 2009 Forester, which won Motor Trend's "SUV of the Year"--saw a 64% increase in sales, a record for November. So far this year, Forester sales are up 34%.
In addition, sales of the company's Subaru Impreza gained 4% in November and are up 10% so far this year. Sales of the Subaru Legacy sedan are up 9% through the year, although sales of the car were off 15% in November. The company says Impreza, Forester and Legacy are all heading for best-ever annual sales.
Tim Mahoney, who left Subaru in the 1990s to be general manager at Porsche, then returned as senior vice president and chief marketing officer in 2006, says the brand's stable performance this year reflects changes the company has implemented over the past three years. "We are now seeing dividends from building the right team," he says. "When I came back we had no director of corporate communications--or of advertising and marketing communications--so we made structural changes and rebuilt, just like rebuilding a sports team."
Mahoney also brought over from Porsche the practice of holding universal agency briefings. "Often, companies brief individually, so everyone gets a slightly different story, like the party game where you whisper a secret from one person to another and by the time it gets around the circle the secret is completely different." The universal agency briefing, he explains, allows the company to share priorities and its comparatively limited marketing resources.
Mahoney also switched Subaru's creative and media account to Minneapolis-based agency Carmichael Lynch, which had been Porsche's agency until the Atlanta luxury marque shifted creative and media to Chicago-based Cramer-Krasselt.
In 2006 came a new brand umbrella campaign, "It's What Makes a Subaru, a Subaru," that focused first on product attributes and then on the brand's core values around active driving, engineering excellence, environmentalism and safety.
"One of the most interesting things is that the brand is as much about customers as it is about products," says Kevin Mayer, Subaru's director of marketing. The company started a new market-message strategy called "beaconing" that illustrates the brand's values by talking about owners. "We went back to the customer and started thinking again about their values and how our values are like theirs. We dialed in our strategies back to core."
Mayer says Subaru owners are experience-seekers--"the types who collect experiences rather than things; they tend to be very environmentally aware and socially involved."
Subaru's approach is reflected in a current spot for Forester running through year's end that tells a story of four brothers who go every year to the easternmost point of Maine to watch the sun come up. "It comes from a really honest place about who they are," says Mayer.
The company launched the 2009 Forester in late April with a "Love Letters Viral Video" campaign and followed up with TV spots for Forester, Impreza and Outback at national, regional, and dealer levels (or, per Subaru nomenclature, "heart, brain and wallet").
And while the temptation surely was to go with the flow last fall and do deal ads, the company used its beaconing strategy to offer another kind of incentive. The "Share the Love" campaign allowed customers to select one of five charities to receive a $250 donation from the company following the purchase or lease of a new vehicle.
Subaru has also quadrupled online ad spend, and is engaged in both a new dealer Web site system and a full-scale brand Web redesign that will make the site contextual--meaning that visitors will be served content based on where they have been, what they have looked at, and what their interests are.' mediapost article
 

Sept 24, 2008 'As the auto industry sputters through its worst sales year since 1993, Subaru of America is clipping along, and it's doing so without an ad message touting price, performance or gas mileage. Despite offering the lowest incentives in the industry, the niche brand reported the industry's biggest percentage jump in U.S. new-vehicle sales -- 129,298 units through August, according to Automotive News, some 5.8% better than a year ago. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that most of the Subaru's loyal owners typically drive their vehicles up to 150,000 miles, meaning they aren't coming back to the market very often. So where are the new sales coming from? Referrals and word-of-mouth, said Tim Mahoney, senior VP-chief marketing officer at the automaker, who said Subaru owners love their vehicles and that leads to advocacy. Still, the company wasn't spreading the love far beyond that circle, which led the company to try its current advertising approach.
Mr. Mahoney said his team and the brand's ad agency, Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, did research last fall to learn why more people did not buy Subaru. He expected all-wheel-drive, which is offered standard on all Subarus, would be the main barrier to purchase, believing drivers in warm-weather states would figure they didn't need that system. But the research found a quarter of consumers simply didn't know much about the brand.
So Subaru started educating consumers with its umbrella ad theme, titled "Love," in the spring for the launch of the redone Forester SUV. Mr. Mahoney said emotions play a big role in the car-buying process and he criticized the many industry players that are hammering away at more rational reasons, such as price, fuel economy and performance in their communications. He said consumers' favorable opinion of Subaru has jumped by roughly 25 points since last year. "It's not a matter of money for us," Mr. Mahoney said. Subaru spent $74 million in measured media in the first half of 2008 compared with $55 million the same period a year ago, according to TNS Media Intelligence. But Mr. Mahoney said his ad budget this year is flat, although he has moved more to national TV and cut the number of markets for spot TV by roughly two-thirds from two years ago. Subaru also isn't gaining much additional volume from fleet sales, as only 5% to 6% of its total comes from rental outfits, businesses and government fleets, he said.
A lot of the credit can go to Subaru's 2009 Forester, which "has been a smash. They can't build enough of them," said Wes Brown, VP of consultancy Iceology.
The model's bigger size and more SUV-like styling are bringing in more male buyers, he said. Mr. Mahoney said the prior Forester model attracted more females and empty-nesters, but now buyers are better balanced between the genders and are a bit younger. The model is also winning over buyers from Honda's Cr-V, Toyota's RAV4 and Ford Escape, he said. But it's not just the Forester that's powering Subaru. Mr. Brown said in each of the past two months half of buyers are new to the brand -- a good thing considering its owners hold on to the cars so long. "They are broadening their buyer base," noted Mr. Brown. Subaru's Impreza WRX performance car has given the brand some street cred and brought in first-time buyers.
The marque's U.S. market share was the highest ever in August, at 1.5%, even though Subaru had one of the lowest* average incentives in the industry last month, at $752 per vehicle, said Jesse Toprak, exec director-industry analysis for auto-information site Edmunds.com. "That means your product is strong and selling itself."
Mr. Toprak said Subaru sales are getting a boost from Americans who are downsizing from big SUVs to smaller, more fuel-efficient models. And buyer consideration for Subaru has jumped in each of the past three months, based on consumers looking at the automaker's pages on Edmunds -- one of the few brands that has seen increases.
Subaru buyers tend to be sensible and practical, said Mr. Mahoney, and "that's the right place to be, especially now."  from adage

April, 25, 2008 new ad campaign. Subaru marketed as an alternative to the mainstream?  A new ad "Love. It’s What Makes a Subaru a Subaru" is to be shown to dealers at their national meeting this week.  'SoA announced a new ad based on the strong emotional bond Subaru owners have with their vehicles. While most consumers have heard of Subaru and believe it to be a good product, 60% have no strong emotional opinion or attachment to the brand. Subaru owners are known for their outspoken passion and love for the brand...
The campaign squarely places the car and the consumer at the center of the advertising. John Colasanti, CEO of Carmichael Lynch (hired last October to replace DDB) said, “Subaru owners are ‘experience seekers’ - they want to live bigger, more engaged lives. They choose Subaru as a conscious alternative to the mainstream. To them, the car is the enabler of that bigger life.”
By focusing on the love they have for their car, Subaru is challenging non-owners: do you love your car?
“Love is the most powerful emotion and “I love my Subaru”is the most used phraseI hear about our brand,” says Tim Mahoney of SoA. “We wanted to show the bond between Subaru owners and their cars through this work.”  Mahoney and Carmichael Lynch worked together when Mahoney was at Porsche. Estimated ad budget $200m.

January 3, 2008 Subaru continues to sponsor PBS's Antique Roadshow for a 2nd year. Filmed summer 2007 in Baltimore, Orlando, San Antonio, Louisville, Spokane and Las Vegas. Subaru brought its own antique to the show, a 1968 Subaru 360, and an all-new 2008 Subaru Tribeca. The shows will start airing January 7, 2008 on PBS stations. Each broadcast will have a 15-second beginning and ending ad featuring the Subaru Tribeca and announcing Subaru as a sponsor. Each broadcast is typically re-broadcast a number of times during the week.

2007

October 16, 2007 Subaru Moves Its Ad Accounts, By STUART ELLIOTT, NYTimes, Published October 16, 2007
Subaru of America dismissed its creative and media agencies unexpectedly today and is moving its account, with spending each year estimated at $150 million, to Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
The agencies losing their Subaru assignments, effective when contracts expire in six months, are both owned by the Omnicom Group. The creative agency is DDB Worldwide in New York and the media agency, also in New York, is Prometheus. Both were hired by Subaru in October 2004.
The surprising shifts are being made without a review. Executives at DDB were told of Subaru’s decision to dismiss them over a lunch meeting today at the agency, which had been scheduled previously to discuss creative plans. Because it was a creative meeting, Prometheus executives were not present; they learned of the Subaru decision later.
The reason behind the dismissals is a desire by Timothy J. Mahoney, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Subaru of America, to work again with Carmichael Lynch.
When Mr. Mahoney was general marketing manager at Porsche Cars North America, Carmichael Lynch was his agency; he left Porsche last year to return to Subaru, where he had previously worked from 1984 into the 1990s. Michael McHale, a spokesman for Subaru of America in Cherry Hill, N.J., confirmed a report of the switch that appeared today on the Advertising Age Web site.
Mr. Mahoney “just feels that Carmichael Lynch is a perfect fit for Subaru,” Mr. McHale said, and the chance to work with the agency again is “an opportunity not to miss.”
The opportunity arose because a year after Mr. Mahoney left Porsche, the company placed its account in review after working with Carmichael Lynch since 1999. The review, which began in May, ended in September with a decision to replace Carmichael Lynch with Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago. Subaru of America is owned by Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan. Porsche Cars North America is part of the German automaker Porsche.
Pat Sloan, a spokeswoman for DDB, said, “We’re proud of the work we do for Subaru, surprised this happened and sorry the relationship will end.”
Some eyebrows rose on Madison Avenue in July when Subaru introduced a general-market campaign for the 2008 Impreza WRX that was created not by DDB but by Moon City Productions in New York. Moon City is an agency that typically creates Subaru ads aimed at gay and lesbian consumers; it was the first time that a Moon City campaign for Subaru was aimed at all consumers.
“We want everyone to play in their own sandbox,” Mr. Mahoney said in an interview in July, referring to the usual lines of demarcation among the Subaru agencies, “but if there’s an opportunity to have a better idea, so be it.”

July 14 'SUBARU IS CREATING A MULTI-TIERED, three-part campaign for its Impreza lineup of cars that comprises a three-episode manga-style adventure called "Rebirth of the Legend" and a sponsorship and advertising commitment to X Games 13, in August--both supporting the Impreza WRX--and a more mainstream late-summer campaign for the tamer Impreza 2.5i. Kevin Mayer, director of advertising for Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Subaru, says the three efforts are intended to target--respectively--a "manchild" (Subaru's term) demographic of 20-something import-car buffs, a more broadly defined demo of extreme-sports and active-lifestyle enthusiasts, and a general market audience of men and women.
What all three efforts have in common, per Mayer, is a message about all-wheel-drive (which all Subarus have), engineering and action. The second episode of the "Return of the Legend" video series, which will be hosted within subaru.com, has an animated WRX romping through a jungle. The central character "tames" it with the keys to the car that he happens to have, although he isn't sure just how he got them.
Mayer says the point is to celebrate the Japanese heritage of the WRX, and, by extension, of all things Subaru. "It's an iconic vehicle, redesigned really for the first time, so this gives us an opportunity to bring it to life."
The "Rebirth of a Legend" viral and broadcast video is aimed squarely at the tuner crowd--an ethnically diverse, bi-coastal demo, says Mayer, which is into modifying import cars and/or attending events like the nationwide "Hot Import Nights." They are a cross between nightclub and auto show, where tuners display their souped-up and modified compacts in an environment suffused with music, merchandise and gear. .. the article

May 23, SUBARU IS LAUNCHING A CORPORATE campaign to promote its lineup and attempt to bolster brand awareness. The "It's What Makes a Subaru a Subaru" campaign, the first iteration of which launched early last year, will use television, radio and print to tout its core values.  The campaign trumpets third-party endorsements for Subaru's engineering and also touts Subaru's powertrain features--particularly the so-called boxer engine and standard all-wheel-drive, which have made the brand fairly unique since its inception in the U.S. market.  There will also be an environmental thrust, with ads touting the U.S. Subaru plant's Earth-friendly footprint and low-emissions vehicles.  from mediapost.com

May 21, 2007 press release: 'With a range of new products hitting dealer showrooms this summer, Subaru is embarking on the next phase of the "It's What Makes a Subaru, a Subaru" campaign. The campaign, which started in early 2006, first focused on product attributes and now seeks to define the core values of the Subaru brand and business in television, radio and print ads breaking this month.
"We have such a strong story at Subaru and our research tells us that increasingly, consumers care about the values of the company in addition to the products they buy," said Tim Mahoney, senior vice president, chief marketing officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "We are using our key strengths of durability, performance and responsibility to tell this next part of the story."
 The brand awareness ads feature the Subaru core values of:
Active Driving - offered through the unique combination of standard Subaru All-Wheel Drive and a boxer engine that together delivers unrivalled performance.
Engineering Excellence - Subaru is recognized time and again by industry leading, third-party organizations for its world class safety, reliability, and durability.
Environmental Responsibility - The Subaru plant in the heartland of America produces zero landfill, while its backyard was designated a wildlife habitat. Subaru also offers PZEV vehicles that are U.S. EPA Certified SmartWay(TM) and are recommended in its Green Vehicle Guide.
"These ads are designed to speak to opinion leaders," said Kevin Mayer, director of marketing communications, Subaru of America, Inc. "They provide a clear statement of Subaru values and let people know more about what is behind the brand. The ads also form part of the foundation for the upcoming product launches."
The print ads will run in such publications as Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, and BusinessWeek, among others. The broadcast spots will run on both national and cable programming including NPR, Science Channel, Discovery, CNN, Headline News, CNBC, MSNBC and more.'

April 16, 2007 Subaru's Got 'Safe' Locked Up, but It Wants 'Fun,' Too. Full-Wheel-Drive Brand Broadens Message With 'Active Driving' Theme
By Jean Halliday Published: April 16, 2007 Subaru doesn't want to simply play it safe.
The Fuji Heavy Industries brand traditionally has stood for a safe, all-wheel-drive vehicle. But the automaker is trying to augment that message with the theme of "active driving" to broaden what Senior VP-Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer Tim Mahoney calls a new brand architecture that encompasses fun, freedom, adventure and confidence. It's about time the brand took a good look at itself. In the seven years since Mr. Mahoney left Subaru of America, it has had five advertising taglines and three marketing VPs. "I'm here to stabilize things," said Mr. Mahoney, who rejoined the automaker from Porsche last summer.  more

Jan 26, 2007 Subaru sponsors Hollywood's SAG awards. "Turner Entertainment is partnering with Subaru and several other high-profile marketing partners around this year’s 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® being simulcast live nationally from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center by TNT and TBS Sunday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. ET. Subaru has taken a unique position as the sole sponsor across both the TNT and TBS live telecasts.  Tune in early as Subaru is also sponsoring Live from the Red Carpet on E! beginning at 5pm ET.  New commercials for Legacy GT and Impreza 2.5i will be featured throughout both programs."
 

Jan 26, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO — On Wheels, one of the nation’s leading minority automobile publications, awarded Subaru its Asian-American Diversity Advertisement Print Ad Award for the second consecutive time this month in Detroit. The winning ad, entitled "Wind, Fire, Wheel," beat out a number of other automotive makers by best communicating the Asian American love for speed and adventure.
Selected by both an in-house committee and a nationwide online consumer poll, the award was a sign of the emerging strength of the Asian American buyer when it comes to automobiles. It is estimated that in the large urban markets of the United States, one out of 10 new automobiles sold is bought by an Asian American.
"Subaru is a very unique automaker," said Jeff Yip, editor of Asians on Wheels, a subsidiary of On Wheels, which includes other publications such as African Americans on Wheels and Latinos on Wheels, "they have consistently gone where others have not. They know that the Asian American market is becoming a very powerful force in our industry. But more importantly, I think they have researched what our community wants. The car in the winning ad is a high performance car, it’s fast and handles well. I think the award basically verifies Subaru’s awareness with respect to our community.  more

Jan 25, 2007  Subaru sponsors Antique Roadshow! "Subaru has signed on to become a national sponsor of the PBS series Antiques Roadshow for the show’s 2007 season. This is the 11th season for Antiques Roadshow, PBS’ most watched series.  "Antiques Roadshow is part treasure hunt, part history lesson and part travel adventure - a mix that resonates well with the Subaru customer,” said Tim Mahoney, Senior VP and CMO. “As a niche marketer of 100 percent all-wheel drive vehicles, Subaru has to stand out from the crowd. We believe our sponsorship with PBS helps us do that."As a sponsor, Subaru will receive two 15-second on-air spots for each Antiques Roadshow broadcast along with extensive off-air benefits that include creative participation in live Antiques Roadshow events (attended by over 30,000 people each summer), vehicle display opportunities, added visibility through video-on-demand episodes, Web site exposure and more."
 

2006
May 26.  Tim Mahoney is rejoining Subaru of America in the new position of senior VP-marketing and chief marketing officer beginning June 26.  Mr. Mahoney has spent the last 7 years as general marketing manager of Porsche Cars North America. He originally joined Subaru in 1984 and was part of the team that roused Subaru in the mid-1990s by focusing on the brand's all-wheel-drive capabilities with ads (from agency Temerlin McClain, Dallas) that featured Australian actor Paul Hogan.  from advertising age

Feb 2006  Subaru signs singer Sheryl Crow's song "Every day is a winding road" on ads showing all wheel drive works on that winding road. It's an odd Subaru thing because Sheryl's ex is Subaru's previous spokesman, bike rider Lance Armstrong!  Anyway, the new campaign will focus on safety similar to Volvo. The 'Think. Feel. Drive' line used over the past year will still be used.
Joe Cronin, former worldwide account director on Toyota at Saatchi & Saatchi, succeed Jack Wheaton as group account director on Subaru at DDB.

Jan 2006  'It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru' campaign starts
 

2005 'Think Feel Drive' campaign started with new ad agency DDB.

October, 2005. Subaru plans an ad campaign on MTV's new TV channel, LOGO on October 11 with a group of short ads, along with magazine ads. LOGO is focused on the gay and lesbian community.

September 05
http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=34629

Week of July 11, 2005 TV advertising to start for the new B9 Tribeca with the rock song 'Dust In The Wind' (by Kansas) playing as a Tribeca drives by and other SUVs turn to dust as a voice says 'the end of the SUV as we know it and the beginning of what an SUV should be'.
The Tribeca has been available on car lots since mid June.

March 21, 2005. SoA announced a new ad campaign for the Legacy and Outback. The ads are a first step in an integrated marketing campaign from new ad agency DDB New York. “We are excited to bring the Subaru global brand philosophy ‘Think. Feel. Drive.’ to our US marketing and advertising strategy,” said Rick Crosson,  marketing VP.  “These first spots take customers back to the roots of Subaru by reflecting on our heritage, core technology, as well as the emotional connection our customers have with their vehicles.  We think this campaign will continue to broaden the Subaru brand’s appeal with fresh creative that signals a return to the clever sense of humor Subaru is known for.” “Think” focuses on differentiating the brand from the perspective of what drivers and passengers need in technology, style, value and service.  “Feel” is about sensitivity to the ride and the environment. It is about the emotional connection that begins with engineers and designers and extends from car to driver. “Drive” is a focus on both the Subaru driving experience and the dedication to quality inside and out.

2003 'Subaru. Driven By What's Inside'. February 3, 2003, Lance Armstrong signed with Subaru (for $12m?). He has had a relationship with Subaru since the early 1990s on a Subaru sponsored bike team. Armstrong ads run through 2004. "Lance Armstrong is a perfect fit. He's a rugged individualist. He's authentic and passionate about what he believes. He's engineered like no other to perform like no other" Fred Adcock, Subaru exec VP. Ads using Lance run through early 2005.
2002 'When You Get It, You Get It' (June 2002) ad campaign.
"Subaru is a company that has always marched to the beat of a different drummer. Our owners are the same way -- smart people who think for themselves and go their own way. We wanted to capture those shared values and emotional connections in the new advertising." Mark Darling, VP marketing, SoA.  This campaign, which doesn't use Paul Hogan, features the strengths of  all-wheel drive and uses “The Beauty of Subaru All-Wheel Drive" slogan. "Subaru has made tremendous strides in recent years in both the quality and diversity of their product line. It was time to make a dramatic new statement about the image of the Subaru brand," said Dennis McClain, Chief Executive Officer, Temerlin McClain. "In all our consumer research, we learned that this new campaign creates a sense of exclusivity about owning a Subaru -- without being pretentious or exclusionary. The work is an invitation to like-minded people to join the club."
2001 'What Are You Made Of' campaign with Martina Navratilova, snowboarder Victoria Jealouse and biker Tara Llanes.
2000 Martina signs with Subaru. "What Do I Know' ad campaign with Wimbledon tennis champ Martina Navratilova, Olympic skiier Diann Roffe-Steinrotter and golfers Julie Inkster and Meg Mallon.
1996-2000 Paul Hogan stars in a very sucessful series of ads memorable for humorous chase scenes with the Outback in all sorts of Austrialian Outback rugged road conditions.
1995 'The Beauty of All-Wheel-Drive'. Paul Hogan becomes Subaru's spokeman. Subaru.com goes live
1992 'Subaru. What  to Drive'
1989 'We built our reputation by building better cars'
1975 'Inexpensive and built to stay that way'. US Ski team makes Subaru 4wd wagon their official car
1970 'The Subaru is not a Japanese Beetle'
1968  'Cheap and ugly does it'
 

Ad companies Help wanted with this section- specific history and tips welcomed.
1970-Green Dolmatch
1973-1975 Spiro and assoc
1975 G. Lois
1975-1991 Levine Huntley Schmidt Beaver
1991-1993 Wieden-Kennedy
1995-2005 Temerlin McClain
March 2005-Ocot 06  DDB
October 16, 2007 Subaru of America is moving its account, with spending each year estimated at $150 million, to Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Do you have an image that you think should be here?

from the mid-1970s

1975 brochure, © SoA

Subaru Official car of the US ski team advertisment 1980 ©SoA	Subaru introduces the Hillholder clutch, 1980. ©SoA Inexpensive. And built to stay that way'	1984 Subaru 4x4 ad, ll model 1984 Inexpensive. And built to stay that way' ©SoA
1995 ad promoting crumple zones, airbags, all wheel drive. The Beauty of All-Wheel-Drive ©SoA	Subaru's 1st sports car was the 1985 Inexpensive. And built to stay that way ©SoA

Martina Navratilova Subaru Forester ads started May 2001 2000-2002 © SoA, Martina Navratilova

Lance Armstrong Subaru ad from 2003,  Driven By What's Inside © SoA, Lance Armstrong, LAFoundation

2006 Outback XT	2006 B9 Tribeca	2006 Forester XT
2006 STI	'After years of conquering the outdoors, we've conquered the indoors'. 2008 Tribeca ad
09 Forester ad using the new line 'Love. it's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.' May 2008	2008 STI ad, April - May 2008	2008 Outback ad 'Why Buy Middle Of Road When You Can Buy Middle of Nowhere'
2008 Impreza 'Like Stilettos You Can Run In'	'Lot to Love' sale event, Labor Day weekend 2008 playing cards
2009 Forester Motor Trend SUV of the year ad,  November 2008	2009 Subaru Outback snow adv, fall 2008- winter 2009	2009 WRX- Buy Stock in Rubber, Winter-Spring 2009
Winter 2009 'Go Love Spring Event', ends 4/1/09, with increased rebates, lower interest rates on select models		2010 Legacy
Sept-Oct  2009. Very cute Subaru Outback detergent ad campaign placard,  with skunk hand puppet and a  stain remover stick. With the new Outback so back-road capable, the ad campaign was that this detergent gets out the stains only the new Outback puts in... dealers given a supply of small bottles of detergent to hand out. A silly campaign that made people smile.	Subaru Outback detergent magazine ad 10/09	10 Outback magazine ad, Sept 09
2010 Subaru Outback Motor Trend SUV of the Year magazine ad, late 2009	1/25- 2/14/2010. Subaru True Love Event, with dealer give-away box of chocolates