I can understand the appeal of this advertising method. We have a car. Its an iconic car. Its a car people fell in love with when they were 15 years old. Let’s play on that lineage and unquenched desires of youth by reminding them of the love they had for this car when they were a kid. We show the old car, we show the new car; the thing sells itself.
The problem is that it just never works. No one has ever seen one of these ads and craved the new car.
Maybe I’m not being fair. It sort of does work. Unquenched desires swell, purchase thoughts creep into your head. But they’re not desires for the new car; no. You just want the old car more.
When Porsche can’t even pull this off, you know it’s time to abandon this entire marketing tactic. Porsche is releasing the 911 Sport Classic, a limited edition 911 inspired by the Touring RS. They’ve pulled in some of the performance spirit and visual hallmarks of the classic: 408hp, carrera stripes, the ducktail. I’m a sucker for the ducktail, so this should really be driving me crazy. But then they go ahead and photograph it next to an original 70’s RS. Guess which one I want. Guess which one everyone wants. Does this ever work on anyone?
Bonus: Here, fold your own Carrera RS.
0 replies on “This Never Works”
BMW reportedly tried this with the Z8 and 507, ultimately deciding the 507 made the Z8 look so bad they never used the shoot.
Definitely not working for me. I also find it amusing that the early 911 is not to scale in the above image. Every time I see a new 911 in person my first thought is, ‘damn that car is huge!’
I would be waaay more turned on if they pulled a maneuver like Nissan did a few years back refurbishing a bunch of original Z’s. Can you imagine what restored 911’s would go for coming straight from Porsche? Now that would be something to talk about!
dc
Right, dt, that BMW example is perfect.. the Z8 is stunning; But it’s no 507. This 911 Sport Classic is lovely; but it’s no Carrera RS.
Agreed, you can never really go back. Ditto the Boxster Spyder — nice Boxster, but it still looks like a Cadillac next to a real 550 Spyder or 356 Speedster.
[…] the new one next to the old one and show our lineage and the power of our history” tactic before. It. Does. Not. […]