Subaru Case Study - The Arthur Page Society

2007 Honda sold more CR-Vs alone (219,160 units) than all Subaru’s models combined
(190,276). 97
MARKET RESEARCH REVEALS LESBIAN NICHE MARKET
By the early-1990s, Subaru had established four core consumer bases – healthcare
professionals, educators, IT professionals, and outdoor enthusiasts. Through market research
findings in 1994, Subaru discovered a fifth core base: lesbians. 98 As Tim Bennett, Subaru’s
Director of Marketing at the time stated, “Anecdotally, we found that there were women heads of
households that purchased our cars, and … in most cases they identified as lesbian.” 99 Market
research indicated that lesbian Subaru owners had a high socioeconomic status and an active
lifestyle, complimenting Subaru’s four existing consumer bases, 100 and were four times as likely
as their heterosexual counterparts to own a Subaru. 101 Subaru did not disclose how much it spent
on the proprietary research. 102
As Rick Crosson, Subaru’s VP of Marketing at the time asserted, “The gay and lesbian
community had already found us – particularly the lesbian community. They had already
selected us as a car that they used, that fit their lifestyle.” 103 But instead of sweeping the findings
under the rug, Subaru decided to target both lesbians and gay men, a move that was rare in 1995
regardless of the industry.
An unnamed Subaru spokesperson revealed in 1996 that “three years ago we were trying
to be a competitor in the mainstream and that...wasn’t working.” 104 At the time, Subaru’s sales
comprised less than 2% of all U.S. automobile sales, in an industry dominated by the Big Three
(Ford, GM, and Chrysler) who were responsible for 75% of all U.S. sales. 105 John Nash, Creative
Director of Moon City Productions, commented on the lesbian discovery: “Lesbians were
fiercely loyal customers of Subaru, and their word of mouth was like gold.” 106
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION EFFORTS
Carmichael Lynch is currently handling Subaru’s advertising, media planning, and media
buying. 107 Subaru had previously partnered with DDB Worldwide but decided to change shops
on October 17, 2007, based on CMO Mahoney’s previous success in working with Carmichael
Lynch while serving as Porsche’s VP of Marketing. For gay and lesbian-specific marketing
efforts, Subaru had used Mulryan-Nash until the shop closed in 1999; 108 as of 2000, Subaru has
employed Moon City Productions, a New York-based agency specializing in gay and lesbian
creative. 109 Although Subaru has typically used Moon City Productions to market its products to
the gay and lesbian communities, in 2007 the company used the agency for a 2008 Impreza
WRX general market campaign. 110
Most public relations efforts are handled in house, led by CMO Tim Mahoney and
Michael McHale, Director of Corporate Communications. In referencing Subaru’s relationship
with the automotive media, McHale stated in 2007 that Subaru was “well-known and liked.” 111
Subaru’s total ad spending has risen consistently over the past 17 years. Since Subaru is a
private company that does not publicly release its ad spending figures, a snapshot of ad spending
gathered from industry articles is shown in Table V:
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