ScionLife Editor

Filed under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, Scion



Marketing to younger buyers can be a funny thing. Sometimes, the more you try to sell Generation XYZPDQ on a car, the more it ensures you will sell to older buyers looking to feel young again. Scion has been toying with this concept ever since it was founded in 2002. The Toyota offshoot's latest target? The heavy metal enthusiast scene.

According to an AdWeek report, Scion thinks the heavy metal crowd has received a bad rap and is undervalued as a consumer base. To that end, Scion recently opened a gallery in Los Angeles that will feature works from U.K. artist French, among others. According to the report, Scion's vehicles will be on display as well, in case patrons want to go for a test drive after purchasing some artwork. Scion has also led an initiative to sponsor heavy metal concerts, albums and music videos. More than 1,700 artists have taken part in over 10,000 events around the country.

This news strikes us as a tad perplexing. After trying for years to appeal to the tuner and enthusiast communities, the brand finally has a home run in the FR-S, a drift-happy coupe that begs to be tuned and modified. Then again, Scion says the metal crowd is "not necessarily trying to be a trendsetter, but more of a thought leader." If targeting that demographic helps the folks at Scion sell more iQ and tC models, more power to 'em. As long as it means enthusiasts still have machinery like the aforementioned FR-S to swoon over.Scion targeting heavy metal, headbanger demographic originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



Permalink | Email this | Comments

More...

Roller_Toaster

iTrader: (1)

Play some Oh Sleeper in the commercial. Sales will SKYROCKET.

torqueTc

iTrader: (11)

<------- this guy highly doubts that dudes rocking out to deicide and cannibal corpse are going to be driving around in a scion iQ.

sciontc_mich

hmm.. so heavy metal is goth now? lol.. ya ok.. now if you build the right car, they will come (To buy it)! Who needs this kind of marketing, again if you design the right car then it'll sell without any need for marketing campaigns or advertising. look at the fr-s and brz.. it was sold out before an ad even was being shown! Sounds like scion needs a better marketing research team.

JIMXB

Someone smoking to much????? Unfortunately, Scion has been confused for many years in what direction to go after the sucessful 1st gens of all models.

Now, what's funny is the FRS is a Toyota in Japan + rebaged to Scion here in the US.

stenger

I liked it when the CD Samplers were hip-hop. More so the Beat Junkies and Dilated People sampler.

CowboyKillerz

very true. I can relate to this article but I drive a tC1. I could see metalheads driving an xB cuz they can haul gear around but def not the iQ. And the FR-S is pretty much for everyone looking for a badass car regardless of music interests.

El_Jorge

like EVERY model besides the tC. derp. that's common knowledge.

jpfxB

what? ??!!! No scion in the motherland? stop the presses

<3 a Skyon

BrokenTusk

<--- Epic metal head of awesome tastic proportions.

Just bought a 2013 tC Release Series 8.0

c500129

iTrader: (1)

scion already promotes metal shows with their music thing they have. All I know is they have Municipal Waste sometimes as part of their line up. awesome band

Metalive

I consider myself to be a metal guy but the only cars Scion makes that i DIDN'T want were the tC and the xB2. My "metal" friends joke about my Scions all the time but when ever we have to go somewhere they always say to take my car. It could work, i mean just look at Gothbox's ride. There's nothing like having some double bass blasting out some All That Remains or Carcass.

BixBie101

Not a bad idea, but I dont know if it will have any real support from Metalheads. They prefer Hot Rods from the 30's beyond much else, but maybe they'd like the customization of a Scion. I mean, if Scion can capture the kids that like Techno,EDM, and Leftfeild they can probably do the same for people who like Rock and Roll.

BixBie101

Speaking of music, the Scion A/V tour was amazing! I <3 Com Truise