Mark McKenna, head of marketing, says the average age of Seat’s buyers is 41, and he expects the launch of the new Leon next month to bring this lower still. “It is important we retain customers to the brand through their entire buying life cycle,” he adds.
McKenna believes there are three reasons some people do not buy Seat cars: dealership location, closing price and simple dislike of the products.
“At least one of those issues we can address. We currently have 126 UK dealers but if we increase that number to 135 we will have representation in areas where there are younger buyers.
“The central areas of London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow are good examples,” he adds.
Launch of the sporty five-door hatchback on September 17 will coincide with a £2m television advertising campaign.
“Its ‘outback’ theme portrays the aggressive sporty image of Leon without promoting speed. The theme does not talk about the car at all, it creates excitement and awareness of the Leon and the Seat brand,” says McKenna.
“Marketing the Seat brand is all about aiming at customers with the undertones of the sporty message being ‘for people who do not want to lose their edge’ and ‘keeping the rebel in you alive’. It is a very difficult messages to transmit to customers without breaking the advertising industry guidelines.”
Seat spends £7m annually on marketing, the bulk of which goes on TV advertising. It is also raising its profile with young people by being official car supplier to Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs.
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