A: Almost never. It’s quite rare. On top of that, you are able to ascertain the sentiment around your brand.
Seeing that the Picanto is being mentioned in the (fake) news surrounding the Lambo and #ORTamboHeist story, what can Kia do? As a brand, should they comment? Come up with something creative? A meme? A post? Should they release a PR statement? A video by their sales leader or executive?
The fact that people are associating it with 'moderate affordability', meaning, if you drive a Kia Picanto, it's not expensive (so it's not for status), it's for those who want to get around comfortably within the city. It's probably your first car. It's your starter pack.
Release a PR statement titled; 'If your dream car is a Lamborghini, you should probably start with a Picanto'. In the article, they should talk about affordability, quality, comfort, desired target profile, as in who needs to buy the car and why. Then include pictures of the different models and links to their various dealerships.
Coupled with that; they should probably do a quick turnaround video of the sales lead manager or executive talking to the camera, and making mention of some of the key points highlighted in the article. But it needs to be a quick video.
On top of that, they should create memes that are catchy and funny. For example, one meme could talk about what car to get for a first-time driver. Or talk about how a Picanto purchase is a smart one because everybody knows that when you are introvert and don't want people in your business, you lie low. The implication herein is that they'd be taking a gamble by positioning their car in a slightly modest way without all the marketing crap around aspirations. But the positive or the win or the beauty about that is that you'd be talking about your car or brand exactly the way people actually perceive it.
This is the perfect way to positively leverage something that is relevant, hyped and even better, won't need to spend a lot of money, time and investment on. That's incentive enough to actually do it.
I highly recommend that you do this, Picanto. What's the worst that could happen? Increased traffic to your website and sharing of your marketing content?
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