For those who follow this blog regularly, you know how eager we are to point out marketing success stories from around the country. As we always say, for both businesses large and small, the purpose of all your marketing efforts should be to prove that your brand can provide customers with value they can’t get elsewhere. Branding yourself and your business is will keep you in the mind of consumers long after they flip the page, turn the radio dial or turn off the television.
Today we’d like to applaud the efforts of Brad Benson, an NFL offensive lineman turned car dealer and a man, for those who hear his regular radio commercials, who needs no introduction. The former All-Pro is the owner of Brad Benson Auto Group in South Brunswick, NJ and the author of some of the zaniest promotions I’ve ever heard.
The first time I heard one of Bensons’ commercials was in the wake of former New York State Governor Elliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, and he caught my ear by addressing the embattled ex-Guv directly. In the ad, Benson told Spitzer, now without the use of “the governor’s limo,” where he should turn for all his automotive needs, and reminded listeners of the full service VIP treatment all of his customers get. Once Benson warned that it might not be the kind of “VIP treatment” Spitzer had paid for in other places, I was hooked.
Sure, calling out a disgraced politician might be crossing the line, but Benson seems to up the ante each time he takes to the mic to record a new ad. When Giants Stadium, Bensons’ previous place of business, was torn down to make way for the New Meadowlands Stadium, Benson bought the goal posts and put them up on the lot of his dealership. When he told customers to “Come on down and see my 40 foot erection,” I’m sure many people sat up and took notice. If that didn’t get people talking, surely his promise to give up sex until he became the top Hyundai dealership in the country certainly may have.
But then a funny thing happened. In October, Brad Benson Auto Group actually became the number one Hyundai dealership in the United States! In a time when most car dealerships are either closing their doors or hurting bad enough to consider it, Benson’s business has shown steady growth since the start of the seemingly outrageous radio campaign. The reason for this, according to Benson, is simple. “I think it helps business because we’ve actually branded ourselves,” Benson told New Jersey 12 News recently. “People know us.”
After listening to his ads that play constantly on some of the New York area’s top radio stations, it’s hard to disagree with Benson. Hearing his seemingly off-kilter marketing ploys day after day, you do get the sense that you know him personally. We’ve talked before on this blog about building relationships with your consumers, so if a customer walks into your business with a sense of familiarity, isn’t that already half the battle?
Now, some people have found the ads to be in bad taste. Surely, the butt of his jokes are not too keen on hearing the ads, and Benson drew criticism when he offered Saddam Hussein a car if he would abdicate his seat of power in Iraq back in 2003. But like it or not, Benson delivers. He couples his antics with impressive deals on his cars and when he makes a pledge in a commercial, he keeps it.
For the most part. Benson did admit in an interview that his celibacy act was indeed just that, but when he promised Pastor Terry Jones a Hyundai for not burning the Quran on September 11th, Jones got his car. From the sound of things, Benson could afford to give one away.
What unconventional branding techniques have you seen in the past that have done wonders for a business? What branding tactics have you tried for own business? What do you think of Benson’s ads? As always, we’d love to hear from you.
