Suzuki Seeks Street Cred

NEW YORK Dyesel might not be a household name on the national music scene, but Suzuki hopes the Louisiana rapper helps the company connect with young males in Baton Rouge, La., through hip-hop culture.Suzuki is leaning on Dyesel and other hip-hop artists with local followings as part of a campaign launched last month to reach motorcycle riders in a half-dozen urban markets. The goal: fuse digital channels with local targeting to reach potential buyers of the 2008 edition of Suzuki's Hayabusa sport bike. Suzuki hopes to achieve that aim by combining a music-fueled Web site with local graffiti murals.While Suzuki has in the past relied on enthusiast magazines to promote thebike, it is now making a more aggressive marketing push into core markets that account for nearly one-third of its sales.In particular, the effort strives to reach African Americans and Latinos, which account for about 40 percent of Hayabusa buyers, according to Robert Elliott, advertising manager at Suzuki.Rather than a broad-brush campaign, Suzuki decided to go local through online and outdoor executions designed to establish Hayabusa's street credibility."We're trying to go a little smaller and get more personal," Elliott said.Other campaigns have taken similar tacks to build authenticity. Major League Soccer, for example, ran a promotion this fall in which local bands produce songs for MLS teams.Suzuki's digital agency, San Francisco independent Questus, worked with URB, a monthly hip-hop culture magazine, to find up-and-coming rappers in New York, Philadelphia, Orlando, Fla., Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Detroit and five other cities. It recruited under-the-radar artists like Dyesel in Baton Rouge and Black Milk in Detroit. It also tapped local graffiti artists to create outdoor murals featuring the rappers and the Hayabusa."This is a different sort of branding effort for Suzuki," said Jeff Rosenblum,co-president of Questus. "It's a different way of speaking to their audience.It's building the voice for the type of bike it is and being able to talk directly to an audience."The rappers' music forms the draw to BusaBeats.com, a microsite Suzuki established to showcase their work. Visitors select cities to sample songs by the artists and read background materials provided by URB. They can also enroll for mobile alerts (they're informed when new music is added), as well as click through to Suzuki's Web site for more information on the Hayabusa.The murals will stay up for six weeks in the local markets. In Baton Rouge, a mural depicting Dyesel went up last month.In 2008, Suzuki plans to use BusaBeats.com to strengthen its local urban ties via rap battles and user-generated contests."One issue we worry about is [maintaining] the credibility of the brand," saidKeyvan Hajiani, the Suzuki account director at Questus. "We tried to bring in that street element so it feels unique and authentic."While African-American and Hispanic consumers tend to use the Web less overall, Elliott said it didn't apply in making media choices for this campaign, which will spend half of its undisclosed budget on digital initiatives."I don't think the digital divide exists in this case," he said. "Just because we're talking to minorities doesn't mean they're not online."The campaign is critical for Suzuki because of increased competition in the super-fast sport bike category.The Hayabusa (Japanese for "peregrine falcon") became a near instant success when it was introduced in 1999 based on its speed. Yet with the success of Hayabusa, Suzuki rivals Yamaha and Kawasaki have entered the fray. So Suzuki has recast the 2008 Hayabusa, which costs about $12,000, to make it even faster and more powerful.

Brand Marketing

Suzuki Seeks Street Cred

Brian Morrissey

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Brian Morrissey