Email Watch: Volvo Vamps It Up with “Twilight”
A few months ago, apropos of nothing, my 86-year-old mother turned to me and said "You know, I don't think that much of that Lady Gaga."
"Well Mom," I replied, "that's fine, since you're not really her target demographic anyway."
She looked at me a little shocked. "Do you like her?"
I replied that, yes, I did like some of her songs, and she had an interesting sense of style, but it didn't really matter, because I'm not exactly her target audience either.
And I'm okay with that. Not everyone is the sweet spot for everything—I try to remember that when I start saying how dumb something my kids love on Cartoon Network is….maybe, I stop and think, I'm not really supposed to get this. It's not for me.
That's how I feel about the whole "Twilight" phenomenon. I get why teenage girls are all crazy for the moody, broody, angsty vampires, but as a (gulp) middle-aged mom, it just isn't my thing.
That's why I was a little taken aback by a recent email from Volvo with the subject line "Your invitation to the wedding of the century has arrived." Wedding, what wedding? Another royal couple getting hitched? Nope. This was Volvo's way of inviting me to get excited for their promotional tie-in to "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1."
Really? "Twilight" isn't for me but Volvos—hello, middle aged mom here—certainly are….at least, they were last time I checked my driveway. But yes, I do get that the carmaker is capitalizing on the fact that Edward drives a Volvo in the books (I Googled to make that connection), and targeting moms with teenagers who love these stories. (My young boys are more into Batman and Harry Potter, and I'm already brainwashing them that Angel and Spike are way cooler than Edward, even if I won't let them watch "Buffy" yet. But I digress.)
But if I was a mom who thought this was "for" her, would I think Volvo's email bites in a good or a bad way?
The campaign is the latest in a now long line of Volvo/"Twilight" tie-ins. The email's subject line is good—probably caught the eye of readers who got the reference immediately, and piqued the curiosity of this non-fan.
Inside, the "Journey to the Wedding" email invites the reader to celebrate by uploading a photo or drawing of the dream outfit they'd wear if they were invited to the wedding and enter a contest to attend the movie's premiere. A link takes you to the Volvo/"Breaking Dawn" Facebook page to enter both that contest, and another contest to win a trip to Rio de Janeiro like Edward and Bella take in the book, as well as the Volvo S60 model featured in the movie. As of this writing, over 78,200 folks have fanned the page.
A prominent Volvo link takes readers to a customized version of the Volvocars.com home page, featuring a large "Twilight" banner and a link to the Rio trip contest. As I found out when I tried to do one of the "challenges" to enter, the contest doesn't start until Nov. 1. That makes the Oct. 15 email inviting me to play seem like premature timing, but maybe I just don't understand the promotional ways of vampires.
I'll assume this is only the first email in Volvo's latest round of "Twilight" promotions. And who knows, maybe I'll even open the next email in the campaign….unless some pretty young werewolf turns my head with a better subject line first. After all, a gal's got to keep her options open.
