In times like these, it makes a lot of sense to play to your base. Loyal customers after all, need to be paid extra-special attention to as marketers move from growing their business, to merely protecting their market share. But your brand advocates can do more than cover you in a downturn. They can be the reason you stand out and shine.
Subaru is an interesting case in point. Subaru was one of the few automakers to grow its share in an otherwise annus horribilis for the auto industry. Yet its brand fans are a curious lot and not the ones you’d think would spark a sales run. They’re highly educated and extremely pragmatic: Subaru’s buyers tend to hold on to a car for an average of 7.3 years as TIME explains, often buying less car than they can afford. One doesn’t picture Subaru’s customers as the catalyst of the current credit crisis, so why is Subaru’s share growing?
The reason is they evangelize: Subaru owners honestly, truly, ‘love’ their cars and will let you know it. According to TIME, “Subaru has leveraged its existing customers, who identify more with their cars than perhaps is healthy. “If you stop a Subaru owner at sporting event, ski slope, shopping center, they’ll tell you, ‘I love this car,’ ” says Mahoney. And being the opinionated-bumper-sticker type, they are more likely to recommend the brand than even Toyota or Honda owners”. Subaru activates its brand fandom organically with strong pockets of evangelists in the Northeast and Rocky Mountain states, where all wheel drive matters.
My hypothesis is social networking and peer-to-peer dynamics are driving a resurgence in the Subaru brand. After all, we know that 72% of people now base brand decisions on what their networks suggest, rather than advertising. Whatever they’re doing, Subaru did it without the typical heroin of rebates and other deals:
“We had to bring down our incentive costs and stop selling based on the deal.”
-Tom Doll, executive vice president, Subaru
Times like these actually demonstrate the fruits of your labors. In Subaru’s case, they’ve widened their driver base through the free advocacy of the community they’ve painstakingly built and nurtured. Social media does work and in Subaru’s case, its brand fans are behind the wheel.
John Gerzema is Chief Insights Officer for Young & Rubicam Group. One of the early founders of account planning in American advertising, John has guided brand strategies to global business and creative acclaim. 
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