Scratch a Captiva and Win
13 Jun, 2007
5 Comments 
The Korean made Holden Captiva has found its way to the UK, badged as a Chevrolet Captiva. Although sales of the Captiva have not put its competitor, the locally produced Ford Territory to shame, Holden have been happy with the car so far.
In the UK, in order to launch the new Captiva, GM have decided to take a new approach to marketing. They have covered a new Captiva in silver latex, the material found on instant scratchy cards. The whole process took two months!
Thousands of Brits scratched away at the car for nearly 14 hours. The point? Underneath were thousands of individual panels, with one revealing a symbol to win the vehicle.
“It’s exciting and unique to unveil the world’s first ‘Scratch Car-d’ in the UK, giving the British public the chance to take part in the biggest scratch off in history. You’ve been able to scratch to win a car before, but using a vehicle as an actual scratch card is certainly a first and it could take 14 hours of scratching.” Chevrolet spokesman Les Turton said.
The Chevrolet Captiva is available in the UK from £16,995 ($40,000 AUD) on the road. The Holden Captiva retails in Australia from $35,990 AUD.
Just how exactly is this promotion meant to help the Captiva’s image? Come scratch a captiva and win? Surely, this is decremental to the car’s image - branding it as a cheap (come-scratch-me-I-am-not-worth-anything) vehicle.
Would you want a completely scratched Captiva? The silver latex isn’t exactly the thickets material to cover your car with!
Thankfully Holden marketing team thought better than to have a public scratching.
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June 13th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
That is the most stupid type of advertising ever, so once most of the latex is off the car people walk pass and go “oh wow, that car is all scratched and with bits of latex on it” What a waste of time and effort.
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June 13th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I’m going to be a 16 year old boy for a minute.
I’d tap the one on the left :)
Okay, back to being me again.
I wonder what the Poms think of the car. No doubt I’ll hear and see something about it on 5th Gear or Top Gear.
Cheers
Steve
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June 13th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
yeah steve im a 17 year old boy and i gotta say id tapp the one on the right cant go past a blonde.
well the adevertising ploy has obviously worked if were talking about it hasnt it… kinda like anything tha raises interest is a winner in the long run no matter how stupid it is. IE donor show.
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June 14th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I Have an itch they can scratch ?? LOL
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June 15th, 2007 at 10:00 am
True Gleno,
I’ve watched a few docos on Advertising, and I work in a market research company that holds some relevance to automobiles (though I’m just the IT guy, we’re a very close team with all staff, so we know what’s going on in other departments all the time).
Companies basically consider advertising successful when it has either annoyed someone or intrigued someone. Would I buy a mongrel car (a new word I use for all re-badged dog boxes)? NO.
I someone who likes a bit of history, a bit of character. This doesn’t mean I can only look at Ferrari and other exotics, though it would be nice if the bank account allowed it. Manufacturers like Mazda, Peugeot, Citroen, etc which all have a long history and aren’t afraid of taking risks is what I like.
Saying that, Holden is taking a risk importing these re-badged Korean boxes. The same principle has turned me off the Golf and Focus. I want a car that’s still made with pride, not with $$$ alone.
Cheers
Steve
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