Where was all the publicity and unveiling for the GEN V VIPER

[Boosted Motorsports]

Watching the public reveal of the Demon yesterday I had the same feeling as SneakySnake did. "WHERE THE HELL WAS ALL THIS PROMO FOR THE GEN V VIPER?"

They did so much marketing and promos for a car that has looked the same for almost 10 years! Don't get me wrong I think it is awesome what they are doing (did?) with the Demon bringing that much power and "firsts" to a production car but they should have done this for the Viper.

They even began with the "old" halo car and showing a video of "the last viper" but it is kind of embarrassing to see that they are so proud to replace the viper with a challenger!

Even if they missed the boat with the 2013 release of the Gen V they could have easily done something similar with the ACR release for 2016 similar to the "Demon" version of the challenger.

The teaser videos, clues, hints, instagram posts, live unveiling party inviting special guests and YouTube vloggers to create free press for them. This all could and should have been done before with their Halo car and maybe resulted in a more profitable venture for FCA.

Thoughts?

[docwviper]

I usually don't speak ill of the brand. But while I watched that whole premier live stream I thought that exact same thing. I really wish they took this approach with the viper years ago. They had people teleconferencing in from all over the world. They had people gathered for release parties... or at least they said. Sucks...

Watching the public reveal of the Demon yesterday I had the same feeling as SneakySnake did. "WHERE THE HELL WAS ALL THIS PROMO FOR THE GEN V VIPER?"

They did so much marketing and promos for a car that has looked the same for almost 10 years! Don't get me wrong I think it is awesome what they are doing (did?) with the Demon bringing that much power and "firsts" to a production car but they should have done this for the Viper.

They even began with the "old" halo car and showing a video of "the last viper" but it is kind of embarrassing to see that they are so proud to replace the viper with a challenger!

Even if they missed the boat with the 2013 release of the Gen V they could have easily done something similar with the ACR release for 2016 similar to the "Demon" version of the challenger.

The teaser videos, clues, hints, instagram posts, live unveiling party inviting special guests and YouTube vloggers to create free press for them. This all could and should have been done before with their Halo car and maybe resulted in a more profitable venture for FCA.

Thoughts?

[Shooter]

Because they left the marketing and reveal of the Gen V to a person who was formerly in charge of Volkswagen credit between VW Corp and VW dealers. The failure started at the top.

[ViperJon]

Because they knew despite whatever marketing they threw at the Viper it was only going to appeal to a certain niche group and sell 100 a month on a really good month. Plenty of historical data to back up the potential sales figures. Demon is new and the Viper even then was old news dressed up with 45 more HP and nicer interior. And the retro look didn't help a bit..

[ViperSRT]

Not nearly the same level of hype for sure, but for the 2013 they also had a public event where lots of Viper owners were present (I think it was also NY). If I recall they even had some similar pre launch clues like they did for Demon. Unfortunately they didn't keep that going and have big unveiling of new models like TA, TA 2.0, and ACR. Such is life and now water over the dam. One huge difference is the 2013 Viper was not heads and tails above the competition and did not warrant the same level of press coverage. Had they launched with the ACR or even the TA it would have been different.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Because they knew despite whatever marketing they threw at the Viper it was only going to appeal to a certain niche group and sell 100 a month on a really good month. Plenty of historical data to back up the potential sales figures. Demon is new and the Viper even then was old news dressed up with 45 more HP and nicer interior. And the retro look didn't help a bit..

But couldn't all of these statements be applied to the Demon?

- Appeal to a certain niche group? Drag racing specific car with only 3300 to be produced for 2018
- Challenger body style has been around since 60s and current body is around 10 years old so definitely a retro look
- This is just a dressed up Challenger with more HP too?


The Demon fit a lot of the same niche market criteria the Viper did but they went all out for their publicity marketing?

[Scott_in_fl]

All true statements ^^^

There is no denying that FCA did a woeful job marketing the Viper.

[Martin]

How many events like this do we see for Ferraris and Lambos? I remember asking my Dad why we see a ton of boring car commercials and we don't see a single commercial for the cool cars, and his response was "the people that buy those cars know that they want them. They don't need to see a lot of marketing hype. Plus, those cars only sell a few hundred (or thousand) a year, so what's the point of trying to drive people into dealerships?"

With the Viper, I think it was a bad move for them to take the "it's an exotic, and if we build it they will come" approach. Had they done a real marketing drive, it would have driven people into dealerships - and that would have led to MANY more sales of the daily drivers that people typically spend money on. They blew a really great marketing opportunity.

[ACRucrazy]

Because 840 HP > 640 HP.

[georgiadawgs]

I believe the Italian CEO of FIAT/Chrysler is not very fond of the Viper. He stated that it was a waste of $ to dedicate one assembly plant for only one car. Reason he axed the Viper.

[swexlin]

How many events like this do we see for Ferraris and Lambos? I remember asking my Dad why we see a ton of boring car commercials and we don't see a single commercial for the cool cars, and his response was "the people that buy those cars know that they want them. They don't need to see a lot of marketing hype. Plus, those cars only sell a few hundred (or thousand) a year, so what's the point of trying to drive people into dealerships?"

With the Viper, I think it was a bad move for them to take the "it's an exotic, and if we build it they will come" approach. Had they done a real marketing drive, it would have driven people into dealerships - and that would have led to MANY more sales of the daily drivers that people typically spend money on. They blew a really great marketing opportunity.

Actually, Algar Ferrari of Philadelphia (actually near me here in Bryn Mawr) has unveiling events for invited peeps every time a new model is released. I imagine the others do as well. I know it's not quite the same.....

[13COBRA]

How many events like this do we see for Ferraris and Lambos? I remember asking my Dad why we see a ton of boring car commercials and we don't see a single commercial for the cool cars, and his response was "the people that buy those cars know that they want them. They don't need to see a lot of marketing hype. Plus, those cars only sell a few hundred (or thousand) a year, so what's the point of trying to drive people into dealerships?"

Your dad was right.

[One Viper Bite]

I believe the Italian CEO of FIAT/Chrysler is not very fond of the Viper. He stated that it was a waste of $ to dedicate one assembly plant for only one car. Reason he axed the Viper.

This is not true. Sergio Marchionne has gone on record to say predominantly positive things about the Viper. The Viper hasn't made financial sense for a long time. It was mainly axed because it does not comply with new safety standards, one of those being side curtain airbags. In order to equip the Viper with then, they would have to spend a significant amount of cash to R&D a new roof and A-pillars to fit them. How do you justify spending MORE money on something that hasn't made money in the first place?

[ViperJon]

There actually was quite a bit of buildup and anticipation for the Viper debut, but not on this scale. If you recall it was extremely hush-hush and then little tiny snippets of info and car shots started to trickle out. And no matter what anyone says (and regardless of "need") the horsepower announcement really deflated the introduction....less than the ZR1! Remember there was no ACR or TA at the time. The price leap was huge also from a Gen IV.....so much that held it back. All hindsight now. Fortunately they are all going to become half a million dollar collectables at BJ's shortly so that's good...

[ViperSmith]

it was 5 years ago, you all dwell on the past too much.

[Jprince]

How many events like this do we see for Ferraris and Lambos? I remember asking my Dad why we see a ton of boring car commercials and we don't see a single commercial for the cool cars, and his response was "the people that buy those cars know that they want them. They don't need to see a lot of marketing hype. Plus, those cars only sell a few hundred (or thousand) a year, so what's the point of trying to drive people into dealerships?"

With the Viper, I think it was a bad move for them to take the "it's an exotic, and if we build it they will come" approach. Had they done a real marketing drive, it would have driven people into dealerships - and that would have led to MANY more sales of the daily drivers that people typically spend money on. They blew a really great marketing opportunity.

The other problem was that, when you stop production of a car and try to bring it back years later. You have to let people know about it. Including exotic car guys.

[CNU_Physics]

There actually was quite a bit of buildup and anticipation for the Viper debut, but not on this scale. If you recall it was extremely hush-hush and then little tiny snippets of info and car shots started to trickle out. And no matter what anyone says (and regardless of "need") the horsepower announcement really deflated the introduction....less than the ZR1! Remember there was no ACR or TA at the time. The price leap was huge also from a Gen IV.....so much that held it back. All hindsight now. Fortunately they are all going to become half a million dollar collectables at BJ's shortly so that's good...

Yeah I agree I feel like there was a decent amount of buildup for the next gen(5) Viper. There was also the Hot Wheels leak, the Forza Motorsport DLC, and the American LeMans race car also debuted next to the Gen 5 Viper. That was pretty significant.

[ViperDC]

Because they knew despite whatever marketing they threw at the Viper it was only going to appeal to a certain niche group and sell 100 a month on a really good month. Plenty of historical data to back up the potential sales figures. Demon is new and the Viper even then was old news dressed up with 45 more HP and nicer interior. And the retro look didn't help a bit..

With the (what I believe to be) inevitable Gen VI I would expect a clean sheet design and hype similar to this. Their first mistake was listening to what "Viper enthusiasts" wanted in the design on the Gen V. "Viper enthusiasts" succeeded in making the car look like a 96 GTS and then didn't buy them. It was in a bad situation from day 1, marketing or not. Just my opinion.

[slowhatch]

So much rumor-mill and wives tale talk in here about why-this and why-that. If some of you read the books documenting the development process on both the gen 4 and gen 5 platforms you would realize half the stuff written in here is regurgitated nonsense.

[BlknBlu]

The reveal on the GEN V Viper was great I thought, I ended up watching it live too, but a club member attended and got me one of the goody bags with the special Hot Wheel car made. Another goosebump event

Bruce

[Whitemamba]

But couldn't all of these statements be applied to the Demon?

- Appeal to a certain niche group? Drag racing specific car with only 3300 to be produced for 2018
- Challenger body style has been around since 60s and current body is around 10 years old so definitely a retro look
- This is just a dressed up Challenger with more HP too?


The Demon fit a lot of the same niche market criteria the Viper did but they went all out for their publicity marketing?

So true.

[Whitemamba]

With the (what I believe to be) inevitable Gen VI I would expect a clean sheet design and hype similar to this. Their first mistake was listening to what "Viper enthusiasts" wanted in the design on the Gen V. "Viper enthusiasts" succeeded in making the car look like a 96 GTS and then didn't buy them. It was in a bad situation from day 1, marketing or not. Just my opinion.

True as well.

[Whitemamba]

The other problem was that, when you stop production of a car and try to bring it back years later. You have to let people know about it. Including exotic car guys.

Great post. You can't expect people to buy the car when alot of people thought they had stopped making them. It wasn't really until the reveal and the performance of the ACR came out that people started buying the car.

And of course you have the terrible way the Gen V was brought out to the mag rags. The car was shipped to them with miss matched tires, screws missing, etc. The Marketing person should have been fired but also anyone who let the cars be presented that way. You wouldn't show a house to be sold that way so why do it with the release of a new Generation of Viper. Let's face it, it also didn't help that it took the TA to beat the ZR1s time.That in itself didn't help sales.

- - - Updated - - -

There actually was quite a bit of buildup and anticipation for the Viper debut, but not on this scale. If you recall it was extremely hush-hush and then little tiny snippets of info and car shots started to trickle out. And no matter what anyone says (and regardless of "need") the horsepower announcement really deflated the introduction....less than the ZR1! Remember there was no ACR or TA at the time. The price leap was huge also from a Gen IV.....so much that held it back. All hindsight now. Fortunately they are all going to become half a million dollar collectables at BJ's shortly so that's good...

Very true Jon.

[ViperJon]

The amount of potential buyers who drag and street race is probably 100 to 1 over people who road race. That's no niche market it's huge.

[Whitemamba]

How many events like this do we see for Ferraris and Lambos? I remember asking my Dad why we see a ton of boring car commercials and we don't see a single commercial for the cool cars, and his response was "the people that buy those cars know that they want them. They don't need to see a lot of marketing hype. Plus, those cars only sell a few hundred (or thousand) a year, so what's the point of trying to drive people into dealerships?"

With the Viper, I think it was a bad move for them to take the "it's an exotic, and if we build it they will come" approach. Had they done a real marketing drive, it would have driven people into dealerships - and that would have led to MANY more sales of the daily drivers that people typically spend money on. They blew a really great marketing opportunity.

True.

- - - Updated - - -

Because they left the marketing and reveal of the Gen V to a person who was formerly in charge of Volkswagen credit between VW Corp and VW dealers. The failure started at the top.

This is a pretty good reason. It all starts at the top.