Fathers would do anything to make their daughters smile. After driving our Hello Kitty car for 9 years, this is what I’ve learned about marketing:
Remove Personal Bias
At first I had to keep my head in check about why women everywhere were smiling at me. Over time I started to realize that our car brought joy to a wide range of people. It’s not unusual to find people taking selfies with “Kitty” including construction workers and teenage boys. I had a preconceived idea of who would appreciate our car and I was 100% wrong.
A Huge Impact Can be Achieved on a Small Budget
Total cost of pimping our Prius? About $1500. We did it because that’s who we are. We live in color, and sometimes that attracts attention. Next to a $400K Lamborghini, our Prius turns more heads.
People Admire Others With the Courage to Stand Out, but Ultimately Most Prefer to Blend In
You’ve seen the movies set in the 1950s when cars were much more colorful. Today, car makers stick to black, white, and gray. I think that’s because people want to blend in. I found this recent CNBC video about car colors fascinating. Some say it’s so that people can easily resell their cars. That’s ok. We’re not planning on selling her anytime soon.