Is FCA Looking to Get More Women Interested in Wranglers?

[jaldeborgh]

Agree, Bikini is a horrible name for a color. It doesn't bring to mind any specific color and it's just a weird name, IMHO.

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[Guy N Cognito]

They’ve been marketing Jeeps to women for 20+ years...

So much cringe here...

 

[RussJeep1]

Agree, Bikini is a horrible name for a color. It doesn't bring to mind any specific color and it's just a weird name, IMHO.

Without disagreeing with you John an anecdote comes to mind. Years past, a friend of mine, a pretty to-do guy who worked at Pepsi recalled a meeting for me during a time when their ad campaign featured bright yellow. Meetings went on for hours as his fellow high ranking execs debated precisely what version of yellow would be used, complete with marketing surveys done to support their claims.

At face it sounds absurd: like a PTA deciding which color to make the Spring Gala invitations in. But given how much product Pepsi moves, a 1% shift in market penetration meant big dollars, so everything matters in marketing product.

I have to think FCA thought out not only what color to introduce next, but how to name this color; if not with the same intensity as did Pepsi. Even the introduction of tried and true favorites like Dune/Sand/ Light Tan--call it what you will--have taken a back seat.

Was "bikini" marketed to men that like them, or with Ms. Menounos' association with the color, a marketing play towards women who haven't yet owned a Wrangler...or a little bit of both...or something else.....your guess is at least as good as mine.

 

[MALL R8D]

I belong to a few all female Jeep groups on Facebook--each with 10,000+ members. Yes, there is some member overlap (i.e. me), but there are multiple women who only post in one. So based on my random sampling, aside from women who have wrapped their Jeeps in Tiffany blue, none of them ever refer to their specific Jeep color name (whether they own a CJ or a JL or anything in between).

I have admittedly bought more than one car in my life with a color that I hated, but the name of the color was never the reason I hated it. Those cars were always used though. I assume that when most people purchase a new car, they buy something visually appealing to them. Of course, I say that as someone driving a Jeep in a color I never even considered owning before I saw it in person.

At any rate, aside from enthusiasts, most people won't know the specific color name of someone else's car. Unless a man is incredibly insecure, I can't imagine he would be so fragile that he would avoid buying a color he likes based solely on the name.

To answer your original point though, the bright colors and unique names are probably meant to catch the eye of women, but it could also be a throwback to the muscle car days. Even the new Dodge Challenger was released in purple, wasn't it?

 

[ricku]

I'd say that when I first saw the color "bikini" I immediately thought FCA was targeting the female audience. I mean, most men don't wear Bikini's although, many of them like to see females wear them. Either way, it seems to me that the term "bikini" is definitely targeting my gender. Totally agree with you on this.

I wouldn't buy a Teal-looking Jeep because I don't like Teal. I like green, and so that's why I got the Mojito. I also am a bit different from the stereotype of a female that wants a "mall-crawler". Before I bought my Jeep and joined this forum, I had never heard of that term before (I HATE the mall and I'm not a social media junkie that lives for the "what's in" internet lingo; I got better things to do).

I bought a Wrangler because:

#1 I love animals and nature so naturally, a Wrangler is all about that and is capable of being in the wilderness!
#2 I wanted a vehicle that can withstand flood waters in my city and off-road on property that my family owns.
#3 I wanted to own something different from the many clones being driven on the roads, as that's how I've always been...I love being odd, and am extremely comfortable being different.

So just to reply to some of the other comments I'm seeing around these forums about the "misconceptions" of why females are buying Jeep Wranglers, for me it could not be further from the truth...

Great response.

 

[WXman]

There has always been that female segment of the market that's been as loyal to the Wrangler as to their femininity.

And that, BTW, is just fine by me. Many see the rig as one of the cornerstones to winning War World II, where our finest generation fought to preserve the very freedoms that find Wrangler owners expressing that freedom in the customization of their rigs like no other, and accepting of others to do same, even if in a different direction.

With the recent Celebrity Customs challenge featuring, as 1of its 4 contestants, a woman: Maria Menounos, in a near Bikini* colored JL, I wonder if FCA is trying to widen, or appeal to a widening female purchasing market segment. I don't mean to imply anything about the new color being feminine—I think that color could work for anyone--but FCA did choose to call it Bikini, not “welding torch flame blue,” if you catch my drift.

Thoughts?

* I'm not sure if the fabricators used the FCA official Bikini color or a similar match

Judging by how small the JL is compared to JK and how the driver seat position feels, it appears that the JL was only intended to appeal to women.

 

[Shooting or Jeeping]

I doubt “bikini” was a female move. Color names are so stupid anyway. Bikini was a group of islands before it was a bathing suit.

Proving further: Punk’n is selling to whom, assuming you go by name? Degenerates?

 

[Capt-Zoom]

Feeling this comment...I hate the name "bikini". I actually cringed when I read it...so your comment is spot on.

My wife has been driving a lifted Forest green TJ for 20 years as our primary vehicle. She also cringed at the bikini color. She likes her jeeps looking badass.

 

[RussJeep1]

This picture sort of inspired this thread:

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...led-on-jeep-wrangler-celebrity-customs.15803/

In no way am I making editorial with respect to whether the images and message portrayed here, whatever that was intended to be, is good or bad. That's for everyone to decide on their own I guess.

But that does look like the guy I saw in a YouTube interview who designed the JLs interior sitting in Ms. Menounos' rig, and she's dressed in heels with her groomed toy dog in her arms: clearly the message not being "a day out in the muddy terrain:" an act Ms. Menounos and other women Wrangler owners may love doing, along with the men, but not that portrayed here, even if her rig is outfitted with tires and winch for it.

 

[BillG]

This picture sort of inspired this thread:

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...led-on-jeep-wrangler-celebrity-customs.15803/

In no way am I making editorial with respect to whether the images and message portrayed here, whatever that was intended to be, is good or bad. That's for everyone to decide on their own I guess.

But that does look like the guy I saw in a YouTube interview who designed the JLs interior sitting in Ms. Menounos' rig, and she's dressed in heels with her groomed toy dog in her arms: clearly the message not being "a day out in the muddy terrain:" an act Ms. Menounos and other women Wrangler owners may love doing, along with the men, but not that portrayed here, even if her rig is outfitted with tires and winch for it.

I really have no idea who she is. But she might have been dressed for the photo shoot that way because, well, it was a photo shoot.

 

[melendez69]

How can chicks like it more than they already do???? I have to fight my way through swarms of attractive women every time I park it anywhere. Might just be me though.

You too, huh... The same thing happens to me when I drive the 911... I get approached by swarms of......older......men.

 

[TaiMc]

I doubt “bikini” was a female move. Color names are so stupid anyway. Bikini was a group of islands before it was a bathing suit.

Proving further: Punk’n is selling to whom, assuming you go by name? Degenerates?

Wow thanks for this! Had no clue...learn something new everyday

 

[MALL R8D]

You too, huh... The same thing happens to me when I drive the 911... I get approached by swarms of......older......men.

I literally laughed out loud

 

[TaiMc]

I have to think FCA thought out not only what color to introduce next, but how to name this color; if not with the same intensity as did Pepsi. Even the introduction of tried and true favorites like Dune/Sand/ Light Tan--call it what you will--have taken a back seat.

100% yes. You best believe FCA had many meetings on what to name their new colors and which colors to produce. Marketing is HUGE. It can be lucrative or detrimental.

 

[Scottroxxx]

They started marketing Jeeps to women when they added 2 more doors to it.

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