Subaru's Driving Dog Boost Up the Sales

"Subaru and its customers have a deep connection to pets. Eight out of 10 Subaru owners are pet owners, and our brand continues to support the causes and initiatives that our customers care about," said Alan Bethke, vice president, marketing at Subaru of America. "The new 'Dog Tested. Dog Approved.' campaign puts the Barkley family in the driver's seat to help celebrate this shared love."

The family of Golden Labs last appeared in the 2013 'Meet the Barkleys' television and YouTube segments. The campaigns are humor driven, showing canine drivers and passengers taking the roles of human Subaru owners as they deal with life's challenge.

OK! The Subaru Forester under the tagline "Dog tested. Dog approved." Dogs are shown "driving" and even parallel parking their vehicles to tout Subaru's pup-friendly brand message. Although many of the partnerships feature specific Subaru vehicles, Subaru likes to keep a more holistic focus on Subaru's marketing.. Forester happens to be the lead vehicle in these [dog] spots, but it's really about the brand and connecting with the consumer to let them know the Subaru Automaker care about their passion points.

Love,it’s what makes a Subaru and a very effective ad campaign for dog lovers.
Years ago Subaru began their Love campaign. By tapping into the power of love, they have doubled market share and exceeded eleven other car makers on a list of best selling cars over the states.

Instead of showing the lifestyle trend, Subaru has tapped into the strongest human emotion by showing Love. Not only did Subaru feature the Barkleys in the brand's television spots, but it also showed the family in digital video sharing, digital display, social, and points of purchase. The car company even created a specific landing page for the furry family, which people could visit to learn more about each member.

The campaign also had a positive impact on the target audience's perception of Subaru, Bethke adds, and generated a ton of social conversations. “They keep talking about it,” he says.  Furthermore, Bethke adds that Subaru enjoyed “record-breaking” sales year-over-year as a cumulative result of several marketing efforts, including those from the “Dog Tested, Dog Approved” campaign.

The automaker, a unit of Fuji Heavy Industries, posted an all-time U.S. sales record last year, with 582,675 vehicles sold, a 13.4% lift over 2014. December was the company’s best month ever, after 49 months of year-over-year monthly increases.  The brand certainly benefited from sustained interest in crossovers, with strong sales of vehicles like Forester, Outback, and Crosstrek.

Bethke believes the “Dog tested” campaign has helped boost sales at Subaru, which has been riding a streak of sales and market share growth since 2007, just before the campaign started. At the end of 2015, Subaru’s market share stood at 3.3 percent, up from 1.4 percent in 2008, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

The spots are “captivating, unique and disruptive,” Bethke said. “They did what we were looking at them to do, which is show Subaru as a brand that is around pets.”

The campaign works because it is authentic. It reflects what Subaru stands for based on its work with animal groups and its customer base of outdoor enthusiasts and animal lovers.


“I get two or three phone calls a month where people … say, “Thanks for doing these ads; I really appreciate it. I’m going to buy a Subaru,'”. “It’s crazy, but that’s what they do.”

A successful campaign for automaker, an outbreak on sales and the love for animal lovers.