I'm not Millenial and yet I dont like to be advertised to or be told what I like or how to use things. Thats why I refuse to use Apple products and/or go to their so called "genius bar." If all the people that work there are "geniuses," what does that make the people that goes there to get help? Dumba**es? But if someone says the users are the geniuses, then should a genius be able to just google for answers? My point is being advertised to or marketed to can be very insulting.

 

 

No one chooses to feel insulted. Its just common sense. If you choose to be put down by someone's marketing, that's on you. Google phones are unlocked from the factory btw.

 

I feel a bit insulted by cell phone pricing myself, as I have seen retail for you and me, and corporate. A Samsung Galaxy S7 Verizon is 99 cents for corporate--why was it recently $576 retail, and $320 new in box on eBay? iPhone 8 was $199 since it was launched, yet whatever retail? My inclination is I don't pay the $576 nor do I pay $756 for a Galaxy S8, when corporate is like $299. guess what I'm saying is no marketing can train me to say, you pay $756, it's a great deal, even better, it's $31.50/mo. with no interest. I agree with you, for one person to pay 99 cents, and another $576, I would be suspect to the $576. eBay is a fair market, so maybe the $320 is more in line with reality. I totally get that if you look at an aircraft, each person paid something different...just that marketing can never justify overpaying in my mind...

 

McCormick place is one of the more expensive venues in the country, which has resulted in many large and small shows leaving, along with increased demand at the Rosemont convention center just outside the city and a new convention center opening in suburban Schaumburg about 10 years ago to capture some of that business.

To put hard numbers on it, the cost runs anywhere between 85 cents and $1.50 per square foot, per day. So just renting the main exhibit floor while the show is open costs over $12 millon (possibly as much as $16 million), a number that likely doubles or even triples when you include pre-open events, setup/teardown time and the other areas besides the main show floor that are used. The Washington convention center does not publish their rates, but I would be quite surprised if it was dramatically more expensive.

 

+1. Marketing is really just companies trying to find someone who is in need of what they are selling - or at least, could be convinced of that. Maybe the "Genius Bar" was so named to appeal to those people who are not tech-savvy, and need someone who is "smarter" about tech to help them out? Obviously they're not certifiable geniuses - I'd have to see their IQ tests to verify their intellectual standing if I cared about that.

"Experience Amazing"... well, even that is debatable. Some people don't find cars amazing at all. I'd say most people on this forum would be able to find a car that's amazing, but to those who don't - should they feel excluded? I think not.

 

if someone hasnt already mentioned, I do see the ads on social media so they are indeed hitting the millennial crowd. Even if it is not a direct post from corporate, pics of modified and unmodified cars and renderings are reposted by individuals and, to me, are effectively advertising the brand. I think another motive for the ads is to keep those that are in a Lexus already, say an older lexus, mid 90s, early to 2000s, as you know how reliable those cars are, to stay with the brand, and eventually upgrade to the newer Lexus later down the line. Although funds cannot permit a brand spanking new lexus, a CPO and/or lease return is just as good. I think this strategy is working well for them.

 

Agreed. However, I do disagree somewhat with the pandering that happens in those ads, particularly the music-video-type ones. I really don't see how someone dancing around a car is supposed to make me want to buy it. Yeah, yeah... man and machine, fluidity in dance is followed by fluidity in sculpture, but... no. It's kind of a silly thing to behold. Millennials are smarter than that. We would want to know, "Okay, but what does the car do that other cars don't?"

On the other hand, the ads where someone's actually driving always seem to be aimed at a more mature crowd, but those are the ones I actually watch, as a millennial. Maybe I'm weird.

Edit: For example, the Infiniti ads where the guy keeps finding excuses to make a drive to the grocery store kinda resonated with me, because that was totally me during my first month with my IS in 2016.

 

at some point the Millennial crowd will mature and grow up and be older buyers, Lexus knows they can't survive unless they start grooming the younger buyer now. simple circle of life stuff..

The problem all around is more than just the generation, it is the cost of things, when I was 16 you could buy a 1960s/1970s muscle car with low miles for $3,000 - $5,000, heck my first car was a 1968 Thunderbird that was 13 year old with 64k that I paid $1,800 for. I was making just above minimum wage so a 3 year loan on that car was $130 a month, or one weeks pay, insurance was another $100 a month.

Today a good reliable car that is even 10 years old is going to cost $15K; on a 5 year loan that is going to be $300 a month $600 with insurance or more, as such the Millennial generation isn't buying cars at 16,17,18 years old, even parents are holding off letting them drive, most are getting into their 20s before they get their first car. At my high school in the 1980s we had a dedicated parking lot for students, 1300 juniors and seniors and 90% of them drove. At my daughters high school there are 3,000 juniors and seniors and less than 25% drive. there is no student parking lot, and student have to pay $50 a semester to park on campus, so most park on the street.

Lexus is grooming the young now, knowing they are going to be in their 20s and Lexus/Toyota wants to be the first vehicle these kids think of when they get to that point.. and hopefully hold on to them as a lifetime customer.. Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infinity are doing the same thing.. Where in I see GM and Ford aiming more toward the family group, all of their adverts seem to be aimed at families and people with homes and multiple kids.

 

i remember seeing that artsy dancing one too the sriracha IS, the lit up EDM IS, the cardboard IS, the sharpied IS etc... as much as i didnt like the ads, they stuck with you-i actually remembered all these nonsense ads. what has been cannot be unseen-darn you Lexus, and I think that's their whole intent, though I dont quite agree with it.

although, they did manage to get one right; the most memorable one that appealed to me (i gotta hand it to Lexus for this one) was the drifting RC350 from the superbowl a couple years back. i rewinded it several times and i remember my daughter and i just cracking up.

On another note, BTW, i was born in the early 80s. I'm an older millennial (if you believe in that single year boundary between millienials and genX) although I dont associate myself as one nor am I a generation-X. The microgeneration between Gen X and millenials are Xennials-source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/06...ls_a_23006562/

 

That is some pretentious marketing by apple. Sounds similar to naming your car/brand "smart" just because it is really really small(a cramped death trap) and supposedly gets very good fuel economy(in reality it doesn't).

 

Sheesh, too many generations.

I agree, I do remember the ads, but they did nothing to inform me about Lexus products. The RC 350 ad was actually pretty great though!

Nearly forgot about the Sriracha IS. I laughed a painful laugh at that one.

 

to add, an older Lexus can be had for $4-8000, so buy into the brand isnt so bad for a teen or someone in their 20s. A lot of older Lexuses have indeed survived-you just have to shop around and weed out the ones that were trashed or babied

 

You didn't list a year, so I guessed you made this purchase in 1981. In today's dollars that car cost about $4,900. Your payment was $353, and your insurance was $271.

Not even remotely close. My wife's Lexus is 10 years old, and KBB says we would expect a dealer to list it for around $11k, and sell it for around $10k (we could trade it in for $8k). There are a heck of a lot of reliable cars available for dramatically less than this, in part because they didn't cost $50k brand new. Hell, you can get a half-way decent reliable new or nearly new car for right around $15k. What exactly are you looking at that costs that much at 10 years old?

Lexus is grooming the young now, knowing they are going to be in their 20s and Lexus/Toyota wants to be the first vehicle these kids think of when they get to that point.. and hopefully hold on to them as a lifetime customer.. Honda/Acura, Nissan/Infinity are doing the same thing.. Where in I see GM and Ford aiming more toward the family group, all of their adverts seem to be aimed at families and people with homes and multiple kids.[/QUOTE]

 

I've often heard that McCormick Place is one of the more expensive major venues. It is a great place for a big show like the Auto Show with plenty of space, accessibility etc.