Well, for those who fall into the latter category, worry not, there’s a car for you. Snuggie haters can unite over the new commercial by DDB Canada for the Subaru Outback. It starts off with 11 seconds of a Snuggie ad, which is interrupted by a rugged outdoorsman ripping the ad out with a crowbar and suggesting, “you should get out more”.
To me, this ad is simply amazing. I don’t think I have ever seen this form of ingredient branding (if you could call it that) in a commercial before. Normally, brands leverage the positive emotions associated with other brands in order to enhance their own image, such as a PC manufacturer gaining credibility by saying it has “Intel Inside”. But rarely do you see a company mocking another brand, from an entirely different category, to establish its own identity and positioning. What is even more astonishing is that Subaru allegedly bought the rights to the Snuggie ad. So, Snuggie thinks it is perfectly legal and acceptable for the car manufacturer to run this ad. What? Normally, you would expect a brand to want to safeguard its image – instead, Snuggie is perfectly happy to be the butt of Subaru’s joke. Do they truly believe that any publicity is good publicity?
My guess is that this is a carefully crafted business decision on their part, since the ad only reinforces their identity as a ridiculous, seemingly pointless brand and that image is what got them their cult following in the first place. In fact, the company often insists that they always wanted to be a little cheesy and attract customers through humor. Whether they expected the Snuggie to become a pop culture cult phenomenon, complete with hundreds of Facebook groups (fans and haters) and spoof videos on YouTube, is still unknown.
Consumer reactions are another thing to consider. As a Snuggie owner, I’m not ticked off by the Subaru ad. In fact, I think it’s hilarious. Maybe it’s because the Snuggie is so widely mocked, or maybe it’s because it is just a cheap and low involvement purchase – but it doesn’t really offend. What does that say about the brand?
That’s not to say that people who own Snuggies aren’t judged. After I bought mine (in an attractive bubblegum pink), I posted a picture of it on Facebook and I came under fire almost instantly. One friend said that it looked great and she wanted to get one too, but the other ten comments were all in the vein of “Snuggies are evil!” and “Oh no, you didn’t!”None of these people are particularly outdoorsy, but I’m sure they will love the new Subaru ad. They might also approve of the Lippi-Selk sleeping bag, an insulated sleeping bag with arms and legs that you can wear outdoors! When you’re driving around in your Subaru! Well, maybe not.
But like it or not, the Snuggie is, at least for now, a resounding success. It has sold 5 million units, raised over $300 million in retail sales, and was rated by AdAge as one of the hottest brands of 2009. Snuggie held its own fashion show during New York’s Fashion Week, showcasing its new zebra and leopard prints, and has now launched an entire line for kids and dogs .
What is the secret to Snuggie's success? Who knows. Most As-Seen-On-TV products attempt to create a need where none exists, but maybe there really was an underserved, untapped market of people who felt disproportionately cold in their arms than in any other part of the body, and the Snuggie’s predecessor, the Slanket , just creeped people out by its name. Or maybe people just couldn’t stop laughing at the annoying and exaggerated way that the Snuggie actors shivered before they put on their oversized monk robes. Whether or not the craze lasts, the Snuggie is clearly a case study that will be examined for a very long time.
