Friday, December 3, 2010

Stuck in Park: Smart trying to rejuvenate brand with… foil stickers



smartstickers630 300x167 Stuck in Park: Smart trying to rejuvenate brand with... foil stickers

Any press release dated April 1 is a potential disinformation landmine, but news of Smart’s latest attempt to make the ForTwo enticing seems legit. The diminutive Smart ForTwo has fallen on its face in the North American market, down 61 percent this March versus last year, and judging from the latest bit of groundbreaking marketing from Smart’s UK outpost, the word is out that there’s not much “there” there.
Adding stickers and interior customization options to a car that’s having a tough time in the marketplace is the auto sales equivalent of adding a cute kid to the cast of a failing sitcom. Smart has gone there by collaborating with Germany’s Timo Wuerz to design new foil stickers for the ForTwo’s Tridion safety cell. Patterns include skylines, stars, and flowers. Everybody w00t as you tweet the news. Brabus has been sucked into it, too, affixing its name to a carbon fiber-look applique package for the interior. There’s a Brabus LED daytime running light package as well, that’s actually a functional option.