It may sound like a question from the Seinfeld show, but in my view, it’s a legitimate one. Hardly a day passes by without a new teaser photo or video distributed to auto media outlets by carmakers’ PR departments.
Nowadays, most new models are previewed by at least one teaser, which most of the times, shows the car either completely covered in a sheet, or hidden under a blanket of black smoke. That’s it, nothing more.
Don’t get me wrong, up to a point teasing is an understandable tool used by car companies to build anticipation and create hype about their upcoming models. Brands want to keep buyers updated with their launch schedule and to make sure people know what models and when will come out next. However, while I don’t know which was the first automotive teaser in history, I’m sure it was a marketing employee that pushed it to the table.
For me, an efficient teaser campaign involves progressively showing more “skin” with each new teaser, just like Ferrari did with its LaFerrari supercar. Although one could argue there were one too many teasers, at least every new one showed a different perspective and stimulated the imagination of car enthusiasts.
But when the teaser is a sheet with (presumably) a car under it, I’m afraid I don’t see the point of it. Except those increasingly rare cases of cars with unusual shapes (not sedans or hatches, for God’s sake), I believe teasers like these are just a waste of time and an abuse of readers’ patience.
To support my point of view, I’ve compiled a gallery with such teaser photos. Do you think they are valuable marketing tools or simply nonsense that nobody cares about?
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
