“X When You Want It”

Is it the frequency illusion or a genuine trend? Hard to say. I do know I’ve been seeing and hearing variations on the “X when you want it” sloganclone lately.

Here’s an ad for the Chevy Volt:

 

“Electric when you want it, gas when you need it.”

That’s also the tagline being used on Chevy’s underwriting credit on KQED-FM, my local NPR station.

Things could get interesting if Zipcar, the car-sharing service in the US, Canada, and the UK, adds Volts to its fleet. Zipcar’s slogan has been “Wheels when you want them” since at least 2006.

 

 

San Francisco-based Esurance, which is owned by insurance giant Allstate, has used “People when you want them. Technology when you don’t” as its slogan since June 2010. The slogan appears on the website and in all ads.

 

The campaign is called “Techie Feely”; the photos above depict Chad (on the left) and Sanjeev, who represent, respectively, “Feelies” and “Techies.”

I don’t have a grand theory about the popularity of “X when you want it/them,” but it looks to me like the latest iteration of the “YOU” ads that have been around for a couple of years. I wrote about that trend in November 2009 and in February 2010.

Comments

[mike]

Speaking of YOU-ology, have you already addressed the "... that you deserve" ploy?

[Nancy Friedman]

@Mike: I'll do some research! Wondering whether it all began with McD's "You deserve a break today," circa early 1970s. Or with L'Oreal's "Because I'm worth it."

Damn, now I want a break AND a different hair color.