I am one of ‘those people’.
The crazy shoppers who venture out early into the cold dark of Black Friday.
This year I was struck by the wealth of items geared around Elf on the Shelf.
Which led me to think about Carfax.
Wait - the mischievous elf doesn’t make you think of Carfax?
Their tie together is really a marketing marvel.
The founders created demand at the ground level that forced the marketplace to buy them.
Brilliant but difficult and underused.
Carfax didn’t target dealerships with their car history product. They targeted consumers. And once they showed that having a true history of a car was a necessity, they changed their message to be…
‘Ask your dealer for the Carfax history report’
Now dealers HAD to sign up for the service. Because consumers were coming in and asking.
Same with the Elf. We didn’t have these when I was young. But my kids? Heck yeah we had one. Because kids were talking about them at school. And then they asked why didn’t Santa send us an Elf to visit? And of course we had the inevitable social media posts from other parents trying to outdo each other with how naughty/fun their elf was.
And parents who like to keep up with others couldn’t take that challenge lying down.
Both were successes by what I call ‘bubbling up’ marketing.
Driven by the people who aren’t expected to spend the money to purchase. Car buyers who want the dealers to pay. Kids who tell mom and dad ‘we need Snoopy!’ (that’s the name of our elf).
I’ve written extensively about EV adoption (and even hosted a multi episode podcast) about them.
What if brands like Tesla, or even legacy brands like Ford, had marketed benefits consumers resonated with?
Your house is your fuel station.
Your elderly parents can be mobile longer with self driving capabilities.
Perfect for the daily school-sports-grocery routine
Instead, EV manufacturers made what felt like the obvious decision: lean into the environmental benefits.
It probably made perfect sense at the boardroom table - climate change concerns, less gas consumption is better - let’s lead with our values.
And for early adopters? It worked. People who already prioritized environmental impact showed up ready to buy.
But then... who’s next?
How do you convince a midwestern family who doesn’t wake up thinking about carbon footprints that they need to spend $50,000+ on an electric vehicle?
You don’t. Not with that message.
The environmental angle was a top-down decision - what the manufacturers believed was important.
A bubbling up approach would have started with what those families actually care about - the ‘tank’ is filled while you sleep, mom can get herself to her doctor appointments safely and I can get to everything I need around town without having to stop for a gas.
Make soccer moms talk about it at pickup. Make neighbors ask about it over the fence. Make it inevitable that mainstream buyers walk into dealerships asking for them.
The decision EV makers faced was real: “How do we position these vehicles for mass market adoption?”
They chose the message that felt right to them. But the right decision isn’t always the one that aligns with your values - it’s the one that creates the market conditions where buying becomes inevitable.
What complex decision are you solving for the wrong audience?