The New Cars Re-Launch With Smart Marketing

For someone who saw The Cars in Boston many times both before and after they became famous, it’s a little hard to imagine The New Cars without deceased singer Ben Orr or Rick Ocasek (who always looked closed to being deceased). But the addition of Todd Rundgren on vocals as well as Kasim Sulton on bass and former Tube Prairie Prince on drums certainly helped to soften the blow.

What has impressed us the most so far about this "reunion" is how smart and creative the band’s management is being about promotion and marketing.  Of course they are doing the usual stuff like good advance press, a CD of live hits and new songs, and a sponsorship with VH1 Classic. They’ve also had the smarts to pair them on tour with another icon of the era Blondie (who say it is there last full tour ever) providing enough bang for the buck to get aging fans out their recliners.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Every person who buys a ticket to the inaugural tour via VH1 or Ticketmaster will get a code for a free full album download via eMusic.  Plus they’ve already got a spiffy new web site @ TheNewCars.com with music and all of the goodies you’d expect only from a much younger MySpace driven act. They’re also offering a number of smart VIP and membership packages.

Most of this has been done before, but seldom if ever have we seen this complete a package put together for a classic or adult act.  And as capitalistic as all of these VIP packages and memberships sound, what better time will The New Cars have than at their inception to monetize the surrounding hype? And who has more disposal cash than their adult fans now in their peak earning years?  It will be interesting to see how these new media promotional tools work for this act and their adult demographic.  We’re betting that it’s going to work.