Apparently that should be my real name, and not because I have a degree in marketing but because I am the living proof that marketing and advertising work.

Discard the fact that my mother works in marketing and I used to– I’m not here to sell you on the value of spending money on marketing or to convince you to increase the budget of your marketing team.  I didn’t even understand what marketing was until I was in my teens.  I thought it had something to do with shopping or the supermarket or I’m not even sure what I thought, I certainly couldn’t wrap my head around the difference between marketing and advertising the first time my mom explained it.  Anyhoo, it works and I can prove it…..

So, yesterday The Runner and I bought a new car.  Well, it was mostly The Runner but because I’m sacrificing The Duchess (my car, which if it were pink, not baby blue would actually have come in a box with a Barbie logo) I suppose I can get away with saying that we bought a car.  Some background on me, The Duchess and The Runner.  I bought The Duchess (so named because of the Duke sticker on her rear window) shortly before or around the time that The Runner and I met.  Really as a 28 year old, single girl in Sydney, I thought a baby blue Peugeot hardtop convertible was the perfect car for me.  And it was, and I love her even despite her flaws (tiny backseat, slightly temperamental, growls a bit when you try to accelerate, doesn’t like going up hills, and there is the slight, minor dent which I never get fixed that sort of takes up most of the passenger side).

Anyway, fast forward a few years and The Duchess has been our main/only car for most of our relationship, it’s great, we’ve driven her up to Coffs Harbour, to the Hunter Valley, down to Jervis Bay and all points in between, there’s just one thing,  The Runner hates her and hates being seen driving her…..(refer back to the earlier comments on The Duchess being what Barbie drives when her Ferrari is in the shop- seriously, I even found this game on the internet- check it out! http://www.dressupbarbie.net/play-285-peugeot-206cc-makeover.html)  He thinks she’s too girly for him, which in fairness, unless he’s pretending to be Mardi Gras Ken, is probably true.  Plus, now that he has his super flash bike, it’s awkward when he puts the bike on the back of The Duchess because the bike is worth more than her.  So The Runner has been plotting against her for a while and has been lobbying for a new car for about 18 months.

So yesterday, it happened.  We spent all day in a car shopping and test driving marathon.  Literally, 2 Peugeots, 1 Mazda and 1 Subaru later with a Nissan still to see, we finally bit the bullet.  We liked the Peugeots (both of them)- The Runner has always had Peugeots and The Duchess wanted to see her legacy live on, but wish they had combined the two cars we liked into 1 SuperGood Perfect car.  Seriously Peugeot, why make two cars that are the same size, roughly the same price but with totally different features in both.  The Mazda was ok, but the salesman killed the deal when he started going on and on and on about how common and popular they are…..Hello, do we seem common to you buddy?  He didn’t get the hint and kept going on about it, no Thank You!  Plus, I HATED the cloth seat pattern….picky I know.  However, when we got to the Subaru, everything just clicked, I’m not saying there were harps or angels or trumpets or anything but The Runner and I were both in love.  We had found the perfect car for us, despite its smaller boot…. We were thrilled!  3 hours and lots of handshakes later, we’d agreed to ditch The Duchess and go for it.  So what’s the big deal right?  What point am I making?

Well….. Glad you asked.  There we were this morning on the couch watching highlights from the Noosa Triathlon on TV.   And what did we see over and over and over again??  Ads for Subaru, our new car, and more Subaru logos.  Subaru as it turns out is one of the official sponsors of the Noosa Triathlon.  So there were miles and miles and miles of signs along the course, almost all of the official vehicles were- wait for it, the Subaru XV, also known as our new car.  Yup, that’s right.  For 5 days in Noosa, we would have seen the Subaru logo in the background everywhere and seen our dream car all over town.  At the Expo, parked at the Roundabout during the race, in orange, in polka dot, in camo paint, you name it, it was probably there.  The cherry coke colour we chose that we both swore we had never seen it in before- yup, nearly certain it was there and that we saw it in Noosa at some point.  So there you have it, The Runner and I are living proof that sponsorship and advertising work.   After a week of subliminal and not so subliminal marketing, we took the bait and bought the car!  So now, rather than having a car that Barbie and Skipper can frolic to the beach in, we have a Triathlete car– not sure what that means exactly, but it’s definitely not girlie – and if it is, it’s a girl with Lady Muscles who is a bit badass!!

P.S.  We’re not idiots, just very open to persuasion– after all, it is a pretty good car!