On the back of 2019, a record year for Lamborghini in terms of sales with 8,205 units delivered, you might have expected 2020 to bring a rude awakening, given the global economic tsunami caused by Covid-19. Yet that has not been the case. "We have been very lucky; the numbers in September were incredible: it was our best month ever, with 738 units delivered to customers. October was also beyond expectations, with 613 vehicles. It goes to show Lamborghini is in a good spot right now," says Katia Bassi, the chief marketing officer of the VW Group-owned manufacturer, on a call with us in November.
For Bassi, that buoyancy makes connection more important, not less. "It is more important than ever to stay in touch and keep a good relationship with both the brand lovers and customers, whether through social media or other means like Unica," she says, referring to the app launched in 2018 exclusively for Lamborghini owners. "We believe this has been a very positive way of maintaining trust and open communications."
The marque has also shown it has not lost sight of the bigger picture, demonstrating as much through its "With Italy, For Italy" campaign, conceived to celebrate the Bel Paese at a moment when the country's total number of coronavirus infections surpassed one million in November. The project saw Lamborghini commission one photographer from each of Italy's twenty regions, plus an additional figure in the photojournalist Letizia Battaglia, whose association with Palermo is well documented. Each was given free rein over the summer to capture an image that symbolised the passion and love they feel for their home.
"Italy was the first Western country to be hit by the coronavirus, and we were a little bit ostracised as a result of this," Bassi adds. "So we wanted to say to all our brand lovers that, once you're able to travel again, Italy, in its entirety, is a wonderful place to discover." The brief was deliberately loose. "They could take any Lamborghini, past or present, without any requirement to make it the protagonist of their shot. All we wanted was that they make their region look as beautiful as possible," she explains.
That openness reflects a wider philosophy. A key tenet of Lamborghini's communication strategy, Bassi reveals, is to appeal to a mindset rather than a demographic. "I believe we are much closer to our sons, daughters, nephews and so on than our parents ever were with us. This is the result of a shared mindset, and it's for this reason that we believe our communication should remain ageless and gender fluid. At the end of the day, Lamborghini is a means of externalising who you are, not what you have."
