Senior Vice President, Marketing, SUBARU OF AMERICA
Alan Bethke is the Vice President, Marketing at Subaru of America and provides strategic leadership to all marketing and advertising functions to create a strong and differentiated demand platform for the Subaru brand and all of the Subaru models. He was instrumental in defining and stewarding Subaru's highly successful “Love” campaign including developing strategy and award-winning advertising creative.
Since joining Subaru in 2003, he has also been Director of Marketing Communications, Manager of Marketing Operations and Planning, and National Advertising Manager. During his tenure, Subaru has refined its identity and reached record levels of brand awareness. Early on, Alan Bethke recognized that Subaru had some of the most loyal owners in the category. He also knew that if the carmaker could determine what was driving that loyalty, it could find others in the market who shared those same values.
Moving away from rational sales messages, Bethke embraced an emotional approach by positioning the car as the co-conspirator to living a bigger life. This move has propelled Subaru from the best kept secret to the darling of the automotive industry. After all, “LOVE - IT'S WHAT MAKES A SUBARU, A SUBARU.”
Alan Bethke holds a Bachelor of Arts in marketing from the Penn State Smeal College of Business and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Master’s from the Rutgers School of Business in Camden. Prior to Subaru, he worked at Maytag as a district sales manager and American Suzuki Motor Corporation in a variety of marketing and sales roles. His diverse life experiences include working in Japan and across eight states in America.