Posts Tagged ‘car ads’

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia – Special Triscadecaphobia Edition

by on Jan.04, 2013

The godfather of bad TV auto advertising, Cal Worthington, lives on.

We saw 2012 end with metaphoric skyrockets lighting the midnight sky for most auto marketers. Business was far better than expected. It was good, damn near great! Some auto advertisers were patting themselves on the back for their Super Bowl ads that went viral – viral all year! The consumer marketplace despite the on-going recession was in the car buying and leasing mood.  Result?

Single malts and champagne toasts along with the occasional long necks were raised in praise of the outgoing year along with great expectations and eager optimism for 2013.

The Last Word!

But in some corners of the automotive marketing, advertising, promotion and public relations world the future was at best bleak. There were more important new ad agency appointments in 2012 than ever before with many unplanned career changes and relocations for creatives, media and suits at every level. And there’s at least one big switch to come in the New Year with others rumored.

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia: Domestic Goddess Edition

Martha pitches Toyota, Blake rebounds for Kia, Adweek honors Olivier, and TED honors Mazda.

by on Nov.02, 2012

Martha Stewart will team up with Toyota for the launch of the new Avalon.

Doyen of domesticity moves into garage: Martha Steward & Toyota Avalon

Sheets, towels, paint, pots, pans, plants, party planning, gardening, television shows, publications and more are just some of the associations Martha Stewart has used to become one of most powerful women and brands — targeted to an estimated 66 million women every month. Now add Toyota and the Japanese brand’s all-new 2013 Avalon which becomes the latest product on Ms. Stewart’s resume as part of “Martha Stewart’s American Made initiative.”

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A Toyota spokesperson noted, “Partnering with Martha Stewart and the American Made initiative made perfect sense for us – after all, about 70% of Toyota vehicles sold in the US are built here.  And, the 2013 Toyota Avalon is the perfect example of our commitment to building in America.  The Avalon was designed, engineered and built right here in the USA.”

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia

The Bummer Summer

by on Sep.21, 2012

Cadillac vs. The World

The scarcity of these columns the past several months was caused by a lengthy health hiatus not a lack of news, opinion or comments about automotive marketing, advertising and promotion. Far, far from it.

Confined for weeks to a hospital bed most of my non-sleep hours were spent watching TV, hours of mind-numbing reality programs, news from both sides, Wimbledon tennis coverage, the London Olympics and cooking shows.

Details! Details! Details!

Interspersed were a few good commercials and some not-so-good car commercials one could imagine especially those terrible summer sale commercials.

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia: Taking Gas

Memorial Day special edition.

by on May.27, 2011

Nissan's new ad campaign examines a world where everything is powered by gas.

Nissan Leaf ad asks what would happen if everything used gas

Have you filled the tank of your new Nissan Leaf?  Excuse me? Nissan’s new Leaf campaign takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what would happen if everything in our daily lives used gasoline and the problems that would cause. This somewhat different approach comes from the brand’s creative manifesto which, in part asks, “What if everything ran on gas? No electricity. No renewables. Just gas.” Like your alarm clock and your dentist’s drill’

“But everything doesn’t run on gas,” the series points out. “Most things run on electricity, which is clan, and quiet and uses fewer parts, and needs less maintenance. Most things can be plugged in and charged up and don’t need a tank or a pump.”

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And the payoff is of course the all-electric Leaf.  When questioned about this approach, Jon Brancheau, Nissan’s vice president of marketing commented, “By using humor and asking the simple question, ‘what if everything ran on gas’ we’re able to rationally make the case that electric cars’ time has arrived.”

The campaign is a full multimedia push using television, online, print and direct marketing to convey the message. And the campaign, which breaks Monday, Memorial Day, takes every day products and situations and injects gas-powered-humor to sell the Leaf with these four :15-second teaser commercials: (more…)

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Kia Takes Ad Award With Hip-Hop Soul Campaign

Making $13 bil in auto ads pay off.

by on Apr.21, 2011

Kia's "ham-stars" take top ad honors.

The incredibly popular Kia hamsters scored big in the 2011 Nielsen Automotive Advertising Award.  The automaker’s latest campaign, which put the soul in the Kia Soul, was named Ad of the Year at a New York Auto Show news conference.

Spending on automotive advertising surged to a record $13 billion in the U.S. last year, carmakers putting about 4,400 different commercials in front of TV viewers in a bid to get potential customers into showrooms.

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“Today’s TV viewer is drinking from a firehose,” said Iain Beavis, Nielsen Automotive’s executive vice president.

The problem, said Beavis, during an event attended by several thousand automotive executives and reporters, is that there are all too many ineffective ads that are “wasting your money.”

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia – Super Bowl Redux

Super Bowl auto ads not super with panels.

by on Feb.08, 2011

VW's Darth Vader spot - one of the few automotive ads to resonate with viewers during the Super Bowl.

It doesn’t matter which reviewer, panel or research group has measured, evaluated or analyzed the 60 commercials in Super Bowl XLV, with rare exception, the game’s automotive ads did not resonate with consumers.

(Or did they? Click Here to check this take on Chrysler’s spot with rapper Eminem that has everyone talking – and linking to YouTube.)

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In the USA Today ranking, the go-to-list for many, the only auto ad in the Top 10 was the Volkswagen’s “The Force” (Darth Vader) ad at #3 was the most effective automotive ad (10% more effective than the average Super Bowl ad) in a Super Bowl dominated by auto manufacturers based on data supplied to me by Ace Metrix.

“The Super Bowl became the Auto Bowl this year with 19 automotive ads versus 8 a year ago,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix and author of “How to Make a Winning Super Bowl Ad.” “VW’s ‘The Force’ was a hit across all demographic groups, harnessing the right mix of likeability, watchability and cute.”

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia – Super Bowl Edition

Gridiron gridlock as 8 brands vie for a nation's attention.

by on Feb.04, 2011

Chevy hopes for some volcanic results from its Silverado Tommy Super Bowl ad.

Sunday, over 100 million viewers will turn their dials to Fox for the 45th broadcast of the Super Bowl, America’s annual homage to the NFL — and new commercials.  Auto advertisers are showing muscle on the annual broadcast, each kicking in at least $3 million per :30-second commercial (a record $100,000 per second!) — plus at least a million or two million bucks more for production, music and talent.

It will be gridlock on the gridiron, with Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, VW and Suzuki — along with auto sector players CarMax, Cars.com and Bridgestone — popping for big bucks to convince, persuade, motivate millions to visit their dealers’ showrooms.  And don’t forget other makers, like Ford, who will establish a presence on the pre- and post-game shows or by targeting regional outlets, rather than network buys.  The real winner is Fox, with ad sales estimated to reach $280 to $300 million for XLV.

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History has shown, and research has proven, most American’s love Super Bowl commercials, it’s a significant part of the event’s entertainment and for some who really don’t like football, commercials become the event itself. But a commercial has to meet the rigorous Super Bowl standards of excellence and quality in every element and detail of the commercial; to start with, it must be entertaining.

(For another take on Super Bowl’s sundary auto ads, Click Here.)

Running just a regular product or service commercial is, many ad experts and media mavens believe, a total waste of money no matter the ad category. These non-entertaining commercials, other than the game itself are often the perfect time to take a bathroom break or grab a cool one.  There are just too many car commercials which I believe will confuse more than convince as the game goes on.

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Automakers Tackle Super Bowl Sundary

Which automakers will score a TD?

by on Feb.03, 2011

Audi's new ad campaign says, "Goodbye, old luxury," and "Hello, Super Bowl."

Automakers are setting up for Super Bowl Sunday with one of the largest ad lineups ever. Even Suzuki, which has a miniscule ad budget, plans to use a clever mix of local advertising spots bought for 14 different markets to get in on the action.

“It’s where the big brands play,” said Chris Perry, the new vice president of marketing at General Motors, which is planning to air no fewer than five-different Chevrolet ads during the game, at a cost approaching $15 million.

(Marketing maven Marty Bernstein rates the Super Bowl auto ads. Click Here for the results.)

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“It doesn’t matter whether you are at home on the couch or in a bar somewhere with other people, you’re part of the culture. That’s where American culture is defined. You have to be there if you want to be part of the conversation,” said Perry.

Joel Ewanick, GM’s vice president of marketing, also said GM wants more exposure for its four surviving core brands — and is willing to pay for it. “We’re going to spend more on these brands,” he said.

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia

The best automotive ads of 2010 -- brought to you by Nissan?

by on Jan.04, 2011

It was a big year for Nissan, which not only launched the Leaf battery car, shown here, but which captured consumer attention with its TV spots.

The last strains of Auld Lang Syne have faded until next December 31st but the annual bacchanal of Car of the Year, or COTY, corporate ego/hype awards culminates next week at the Detroit Auto Show with the selection of the car and truck of the year, as determined by a select group of 50 auto journalists.

You can be certain the winners will proclaim their accolades proudly in their advertising, particularly television commercials, which even with all the social media acclaim and hyperbole, still gets the biggest part of every auto advertiser’s budget.  But just how effective and memorable are car commercials with consumers?

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Ace Metrix, a respected authority in television advertising effectiveness has just announced the Ace Score Top Television Ads in several categories including automotive advertising. The winners in the auto category are going to shock, surprise and stun some of the new crop of recently added advertising agencies and their clients as well as long term agencies still on the roster as agency of record.

The top 3 winners were:

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Marty’s Marketing Minutia: Holiday Special

Ho, ho, ho - now, please buy our car.

by on Dec.13, 2010

Ho, ho, ho...automakers hope to find plenty of green under their trees, this holiday.

Two signs the automobile industry is recovering from the economic maelstrom: one, there are more and better hors d’oeuvres at events sponsored by auto brands and two, satellites and cable transmissions are spewing out a seemingly endless variety of mind-numbing snow flake, smiling face, Santa, red ribbon commercials to sell viewers on buying that new car now. It’s perfect for Christmas, Hannukkah or Kwanza, right?

I haven’t seen all of the commercials, thank goodness, but Ace Metrix, an LA based research authority on television advertising effectiveness, has just released its Ace Scores for 2010 holiday-themed automotive ads. Overall these seasonal ads increased 10% over 2009.

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“Automobile ads scored higher this year, particularly the ‘Desire’ and ‘Relevance’ scores, which indicate that consumers are more receptive to the marketer’s message. Perhaps feeling more comfortable in their own financial situation, these ads are tapping into consumers’ pent-up interest in a new vehicle,” said Peter Daboll, chief executive of Ace Metrix.

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