Buick, Audi and Mini have opted to advertise on this year’s telecast of the Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, which is expected to attract more than 100 million viewers once again.
It will be the first time ever that Buick will appear on the Super Bowl and Tony DiSalle, U.S. vice president of Buick and GMC, marketing said the spot will give Buick a chance to highlight the changes in the brand’s lineup, which is quickly evolving with the addition of vehicles such as the Buick Cascada and Buick Envision.
Buick has set global sales record in each of the last three years and 2016 is looking even better. The drop in Buick sales in the U.S. could be traced back to GM’s decision to concentrate on retail sales and pull back from fleet and sales to daily rental companies, he said.
With the economy stable, the price for the television spots to record levels. The cost of a 30-second ad slot during Super Bowl 50 has climbed to more than $5 million, according to CBS, which holds the broadcast rights for the 2016 game. The fees are up 11% from the 49th Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, which brought NBC $4.5 million for a 30-second spot.
But the rising prices haven’t deterred automakers, which have stepped up to purchase time on the broadcast. The Super Bowl has become a favorite venue for brands facing challenges of various kinds, both Kia and Acura are also considered challenger brands, looking for more space in a crowded market place.
Michael Sprague, Kia Motor America’s chief operating officer, said Kia is planning on airing a commercial during the Super Bowl for the seventh year in a row and this year’s spot will probably feature the new 2016 Kia Optima, which will be well into its launch by early February. The revamped 2016 Kia Optima began arriving in dealerships at the end of October.
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Acura said it will make a play during the first quarter of Super Bowl 50 with a new brand commercial that will focus on the luxury automaker’s North American roots.
“As the Acura brand continues to gain momentum and the next-generation NSX supercar is about to make its market debut as the pinnacle expression of Acura performance and prestige, the Super Bowl is the perfect place for Acura to make a powerful brand statement to one of the largest viewing audiences in American history, and one that is incredibly attentive to advertising,” said Jon Ikeda, vice president and general manager of Acura.
Honda’s luxury brand made its Super Bowl debut in 2012 with a spot that depicted the Acura NSX, before the supercar’s powertrain was completely redesigned. The new Super Bowl commercial is a part of marketing strategy that conveys the brand’s values, North American roots and future direction. Acura is now one of the fastest growing luxury brands in America – on track for its fifth consecutive year of increased sales and its best annual sales total since 2007.
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Ikeda noted that Acura is one of the fastest growing luxury brands in America – on track for its fifth consecutive year of increased sales and its best annual sales total since 2007. Audi, which had a record year in 2015 but is trying mightily to avoid the backlash from the Volkswagen Group’s emission scandal, is also planning to advertise on the Super Bowl.
Other brands such Volkswagen and perhaps most famously, Chrysler, which used the broadcast to debut its “Imported from Detroit” campaign, have used the Super Bowl make a statements that show their overall vitality and latent strengths.
However, Olivier Francois, the chief marketing officer for Fiat Chrysler, which has aired some memorable Super Bowl spots in recent years, declined to comment on the company’s plans for this year’s telecast, noting they were still under development. But he noted that the Jeep brand was celebrating a notable anniversary, 75th, this year, is already being highlighted in various ways.
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One brand that plans to avoid the telecast of the Super Bowl itself is Ford Motor Co. Mark Fields, Ford chief executive officer, said the company will not advertise on the Super Bowl this year. Ford, a major sponsor of the National Football League, usually places its spots on the pre-game show.
