The Great Super Bowl Ad Debate
David Ruggles
So the debate was on. I find that younger consumers, especially those who aren=t parents yet, were particularly fond of the ad. They also sympathize with the plight of Detroit. Who doesn’t? I gather that Mr. Mathers is somehow a hero of theirs. They haven’t gotten to the point in life where they feel threatened by angry young people yelling a form of loud Apoetry@ from under the cover of a hoodie, and everything that represents. I find that many parents with children old enough to be influenced by hip hop type entertainment tend to do what they can to protect their children for as long as they can, for better or worse.
The other ad in the debate is now referred to as AMini-Darth.@ The ad was from VW and was introducing the new Passat. The ad features a cute kid dressed as Darth Vader testing his Aforce@ powers on his Dad’s new Passat, assisted by his father operating remote control functions from inside the house using his remote key fob. Everyone in the cigar bar hooted and hollered over the VW ad driving me to conclude that it had much more universal appeal than the Chrysler ad.
Advertising costs for the Super Bowl reportedly approached 3 million per 30 seconds, making the Chrysler ad cost about 12 million dollars plus production costs.
The entire discussion brought me back to car ad campaigns of the past that are always discussed when the subject of advertising failures and/or counter productive advertising comes up. In particular, Lisa Marie Presley and ANot Your Father’s Oldsmobile@ comes to mind. People who tended to like the ads weren’t Oldsmobile buyers. It turns out the new Oldsmobiles were NOT anyone’s father’s Oldsmobile. Dad’s Olds was much better. The ads turned out to alienate Oldsmobile’s core constituency group, older buyers. One certainly cannot blame Oldsmobile=s demise solely on the ad, but perhaps history speaks for itself.
Folks who really liked the Chrysler ad have been quite passionate about it, especially as it pertains to defending Chrysler’s new spokesman . It certainly will become clear if they will buy a Chrysler because of him. If the 200 takes the Chrysler Sebring’s place as a ubiquitous fleet and daily rental vehicle, we will have our answer.
For my own part, I can’t imagine anyone recruiting Keith Richards, my favorite rocker, to sell Toyotas or Hondas, and I can’t imagine Chrysler’s choice this time. I remember thinking it strange to see Snoop Dog with Lee Iacocca in a Chrysler commercial a few years ago. I heard nothing but complaints about Celine Dion efforts as a spokesperson on behalf of the Chrysler Pacifica a few years back. But as “hip hop” goes, I AM a fan of the Kia hamsters! I think they work cheaper than Mr. Mathers, too. And they don’t seem to have any alienation quotient.
Mini Darth cost about 6 million plus production costs. Chrysler/Eminem cost about 12 million plus production costs.
Who got the most “bang for the buck?” Time will tell.
