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.)
“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.
Before joining GM, both Ewanick and Perry worked for Hyundai, where they were instrumental in using the Super Bowl to launch two new vehicles, the Hyundai Genesis, in 2009, and the Hyundai Sonata, in 2010.
The Sonata ad was deemed one of the best in last year’s informal judging of the individual advertising spots that have become part of the Super Bowl experience, which regularly draws the largest television audience of the year.
Michael Sprague, vice president marketing & communications, Kia Motors America, said the Super Bowl is an integral part of the company’s effort to promote new vehicles. Kia’s ad is in the first quarter of the game.
“After a successful Super Bowl advertising debut in 2010, with the Sorento commercial titled “Joyride Dream,” that reached more than 100 million people, it was an easy decision to return to the Super Bowl again this year to showcase the all-new Optima midsize sedan, which has been turning heads since its debut,” Sprague said.
The ongoing campaign for the all-new Optima midsize sedan is the largest launch effort in Kia’s history, Sprague added, noting, “We also have integrated several online executions to complement our overall Super Bowl campaign effort.”
Jim O’Donnell, the chairman and chief executive officer of BMW Holdings in the U.S., said the luxury maker plans to advertise during the Super Bowl XLV telecast.
“It’s expensive but it’s more than just the game,” O’Donnell said, noting the Super Bowl advertising spreads far and wide through the media eco-system.
The ads become part of the news coverage of the event and are spread virally via the Internet, he said. Ultimately, they are viewed millions of time, noted O’Donnell, which helped overcome the initial skepticism of his colleagues at BMW headquarters, in Munich.
With Super Bowl spots running between $2.8 million and $3 million, Chrysler has adopted a similar philosophy. It hasn’t specified which vehicle will star in its Super Bowl spots, however.
The company’s add on the 2010 Super Bowl underscored it was still in business and was seen, and then widely discussed, after the game.
Volkswagen of America, which is getting ready to launch the brand new Passat in a bid to increase market share in the U.S., also is preparing to advertise on Super Bowl XLV.
Ford, however, has elected to stick with its trusted strategy of adding a series of spots during the last 30 minutes of the pre-game show. The pre-games spots provide Ford with a huge presence within the Super Bowl envelope, noted Jim Farley, Ford’s global marketing chief.
Donna Boland, spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz USA, said the German luxury-car maker will advertise during the Super Bowl for the very first time.
“We’re doing this because of a confluence of several factors, among them the 125th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz brand and an unprecedented four major new model launches in 2011, which calls for a grand scale ‘kick off,’” Boland said.
“Nothing else delivers like the Super Bowl in terms of reach and buzz. And we want as many people as possible to see the bold new face of the brand,” she said.
Audi, Mercedes-Benz’s arch rival, has advertised on the Super Bowl for the past four years and already aired a new 60-second spot, which was billed as a prelude to its upcoming Super Bowl ad.
Audi’s teaser commercial titled “Goodnight” is inspired by the cadence and rhyme scheme of the original Goodnight Moon while taking the viewer on a journey through a traditional-style mansion laden with trite symbols of old, stuffy luxury.
The 60-second spot methodically says goodnight to the age of old luxury, defined by gluttony and excess, and features the all-new 2011 Audi A8 flagship sedan, the most technologically-advanced vehicle the company has ever produced and the apex of Audi’s new luxury lineup.
“We chose to feature the award-winning 2011 A8 because it represents today’s standard of progressive luxury – sophisticated, yet memorable design, the most advanced technology available, and unmatched performance,” Keogh said.