Cruze is a $17,000 to $25,000 offering that GM hopes will take some sales back from the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.
TV and movie celeb Tim Allen will be the voice of Chevrolet starting with advertising for the all-new 2011 Cruze starting next Tuesday.
Allen displaces Howie Long, who is currently running on regional 2010 model year clearance spots and has been a Chevrolet spokesperson since 2004.
The classic Friday afternoon release made no mention of Long.
However, Joel Ewanick, the new vice president, U.S. marketing at General Motors, who recently jumped from Nissan after a brief stint there – literally weeks – following a gig at Hyundai, said, “Tim Allen brings the right combination of a recognizable voice with the credibility, likeability and humor that will connect with viewers.”
The change is indicative of the ongoing turmoil at GM, which is struggling to prove that it can increase its share post bankruptcy with an impending Initial Purchase Offering of stock due in the fourth quarter.
Year-to-date Chevrolet sales are, arguably, a bright spot, increasing 18.5% in a market that is up 8.4%. Overall, GM is only up 5%. Chevrolet delivered 131,952 total vehicles in August, a 22% decline from a taxpayer subsidized “clunkers” program, which dominated August of 2009. Retail sales for Chevrolet full-size trucks (Silverado, Avalanche, Tahoe and Suburban) rose 8%.
In April, Campbell-Ewald was dismissed as the agency of record for the Chevrolet brand after 90 years. C-E was replaced by Publicis Worldwide.
Then in May – in one of his first moves since Ewanick dumped Nissan – he fired Publicis Worldwide, which ironically was the Chevrolet agency of record only about as long as Ewanick was at Nissan.
Instead, he appointed Goodby Silverstein Partners to handle the multi-million dollar Chevy account, a decision that remains to be justified by ongoing Chevy sales increases.
The new Chevy agency was incorporated in 1983 as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein by co-founders Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein who had worked together at Ogilvy and Mather in San Francisco with then freelancer Andy Berlin. The agency started with limited funding yet landed prestigious accounts. In 1992 Omnicom, Inc. purchased the agency, in 1993 Berline left the agency and in 1994 the name was changed to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, and just ten years later in 2004 Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein were inducted in The One Club Hall of Fame for Advertisers.
Allen is known for his work in television’s “Home Improvement” and movies including the “Toy Story” trilogy, as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, and “The Santa Clause” franchise. He is a native of the Detroit area and is said in the release to have a long-standing love affair with automobiles.
Allen will debut in the advertising for the all-new Chevrolet Cruze, which will use news media comparisons to competitive cars in the hotly contested compact market long dominated by the Japanese. The Cruze is a design hybrid, so to speak, since its engineering was done at Opel in Germany and Daewoo in South Korea. North American versions go into production at Lordstown, Ohio, next week.
Cruze is a $17,000 to $25,000 offering that GM hopes will take some sales back from the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, the two class leaders, when the 2011 model Cruze appears this fall. The Nissan Altima is also a perennial contender in this game, and also needs to be reckoned with. (See Driving the Chevrolet Cruze )
The pricing – before any rebates or incentives appear – is right on top of the asking prices of Japanese cars, an ambitious move – if, big if, GM can make it stick. Certainly the hardware is competitive, but there are decades of bad small cars to overcome. And I will note, briefly, the bankruptcy and taxpayer bailout are unhelpful here in establishing badly needed momentum.
These new Cruze ads will be followed by additional television spots with what is said to be a large social media component, product integration in relevant shows and events, as well as advertising specific to the features and benefits of the Cruze.
“Tim Allen will be the voice in our Cruze advertising, but the car will be the star,” Ewanick said. “Our communication on the Cruze will highlight the car, its features and its competitive advantages.”
Advertising will ramp up later this fall, as the Cruze begins arriving in volume at dealerships.
(See also Chevy’s Revolving Door Claims Another Ad Agency)