by Marty Bernstein | Feb 4, 2011
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...
by Marty Bernstein | Jan 28, 2011
Let’s face it, advertisers love sports – perhaps none more than in the auto industry. Last year’s FIFA World Cup was the biggest worldwide televised sports event in history, next in total number of viewers is expected to be next weeks Super Bowl XLV, with commercials...
by Marty Bernstein | Jan 4, 2011
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...
by Marty Bernstein | Dec 13, 2010
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...
by Marty Bernstein | Nov 19, 2010
Everyone who watches television is subject to commercials — yes, even on PBS — which means everyone is a television commercial critic and at least self-styled expert. This fact, comes much to the chagrin of the professional ad critics, ad agency...
by Marty Bernstein | Nov 9, 2010
Millennia ago when historians say Pheidippides ran 26+ miles from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce the Persians had been defeated in an epic battle, who would have imagined it could become the precursor of a business model metaphor: who would defeat...
by Marty Bernstein | Oct 25, 2010
The announcement seems almost unreal, like a promo for the popular TV series, Mad Men, rather than an actual press release. But after reading it a second and third time we realized this wasn’t a fictional ad agency shake-up but a very real parting of ways between two...
by Marty Bernstein | Oct 22, 2010
The Brit’s historical axiom to announce the demise of the ruling monarch is, “The King is dead. Long live the King.” After General Motors double-dip executive raid of the marketing department of Hyundai America the operative phrase could be, “The CMO is gone. Long...
by Marty Bernstein | Oct 11, 2010
Once upon a time the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company was viewed as the American automotive pinnacle of luxurious sophistication, success and status. These were the halcyon days of great looking, really big vehicles like the Mark series. Then the brand became...
by Marty Bernstein | Sep 17, 2010
When I first started reviewing automotive advertising for Automotive News several years ago I would not review a commercial I had not first seen on television. The reels from agencies stacked up in my office, but this was a point of integrity: if, as Mr. Average...
by Marty Bernstein | Sep 7, 2010
The fourth Grand Slam event of professional tennis, the US Open is now underway, the stars of the circuit battling it out, over two weeks, for a multi-million-dollar purse. This premiere event is the highest-attended athletic event in the world attracting over 729,000...
by Marty Bernstein | Jul 21, 2010
A few years ago in a sweeping change in positions that surprised the auto industry, Jack Pitney, then head of the new Mini division, switched jobs with Jim McDowell, who was serving as the British marque’s vice president of marketing. In the famous words of Yogi...
