The countdown clock is ticking until the kick-off of Super Bowl XLVI and more auto advertisers are revealing their Game Day commercials. Noticeably absent in the pre-game hype- AGAIN this year- is Chrysler Group. Last year, Chrysler was mum until its 2-minute “Imported From Detroit” spot for the Chrysler 200 aired during the game. Sometimes surprises are good. This year, Chrysler will have a :90 commercial that we’ll all just have to wait to see.

American Honda Motor unleashed a long version of its Super Bowl commercial, starring actor Matthew Broderick in a modern-day version of his movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

This 2:25 video shows Broderick calling in sick and escaping in his all-new, fourth-generation 2012 Honda CR-V to have some fun.

This is a fun spot that’s bound to break through the clutter during the Big Game this Sunday. Honda’s longtime agency, RPA in Santa Monica, tapped big-time director Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School) for this work.

The commercial is one of the best RPA has done for Honda in a long time and is far and away superior to the first launch work for the new CR-V that broke at the start of the year, including this one from RPA, called “Proposal”

Honda’s CR-V Super Bowl commercial is also tied into the Leaplist. Honda.com site, where there’s a CR-V Leap Year Contest to win a new CR-V and other prizes. Honda has smartly tied in with social media, encouraging its Facebook fans to find and comment on the dozens of “Easter eggs” in the spot reminiscent of the original Bueller flick. That link is http://www.facebook.com/hondacrv

And here comes the Toyota brand, which is advertising in the Super Bowl for the first time in three years.

Toyota is pushing the seventh-generation 2012 Camry with this entertaining commercial called “Reinvented” from Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles

Although this version is a minute long, this spot will be sliced to a :30 commercial for the Super Bowl and one of two :30s the brand will have in the game. Toyota says this commercial is scheduled to air in the third quarter and will be backed by a social media play kicking off after the spot airs. Viewers will be encouraged to go to Twitter and tweet with the #Reinvented hashtag about what they’d like to see reinvented. Toyota will respond to select tweets in real time with a creative depiction of that idea.
Toyota doesn’t have a history of exciting advertising, so this one is a breath of fresh air.

Not so for Kia, which has only released a sexy teaser for its Super Bowl commercial, starring Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima for the new Optima

We’ll see if the old adage “Sex Sells” works for Kia in this case. Don’t bet on it. We much prefer Kia’s “Epic” entry in last year’s Super Bowl for the Optima, also from DavidandGoliath in Los Angeles.

Kia’s affiliate, Hyundai is back for its fifth straight year as a Big Game advertiser. Hyundai said it will have five spots on game day: two during the pre-game, one in pre-kick slot and two in the game. Innocean Worldwide Americas in Huntington Beach, California, is the brand’s creative agency of record.

Hyundai is using the very-recognizable and uplifting theme from the movie “Rocky” for this minute-long spot, called “All For One,” about team work at its Montgomery, Alabama plant

Then there’s this one, called “Think Fast,” for the 2013 Genesis Coupe, which comes with a 348-horsepower, V-6 engine

How about this one for the 201-horsepower Veloster Turbo?

Sorry, but a guy getting mauled by a cheetah isn’t that funny.

Hyundai is also patting itself on the back for its big win for the 2012 Elantra as Car of the Year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month with this commercial, called “Victory Lap”

Look for that one to air sometime before the game starts.

Lastly is Cadillac, which is pre-launching its new ATS with this snoozer called “Green Hell” from Fallon

There are certainly a lot of car ads made at Germany’s Nürburgring, so this commercial won’t break through the clutter. If you’re going to advertiser in the Super Bowl- Go Big or don’t bother!

Late Edition Addition: Honda’s Acura brand is pulling out all the stops for its first appearance as a Super Bowl advertiser. The brand has a minute-long spot featuring Jerry Seinfeld, who tries his hardest to move from number 20 to first on the list to get the new, upcoming 2012 NSX. There’s appearances by the Soup Nazi, Jay Leno, an, an alien and dancing holographic monkeys. You can see the longer 1:52 version here

Acura says it wants to strengthen its brand awareness. No doubt. The brand sold 123,299 new vehicles in the USA last year, an 8% drop from 2010.

The spot, called “Transactions,” was created by Acura’s agency rp&, a sibling of Honda’s longtime shop RP&A in Santa Monica.

OUCH! And Chevrolet has taken direct aim at Volkswagen’s already-released Big Game commercial teaser, with dogs barking out Star Wars’ theme song.

General Motors’ volume brand has uploaded a dog video of its own, from the popular OK Go group. Chevy teamed with the band for a new MTV video arriving this weekend featuring the Sonic. Chevy doesn’t call out VW by name, but in describing the video on YouTube says “we’ve all seen videos with talented dogs. Chevrolet’s favorite came from OK Go last year.”

Let the game begin!

(See my earlier posts for Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Lexus and Suzuki’s Bowl entries)

MAKING TRACKS: Anthony Kuhn joined Everist Genomics Inc as Director of Strategic Alliances. Tony has lots of ad agency experience, having worked at TBWA, Lowe and Bozell.

FOLLOW ME, JEAN HALLIDAY : on Facebook & LinkedIn

On TWITTER @jhal2001

“There’s 11 automakers advertising in the Super Bowl, so we had to figure out how we can make people laugh and make sure it’s enteraining enough to get out information from us- not just during the Super Bowl, but what do we do before, during and after,” Chevy’s Chris Perry VP-global marketing and strategy said today at a press conference at GM’s Detroit headquarters.

Believe me, you’re not going to be able to miss Chevrolet before, during or after the game. This is a smart play by Chevy, which needs to change brand perceptions and improve buyer consideration.

Chevy got the ball rolling Jan. 22 with this national commercial during the NFL NFC Championship game introducing the Chevy Game Time mobil app. Entrants can win one of 20 Chevrolet vehicles and other prizes from Chevy, Bridgestone, Motorola, Papa John’s Pizza, apparel from the NFLShop.com and Sirius XM Radio.

Perry said Chevy got more than 100,000 downloads of the app within the first 36 hours and now stands at over 130,000.

The brand has several Super Bowl sponsorships this year. Chevrolet is the only advertiser for Twitter’s official Super Bowl area, which is already live. Chevy is the exclusive auto sponsor on NBC’s live online streaming of the Big Game and gets ad time during every 30-minute break. Post-Game, it has auto exclusivity as the co-sponsor with USA Today of its AdMeter on Facebook that will let consumers vote on their favorite Super Bowl ads seen on Hulu and YouTube. Also post-game, the marketer is giving away a Chevy Corvette to the Most Valuable Player, as it did last year.

Starting February 2, look for short, online snippets on video sites like Hulu and YouTube starring actor Rainn Wilson of “The Office,” taunting viewers to watch Chevrolet’s Super Bowl ads on its YouTube channel. Chevy’s Group Advertising Manager Rick Martinek, who shepherded the brand’s entire Big Game effort over the past four months, said Wilson appears in 15 short promos ranging from 5 seconds to 15. Here’s one

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty – the actual television spots. Perry said he hasn’t decided which ones will air and several of the ones he showed today to reporters were still rough cuts. Chevy won’t upload the commercials until next week.

One that will be seen on Game Day for sure is a minute-long commercial that broke recently called “Happy Grad” for the Camaro Convertible and is from New York independent filmmakerZack Borst , 26, who entered Chevy’s Route 66 promotion last year

 Chevy’s USA creative agency of record Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, did most of the other commercials for the Super Bowl. The Sonic is getting its first television advertising since its online-only launch last September. Goodby’s one-minute Sonic spot, called “Stunt Anthem,” shows a compilation of all of the wild non-televised exploits for the Sonic, including this so called Kickflip

The commercial directs viewers to Sonic’s LetsDoThis.com site. The music in this spot is “We are Young,” from the group Fun, which since Chevy tapped them for this project has seen this song rising on MTV’s charts to numero uno last week and was featured on the popular Glee TV show.

Arriving Super Bowl weekend will be a new MTV video featuring the Chevy Sonic and the popular band OK Go, a decent way to get the car before its millennial target.

Curiously, McCann-Erickson’s Detroit-area office created one of Chevy’s Super Bowl spots. The :30 commercial, for the Sonic, dubbed “Joy,” shows how much fun computer-generated bugs have riding on the car’s front grill.

It’s a real gem that I predict will do well in the polls.

But back to Goodby, which also developed two versions of a :30 spot for the Volt called “Aliens,” in which five little green men are checking out the car’s technology at night in the garage of a frustrated owner wearing his bathrobe.

In the first version he moans “Come on guys, this is the third time this week.” And the aliens get a bit weird when his wife shows up.

The wife is absent in the second version. Instead the Volt owner gets miffed when he realizes the visitors have told other aliens about the car.

Tim Allen provides narration at the end of both : “From the coolest car on the block to the smartest technology in the galaxy.”

On Saturday morning at about 10:30 am EST, Chevrolet started a poll on social media asking fans to vote for their favorite of the two spots.  Chevy didn’t give voters  much time. The polls closed at 11:59 PM today. The spot with the most votes will be air Super Bowl Sunday.

Chevy has posted its :60 commercial for the Silverado pickup from Goodby.

Take a look

Love the Twinkees’ gag.

Hundreds of Chevy dealers are also carrying the look and feel of the national Super Bowl blitz, with the help of Promoboxx in Boston.

Perry He predicted the whole multi-media shebang will generate 1.5-billion…yup BILLION….impressions with consumers from Jan. 22 through the week after the game. “That’s probably conservative,” Perry added.

Overall it appears Chevy will make a much better showing as a Super Bowl advertiser this year than in 2011.

And that’s good news for Chevrolet….and GM.

 MAKING TRACKS: Chuck Hipsher just started this week as creative director of FKM Advertising in Houston. Hipsher worked on Chevy trucks for almost three years as senior VP-creative director at Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Michigan until 2008.

What better place to do that than in the snow- -frozen ice to be specific. The commercial was shot in one day at Canada’s frozen Spray Lake outside of Canmore, Alberta and stars two actual Intuit Eskimos from Alaska. They were chosen via teleconference auditions from California. Not a lot of dialogue in the spot. But there are some subtitles.

Suzuki says the commercial, called “Sled,” is aimed at males, and will continue to run after the Super Bowl Feb. 5 as part of the automaker’s new marketing campaign set to break in March.

Take a look

“This is a familiar story told in a unique way,” Rob Siltanen, chairman and chief creative officer of Suzuki’s Marina Del Rey ad agency, told me.

I agree. It’s a fun commercial that spotlights the sedan’s all-wheel drive. What’s NOT to like about the smiling male Eskimo jamming to his tunes- along with his sled dogs. Suzuki is going for extra gusto beyond just the Big Game, posting the commercial on its YouTube channel as well as on its Facebook page.

Suzuki first released the spot in late January with original music called “Party Still Jumpin” created by Ben Kahle, even as it was holding eleventh-hour negotiations with 50 Cent. The deal with the rapper was finally inked and Suzuki updated the spot.

Budget-restrained Suzuki bought air time in 21 markets for the spot. The one-minute version will air in 11 of those 21 markets; a slimmed-down :30 will appear in the others.

Although Suzuki’s new-vehicle sales rose by 11% last year vs. 2010, the tally was a mere 26,619 units.

MAKING TRACKS : Shockingly, Suzuki eliminated the position of marketing and  product planning director last Friday, January 20. That means Steve Younan left the company after six years. Before joining Suzuki, Younan spent 15 years at Nissan North America, where he rose to senior marketing manager and vehicle line marketing on trucks. Someone should pluck him up quickly.

The grapevine is buzzing that GM is close to tapping IPG’s McCann-Erickson as its first global creative agency of record for Chevrolet. Makes sense, since McCann already handles Chevy in China and Latin America, along with India, which it won last year in a review.

The win would be a major boost for McCann, which first handled GM in 1958 after resigning Chrysler’s account to take on Buick. But McCann lost Buick in 2007 without a review to Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett. McCann did tons of work for GM’s corporate account and landed GM’s Saab North American account in 2007. But the business on both accounts has dwindled.

Chevy is growing around the planet, tallying 4.76 million vehicles in 2011, a global sales record for the brand and good news for GM.

If you’re wondering about Chevy in the USA, word is McCann will have to work with Chevrolet’s creative shop, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in this country.

Back in 2005, GM pushed McCann into the arms of IPG sibling Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolet’s long-time USA shop, to support Chevrolet as it drove into global markets. That team effort, dubbed Chevrolet Brandcom, fell by the wayside during GM’s tumultuous financial fall.

But this new plan for Chevy seems fraught with peril, since Goodby is owned by competing mega-holding company Omnicom.

Chevrolet’s Chris Perry, VP-global marketing and strategy, only smiled at me when I  ran this grapevine buzz past him at the Detroit auto show. He told me the decision is coming down at the end of the month, adding Chevrolet currently has 50 different ad agencies worldwide.

GM has tried this dual holding company approach in the past, when it had its massive USA media planning and buying split between IPG and Publicis. At the time, GM’s brass said the holding companies’ two agencies would work well together. But in the end, to the surprise of no one but GM apparently, they didn’t play nice with each other at all. The automaker ended up consolidating its media business at Publicis.

Now Publicis is defending not only that giant piece of GM’s media business here in the USA, but trying to get the consolidated global media business.

And it’s not looking good for the home team. Rumblings in the ad world have Aegis Group’s Carat already picked and in the midst of contract terms with GM – translation pricing, which could jinx the whole deal.

So no wonder GM’s global CMO Joel Ewanick is deflecting press inquiries, saying there’s no winner- yet- at least not for a few more weeks. He said: “No one out there knows anything. They think they do. But it can change tomorrow. I went to bed last night, and changed my mind.”
Okey dokey.

—————————————————————–

SUPER  BOWL TIME

The hype for automakers advertising in the Super Bowl Feb. 5 is in full swing. Two car companies have released teasers of their Big Game commercials.

VW, which last year in one of its two spots had a child dressed as Darth Vader for the Passat, is apparently continuing its Star Wars’ tie-in.

Tim Mahoney, VW’s CMO and Exec VP , told me the Super Bowl commercial will be a minute-long and for the redone Beetle. Deutsch, Los Angeles, handles VW’s creative account.

And Toyota’s lux Lexus brand is making its first Super Bowl appearance- featuring the 2013 GS, which officially launches next month.

Here’s the sneak peak from Lexus

Hmmm. Lexus’ longtime agency, Team One, didn’t create the Super Bowl ad, developed by Attik. But Lexus did say Team One handled the overall GS launch.

MAKING TRACKS: After a long search, Hyundai Motor America has hired David Matathia as advertising director. Matathia, who started Jan. 9 in his new job, had worked at ad agency GSD&M as chief strategist. He joins longtime Hyundai staffer Jackie Kim, also an ad director.

MAKING TRACKS II: Julie Roehm, who has been flying solo as a consultant since leaving Walmart and Chrysler Group before that, has landed at biz-software firm SAP as senior VP-marketing.

WEIRDEST BIZ CARD EVER ? Ran into Cameron McNaughton at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. He’s the president of Lincoln’s new WPP ad agency, based in New York. The biggest words on his business card: “The Yet To Be Named Lincoln Agency”

You can follow me, Jean Halliday, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

On Twitter, I’m @jhal2001

There’s a plethora of car advertising every year, so the field is huge. But considering the billions of dollars the car companies collectively invest in advertising every year, it’s quite amazing that the not-so-great work outnumbers the great stuff. And it doesn’t matter which medium is used.

Let’s start with the good news, the brands who are doing some of the best work.

Audi of America is a stand out, with some of the most consistent on-brand messages in the industry. This is a brand that knows who it is, knows its audience and communicates in smart and entertaining ways.

One of my favorites was this TV commercial for the May launch of the A7, called “Spring Cleaning”

The humorous A8 campaign in late summer was also memorable. The ads used cultural examples of greatness as a metaphor to Audi’s top-of-the-line sedan, all themed “true greatness should never go unrecognized.”

My favorite of the trio was this one with NBA Coach Phil Jackson

Like all automotive advertisers, Audi plays the field in media. Earlier this year, Visibli research found that Audi USA’s Facebook page got more “likes” to postings on its page (or 225+ per 100,000 fans) translating to more popularity than second-place Justin Bieber and fourth-place Lady Gaga. That’s simply awesome!

Kudos to Audi CMO Scott Keogh and Audi’s main creative shop, Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco along with its social media agencies ZAAZ and M80.

Mazda is another brand deserving praise for knowing who it is and telling that story in interesting ways. Mazda kicked off a driver-focused blitz in April after what CMO Don Romano told me was the biggest outlay ever for consumer research. Mazda learned, among other things, that peoples’ perception of its quality was nowhere near reality. And Mazda wanted to broaden its appeal, ironically, even as Romano admitted “we don’t build cars for everyone.”

This “Chapter One” ad in the spring from new agency Team Mazda explains the brand’s culture of “if it’s not worth driving, it’s not worth building”

Mazda isn’t planning any specific ads on quality. Romano said quality is being communicated in the ads by explaining the engineering culture. Mazda has been consistent all year, moving the new ad theme to specific products, along with the new Skyactiv® Technology in this recent smart spot for the 2012 Mazda3, called “Prison Break”

In less than 2 months, this spot  already  attracted nearly 3 million views on YouTube.  WOW, very impressive!

Kia is another  2011 auto advertising standout. The  carmaker began the year with its over-the-top launch commercial from David&Goliath, Los Angeles, for the new Optima  during the Super Bowl

Epic indeed. And so unusual for the auto category. It was perfect for the huge audience of the Super Bowl’, where ho-hum ads simply don’t fly.

Accolades to Kia’s VP-Marketing Michael Sprague for also keeping the urban rapping hamsters in Kia Soul ads. The whimsical hamsters click with the Soul’s youthful target. Kia’s hamsters have gotten so popular since first bursting on the scene in 2009 that this year the ad mascots won Advertising  Week’s first-ever “Rookie of the Year” Award in Manhattan.

Not many carmakers were consistent in their advertising this year. Sadly, all three of Detroit’s automakers – General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group fell into that category.

At a time when GM has some of the most competitive products, they are simply not getting to the heart and soul of their brands. This situation is most evident at GM’s biggest brand, Chevrolet, which is now in the midst of a global agency review for its creative.

More than a year after Chevrolet rolled out its new ad “Chevy Runs Deep” ad theme from its new US shop, San Francisco’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, there’s too much slice-of-life advertising focusing more on owners than the brand soul, the products and features. All five of Chevy’s Super Bowl in-game commercials were of this genre. Ditto for this more recent one for the 2012 Cruze Eco

Every once in a while Chevy manages some very cool ads, like this one for its centennial called “Now & Then”

Every once in a while simply isn’t good enough.

When it comes to social media, Chevrolet has dialed up its presence significantly- to a point that’s nearing over saturation. Maybe that’s one reason why GM dropped its social agency, Big Fuel, and reassigned the work to each brand’s main creative shop.

Chevrolet isn’t alone here. As the head of one car ad agency told me: “we’re all jumping into social media, almost backwards,” just to be there and see what happens.

Ford really set the bar high in social media back in 2009 with its Fiesta Movement to pre-launch the small car. But this year’s online-only, social media blitz for the 2012 Focus with orange “spokespuppet” Doug fell flat. The campaign was too long – months and months- with dozens of videos. Doug had a big attitude and was quite obnoxious. Doug was the creation of Ford’s ad agency TeamDetroit in Dearborn, and director Paul Feig of NBC TV’s “The Office,” which I also don’t find amusing, but is a hit with younger audiences.

Doug was introduced in March at a press-conference

Sorry, but this press conference format is lame and one the Ford brand has used extensively all year in other ads for other models. Ford got into hot water for one of these commercials and online videos when actual F-150 owner, Chris, admitted he wasn’t going to buy from a car company bailed out by Uncle Sam.

Onto Chrysler Group, which started the year with a bang with the unprecedented two-minute Super Bowl commercial for the 300 with Eminem. The “Imported From Detroit” spot not only got tons of buzz, it won four Gold Lions at the international ad festival at Cannes- no small feat.

Who would have guessed it would take a Frenchman, CMO Olivier Francois, working at an Italian-owned car company and a Portland, Oregon ad agency, Wieden + Kennedy, to nail the Motor City attitude?

But when it came to launching Fiat in the US, Francois’ big deal with Jennifer Lopez is a flop of epic proportions.

Another dud comes from Toyota Motor Sales USA’s Scion arm. Scion really blew it with this ridiculous blitz from ATTIK in San Francisco for the limited-edition “High Voltage tC.”

Thankfully most of the “episodes” with this lame Zeus spokesman were online.

The Toyota brand also had its share of missteps this year. One of the most disappointing campaigns, from Saatchi & Saatchi in Los Angeles, was for the Venza. The ads show self-absorbed twenty-something children “fretting” (needlessly it turns out) about their aging parents. Unfortunately the ads are more about the people than the vehicle.

What were they thinking?

Ditto for Nissan, with this corporate branding attempt that hit the airwaves in August with the explanation “to become a more responsible car company, Nissan developed a more responsible ship”

This commercial is wrong on so many levels. A minute is just too long. Plus, it’s BORING. Trying to compare Nissan’s sleek ship design to its car styling is a stretch and downright silly. Since this spot features the head of design in Japan, ya gotta figure either the the guys in the homeland pushed through this “Big Idea” or Nissan’s USA team in Nashville decided to kiss some, err… rings.

Then, there’s Honda, which along with its sibling Acura, has put out too many so-so ad messages for a long time. Like, why is it a great idea to use these weirdo characters in launch ads for the 2012 Civic

Oh!! There’s 5 different versions of the Civic- for 5 different kinds of buyers. Get it? Admittedly we’re not in the age group Honda is targeting here. But zombies and ninjas? Really? They are just too creepy.

By the way, a top ad exec at one of the major car companies (who will remain nameless) recently told me he predicts Honda will have an agency review in 2012.

My favorite Honda ad in 2011 from its longtime agency, RPA in Santa Monica, with this cheeky :30 ad starring Mario Andretti called “Walk Around”

Now this is a fun spot, even if just to introduce a promotion. Would have liked to have seen more of Mario and the fun-to-drive aspect of the 200-mpg Civic coupe instead of this one-time ad.

Finally, there’s VW, now and then over the years one of the best auto advertisers in the industry. Deutsch Los Angeles is agency of record.

The minute-long, 2012 Passat teaser commercial, called “The Force,” that debuted during the Super Bowl was cute and now has an eye-popping 44 million views on YouTube.  Simply amazing.

But Deutsch missed the mark with this online “VP Academy” series with Saturday Night Live comedian Bill Hader, SNL writer John Mulaney and VW product specialist Danielle Gumro. Judge for yourself

This 2012 Beetle commercial is catchy with Shirley Ellis singing her “Clapping Song.” While the ad is quirky and leaves viewers with with good feelings, what does it really tell us about the car?

And, why does VW feel the need to hit Americans over the head with both “German Engineering” AND “Das Auto” at the end of so many commercials? Do they think we’re THAT dumb that we can’t connect “Das Auto” to Germany?

Auto advertising is not rocket science. It is a combination of art and science. The science is formulating the right strategy after doing the best research and reading the results correctly. The art part is much trickier because sometimes it’s just a gut feeling knowing what’s right for your brand.

Doing both isn’t easy, or great advertising would be the norm for the entire industry.

Better luck next year!

MAKING TRACKS: Charlie Metzger has moved on. After 11 years at McCann-Erickson’s suburban Detroit office, he is now Exec VP-CMO at The Palace. Good luck, Charlie! Sounds like a fun gig.

I’d like to thank all of my readers for taking the time to visit my blog. Wishing you all a happy, healthy & prosperous 2012!

You can follow me, Jean Halliday, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

On Twitter, I’m @jhal2001

There’s plenty of non-believers out there about the reality of Frontier’s ability to pull off this amazing feat, according to the comments on YouTube, where the commercial has already tallied a very respectable number of views- more than 305,000 in just a few weeks.
After all, the maximum towing capacity of the 2012 Frontier is rated at up to 6,500 pounds maximum, when properly equipped. Let’s estimate, conservatively, that the weight for the nose for that moving plane weighs about 30,000 pounds.
Anyone see a problem here?
It’s hard to remember the last time Nissan even advertised its mid-size pickup and it’s a mystery why it would take this route.
Then there’s the other commercial, dubbed “ Hill Climb,” showing the Frontier doing another incredible task.

Plenty of non-believers commented on YouTube about this one too. “The commercials are actually 100 percent fake, which tells you everything you need to know about the company which paid for them. You really want to buy a truck from people who have zero respect for the viewing audience?”
And finally, Nissan more recently posted this online-only video spoofing the landing gear mishap as a real news story. You can see that one here:

Nissan, and its legal beagles, have however, covered their butts on all three of these. If you look very closely- and quickly- all three videos have the small words “ Fictionalization. Do not attempt.”
So there.
The commercial is, to put it politely, a dramatization. But the words are only there for the opening 4-to-6 seconds before they disappear. Clearly the YouTube viewers debating the videos’ veracity have not spotted the disclaimer.
Why would an automaker want to show one of their products doing something it can’t really do? It insults consumers and in the end belittles the product.
Nissan could also run the risk of rival complaints for deceptive advertising to either the Federal Trade Commission or National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business.
Brings back memories of Volvo’s 1990 “Monster Truck” commercial scandal. The Volvo was the only car not crushed by a “monster truck” in that spot, but Volvo didn’t reveal in the ad that the roof of its vehicle had been reinforced. The FTC levied fines of of $150,000 against both Volvo and its then-ad agency, Scali, McCabe, Sloves in Manhattan, which got fired over the incident.
As if the buzzing online doubts about the Frontier’s abilities isn’t enough, another online grapevine is building that Nissan and its ad agency, TBWA, stole the “Landing Gear” idea from Jeep.
Ex-Chrysler marketing executive Jeff Bell was the first to sound the alarm about this, posting on Facebook: “Just shows you that 1) the people running auto marketing have either no historical awareness or 2) they have no pride and enjoy plagiarism.”
Ouch!
Decide for yourself. Here’s the cheeky viral ad Bell says Chrysler had made for Jeep of Europe:

FYI- This 405 project (www.405:themovie.com) was produced by Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt for Jeep in 2000, one of very early viral videos that Yahoo Internet Life magazine called the web movie of that year.
Okay, even though the two commercials are very similar, we’re not saying TBWA took Jeep’s idea. There are coincidences. But with search portals, YouTube’s vast body of material and other sites, it’s pretty easy to check whether that Big Idea for your commercial is truly fresh.
So, I did some surfing of my own and found this very similar image in the first 10 seconds of a montage of 1970s and 1980s commercials for the Chevrolet Silverado by Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Michigan:

Hmm, so was it Jeep that first ripped off GM’s similar idea back in 2000?
Big Ideas for advertising could be like the myth of the Christmas Fruit Cakes: there’s only seven of them in the world and they keep getting passed on.
If you’re going to do a dramatic pickup ad, you might as well go over the top, but in an entertaining way that the audience knows is fake.
One of my favorites was for Ford’s 1997 model F-150. By JWT Detroit, it broke during the 1996 Super Bowl and featured actor Jack Palance as a tough cowboy who uses the pickup and a lariat to rope a butte and close a river gorge.

Now that’s a Big Idea.

MAKING TRACKS: Eric Grenier moved to VP – Director, Enterprise at Ford’s ad agency- Team Detroit in Dearborn – from Organic.

***THIS POST first appeared in CNW Research’s most recent subscriber-only  Retail Automotive Summary.

You can follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn. Also on Twitter as @jhal2001

BMW’s sale, dubbed “Mission To Drive,” offers, among other deals, a credit of up to $2,500 on every 2012 model and 0.9% financing rates up to 24 months on all 2012 models. These offers have a “self-destructing” offer running now through January 2.
Are folks dying to see this latest installment with Tom Cruise? I, for one, am not. While Mission Impossible flicks have been a financial success, the critics haven’t been impressed. Not very holiday-ish, are they?
I prefer Audi of America’s light-hearted “Season of Audi” spot, called “Parents, from Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco

Audi has enjoyed a good year, with USA sales up 16.5% through October to 95,206 compared to a year ago. The sales’ offers include first lease payments on select 2012 models, with the security deposit waived.
Toyota’s Lexus brand is back with its “December to Remember,” a theme that it has used consistently since 1995 for its year-end holiday advertising. The memorable giant red bows, pushing the cars-as-gifts idea, was added to the blitz in 1998. Team One, Santa Monica, handles
Lexus was slammed by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this year. Its new-vehicle sales in this country have skidded by more than 16% and its its clear-out sale, starting November 18, is about a month early.
But sibling Toyota plans to wait until its traditional Thanksgiving time to start its year-end advertising.
Nissan’s Infiniti brand has also just started its “Limited Engagement Winter Event.”
Nissan’s Infiniti brand is picking up where it left last year- with an update of an adult snow ball fight from TBWA/Chiat/Day

Not sure why Infiniti is also still running this same spot from last year

Not to be left in the dust, Mercedes-Benz is advertising its sale with Santa Claus in a new commercial from Merkley + Partners in New York.
While the upscale brands are all in the mix, mass marketer Chevrolet just started ads for its Calender Year-End Event

Not bad. I like the use of the white-bearded salesman and a holiday feel.
One of my all-time favorites is still Kia’s 2007 “Kiafest” commercial from DavidandGoliath in Los Angeles

Now THAT’s a memorable ad that still makes me laugh. Ian Beavis, Kia’s VP-marketing at the time told me then he was taking a different approach to stand out and because “you can’t bore people into buying a car.”

For those who can afford something REALLY special, there’s always the annual Neiman Marcus limited edition car in the retailer’s Christmas Book.
Sorry but if you wanted one of the 10 Ferrari FFs,  costing $395,000 a pop, they are all gone—swopped up in 50 minutes.
Happy Holidays, indeed!

Cute bit? Yes. Funny? Yes. But memorable? Nope.
With all the money Chevy is spending, the advertising to date also hasn’t improved buyer consideration or really explained how much better the vehicles have gotten.
All a shame, really, since it’s another missed opportunity for the brand. And, it comes months after GM’s ad czar Joel Ewanick said he was looking for consistency in messaging. (see my earlier blog:

gms-advertising-is-disappointing
Ewanick handed Chevrolet’s account to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, without a review shortly after his arrival at GM from Hyundai in May 2010. That should be more than enough time for the client and agency to get their act together for this storied brand.
A point not missed by GM CEO Dan Akerson, who took over the top job 13 months ago and made marketing a priority. He pushed for a global review of Chevrolet creative. But all the GM speak on this review strongly indicates it’s being done to lower costs, which doesn’t translate to best creative.
This review will be the battle of the holding companies, auto conflicts be damned: Publicis; Interpublic; Omnicom and Cheil. Wondering why dark horse Cheil is in there? Could Ewanick, who knows that South Korean’s largest ad group and affiliate of Samsung, is an archrival of Hyundai, want to stick it to his former employer?
At any rate, Chevrolet, at the age of 100, still has a perception problem that the past 18 months of advertising hasn’t fixed. Sadly, not a new problem for Chevy. GM’s former North American ad czar Mark LaNeve told me back in the summer of 2008 that consumer misperception was the automaker’s biggest communications challenge.
Changing agencies can hurt brands because of the time it takes the new shops to get up to speed on their new clients.
Meantime, the best of the bunch in Chevy’s new work is this moving, centennial commercial from Goodby, Silverstein called “Then & Now,” with Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful”

One problem with the spot is that many of the comments on YouTube call it a rip-off of Canadian Taylor Jones’ DearPhotograph.com. They’re not too happy there’s no credit given to DearPhotograph.
Opps.
Meanwhile, Chevy just announced that a new documentary about its centennial will air nationally November 21 at 8 pm on cable’s Velocity channel. Produced by award-winning filmmaker Roger Sherman, Chevrolet said “Chevy 100, An American Story” explores Chevrolet culture through owners, collectors, journalists and historians. The film premiers in Detroit tonight at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Chevrolet has made an even bigger push into social media, with promotions and live chats touted on Twitter, Facebook et al. Consider that Chevy has pushed all these out there recently in social media : Plant a Tree project; win ticks to the CMA awards; win tickets to New York Comic Con; win a new Chevy by making virtual Saturday Big Ten Football predictions; Silverado’s Ultimate Hunting promotion and the 2012 Sonic’s bungee jump over the Arizona desert.
Whew. It’s as if all the various marketeering teams inside Chevy don’t know what each is doing. So Chevy’s social media fans end up getting a slew of postings daily, which is awful annoying and may convince them to disconnect.
A recent social media posting was for “The Road We’re On,” from Mother, New York. It’s supposed to be a celebration of not only Chevy’s first 100 years, but how it is working to make life better in the coming century. Here’s the latest in a series of episodes from the small town of Bridgeville, Pa.

Sorry, this 3:44 episode is too long and too boring. Does it really make you want to see the other episodes? Not really.

Here’s Chevy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in another new centennial effort. Followers asked questions about where Chevy is headed in the next 100 years. Chevrolet’s Alan Batey, VP-sales, service and marketing, answers several of these questions in YouTube videos posted today

The good news is Batey gives short answers. But why is the first question about the brand’s 100-year-old bowtie logo? What does THAT have to do with the next 100 years? Why did they even include this question and answer?

Yes, Chevy, you have come a long way baby. But you still have miles to go before getting your communications’ act together. We’re rooting for ya!

MAKING TRACKS: Congrats to Lynn Simoncini, a home-grown, experienced Motown car ad agency type who is now creative director at Gas Station TV

JUST ASKING: What is taking Hyundai so long in hiring its number two marketing person?

Follow me on Twitter: @jhal2001
or on Facebook: Jean Halliday

watch?v=jdUP3dtRynk

The other problem I have with these new spots is they don’t carry the same ending that Dodge launched at the Chicago Auto Show with much fan fare.
That’s a mysterious move since Dodge used the ending in this first Durango spot back in February hailing the model’s return

A missed branding opportunity.
The new Durango is much improved from its predecessor and deserves a more truthful ad campaign.  And just saying “the SUV is back” doesn’t make it so.

MAKING TRACKS: Tim Boutorwick is now a product insight strategist as a contract staffer for Fallon’s Detroit office on the Cadillac account. Boutorwick has more than 20 years of auto agency experience. This is his third time in the last 5 years he’s worked on Caddy, first at Leo Burnett Detroit in Troy and then at Modernista, Boston.