LaSorda recognizes Chrysler's ads are lame
During a meeting with Detroit-area dealers, Tom LaSorda, Chrysler group's CEO, expressed his displeasure with the current advertising route employed by the He specifically singled out the ad where a stranded motorist enlists the help of a Nitro driver to jump his car. You've seen the rest, so we're not going to bore you with a description.
The one Nitro ad we would have pointed to is the "Planet" piece, where the SUV is dropped from a crane, falls through the ground, travels through the underworld accompanied by the happy, go-lucky sounds of a 70s-era lounge lizard and then pops out in China. Both ads are so lame, we didn't want to post them after the jump, but we did.
Jason Vines, the Chrysler group spokesman, has gone to BBDO and told the execs, in so many words, to do better. We'd hope so Jason, for both your good and ours.
[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MCS05 11:14AM (12/11/2006)
There is only so much you can do with crappy product.
What type of ad would sell a Nitro?
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CJ 11:16AM (12/11/2006)
I really don't get the world one. Are they saying that the Nitro is really heavy? It says absolutely nothing about the car.
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CJ 11:17AM (12/11/2006)
Also, Hell is apparently right under China.
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Thomas 11:18AM (12/11/2006)
I like them. Call me a freak. I even laughed at the earth one.
I'm a big Ford fan, but I have to say I'd prefer these to the stupid dry cleaning "bold" one.
All three are head a shoulders above the rather unimaginative Honda ones I see come "year-end clearance" time.
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Mike 11:24AM (12/11/2006)
My only complaint is that the ad agency took out a Chrysler product with the jumpers. Hook it up to a Camcord or a CRAV4... kill a competitor, not one of your own.
But I agree... their comercials suck. My favorite campaign out right now is for the Tacoma...Nessie proof, Meteor proof, etc.
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MJL 11:27AM (12/11/2006)
Two quick points:
1) Neither of these ads is as awful as the Jeep Compass ads, which I will refer to as "They be bouncin' their Jeeps on the streets." You know, the ones with the cheap bobblehead dolls that highlight the superior construction and design language of the Compass.
2) It strikes me as odd that the ad company would use an A-platform Dodge for the car that needs to be jump started by the Nitro. Again, are they trying to highlight the build quality of Chrysler products? This ad company has lost its way, and though it may have been said before, it bears repeating: at least they're not screwing up the image of a genuinely good car with all this.
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$0.02 11:54AM (12/11/2006)
Father Daimler is running the sibling Chrysler arm into the ground. When it crumbles, America will have lost its once #3 automaker and 40,000+ jobs.
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TheOne442 12:04PM (12/11/2006)
I liked the ads, but there are better ads out there now. I do like the GT 500 ad thought. "Couldn't find a car you liked in Germany?"
No suprise Hell is right under China.
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Steve S 2:39PM (12/11/2006)
And yet the Dodge Caliber ads were great.
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DF 8:11PM (12/11/2006)
If you think the Nitro commerical's are bad then take a look at Jeep with its silly hip-hop bobblehead commercials. They are among the worst commercials I've ever seen and they go so far as to insult potential owners by implying they are brainless bobblehead charicatures.
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Jay Evans 11:53AM (12/11/2006)
Ad agencies don't produce anything without corporate approval and a sign off. While they are very bad commercials, the marketing people at Chrysler that signed off on them are the ones that need to go.
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Tool 11:57AM (12/11/2006)
Chrysler--as well as ChryslerGroup's--positioning has been really muddled the past few years.
This was especially evident in the last campaign Dr. Z. I'm not necessarily talking about the absurdity of dorkafying a very distinguished CEO, but rather casting the German-American thing on Jeep and Dodge. The best of German-American technology/innovation positioning works well for Chrysler but not for the blue state Dodge owners and the iconic Jeep brand.
Ultimately in this business it is about product, but it helps to have some good advertising. Chrysler has not been well served by its sales and marketing execs or its agency.
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Professor Porsche 12:03PM (12/11/2006)
"1. There is only so much you can do with crappy product.
What type of ad would sell a Nitro?"
Exactly.
Crapy Product, lame ads
That's what we do
(We being the Detroit big 3, or 2.5, or 2, or not so big ..)
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Dave T. 12:02PM (12/11/2006)
Dr. Z = Bad
Compass ads = Really Bad
Dodge Caliber Fairy ad = Pretty funny
Dodge Nitro Blowup ad = lame
Dodge Nitro China ad = Pretty good.
So it's like 60/40 bad in my book. I thought the falling through the earth to China was pretty innovative. The jumper cables not so much.
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bernie 12:05PM (12/11/2006)
The best advertising in the end is your products. VW has great ads and great looks, but products that break early and often and are expensive to fix. Dodge has products that look like they were designed by a committee of 10-year old boys and have the build quality of an early 80s Audi. Jeep, the stringest brand by far in the stable has screwed the pooch with the Compass and Commander, gawdawful visual abortions on the road. The Dodge Nitro is scary... to think that it got past all the levels of focus groups and management review. The Aztek lesson obviously didn't get read in Auburn Hills.
Ads are the least of DCX's worries right now. Being a relevant manufacturer is the much larger challenge for them.
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JW 12:07PM (12/11/2006)
All the Nitro ads are pretty funny IMO...I really like the Sirius one. The Rest of DCX's ads do suck indeed.
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Stephen 12:13PM (12/11/2006)
:) I actually like them. I didn't at first, but they grew on me.
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Professor Porsche 12:24PM (12/11/2006)
With ugly POS like the "Nitro", who would be surprised at the drop in demand?
DETROIT -- DaimlerChrysler AG could lay off up to 4,000 workers in North American truck operations next year due to a downturn in demand, the head of the automaker's truck operations said today.
Andreas Renschler, a member of DaimlerChrysler's board of management, said the cuts in the United States and Canada would include 800 layoffs that have already been announced and that will take effect in March in Canada.
Speaking to reporters in Dearborn, Mich., he said demand in the truck business, which is coming off a strong year, will slow in 2007 but will likely recover toward the end of the year.
He said he expects demand for heavy-duty trucks in the United States, Canada and Mexico to fall 39 percent in 2007. Demand for medium-duty trucks will likely slip 25 percent, he said.
"Our challenge is to manage the cycles and to come through the down cycles while preserving profitability," Renschler said.
The automaker's Detroit Diesel unit will begin producing a new heavy-duty truck engine in 2007, which will represent the company's move to a single-engine platform for its biggest trucks. The new engine will provide a 5 percent to 8 percent increase in fuel economy, based on current environmental standards, Renschler said.
"If you look to our customers, fuel costs are one of the biggest costs they have to pay," he said.
RESTRUCTURING PLAN
The Chrysler group, which posted a $1.5 billion loss in the third quarter, has tapped executives from its German parent's Mercedes division to work on a restructuring plan, including cutting $1,000 from the cost of each vehicle it makes.
Renschler said the Chrysler group's restructuring plan is being prepared, but he was unsure when it would be complete. Other Chrysler executives have said the plan will be announced in the first quarter.
The Chrysler group started its restructuring study, called "Project Refocus," in late July with teams of experts reporting to CEO Tom LaSorda and COO Eric Ridenour.
When asked if DaimlerChrysler's board has confidence in LaSorda, Renschler replied, "Absolutely."
Renschler also said the board still believed the company was better off having the Chrysler group as part of a more diversified portfolio of businesses.
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Robert 12:24PM (12/11/2006)
Serious car buyers don't buy a car based on the advertising! An affordable, well built and reliable car will "sell itself" like the Camry/Accord! I do like the looks of the Dodge/Chrysler products but if they look good on the outside and are "ugly" in terms of performance and reliability, then they just won't do!
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Bob 12:41PM (12/11/2006)
Why are Dodge commercials like this? Because the people who buy their vehicles are uninformed middle-aged white guys who are trying to impress their friends down at the hardware store. It's called target advertising. Git-R-Done.
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