When GM launches the 2008 Malibu this fall, look for it to go directly after the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Mark LaNeve, GM's sales, service, and marketing VP, says GM will be laying out the reasons why it feels the Malibu is better than its competition in the new ad campaign. We hope to see the fur start to fly in the bread-and-butter sedan arena, with response ads upping the ante before being met with another challenge. LaNeve acknowledges that it will be a hard battle to pry backsides out of the Camry or Accord (especially with an all-new version of the latter), but GM's got an excellent car in the new Malibu. The assault on the incumbent evergreen models is already going on over in Saturn stores, where GM's actually placed the competitor's cars in the showroom next to the award winningAura.
Customer research has told GM that import owners would be persuaded to buy a different brand that is as good or better than their current car, but only actual results will prove the hypothesis. One possible bone of contention is residual value, where the well-burnished reputation of the segment leaders has them holding on to nearly 50 percent of their original sticker after three years, versus about 35 percent for the Malibu. Instead of buying a car based on how much you can get for it in three years, we suggest you buy a car you're happy with, and we see a lot that's encouraging in the new Malibu. Heck, you might even want to keep it after it's paid off -- imagine that! Besides, if the car lives up to the expectations GM is whipping up for it, resale values will rise as word spreads. We can't wait to try one.
Resurrecting the Taurus name isn't the only element from Ford's past that Alan Mulally thinks should make a comeback. Despite having one of their best lineups ever and winning accolades, customers have other makes further up on their list. Potential buyers who actually check out what Ford has to offer often come away impressed, and for this reason Mulally is suggesting a return to the "Have You Driven a Ford Lately?" tagline.
Please, no. Forward momentum, Alan. The return to the Taurus was smart, the name recognition alone is priceless. In that vein, Mulally wants to stop with the recent Ford practice of confusing and confounding consumers by switching model names so frequently. Horray! Building equity in a model name by sticking with it and continually improving the vehicle the badge is stuck to has worked quite well for Honda and Toyota with the Accord and Camry, and it'd be a smart thing for Ford to emulate. Inane 1980s marketing campaigns aside, Mulally is being effective at pushing Ford to operate their business in a smarter manner while building better product. There may be life in the old Tin Lizzie brand yet.
Hit the jump for a taste of Ford's 1984 television campaign.
Senator Barack Obama has tossed aside the keys to his Chrysler 300C in favor of a new Ford Escape Hybrid. According to the Detroit Free Press, the senator from Illinois was lambasted for driving the a V8 300C after chastising Detroit in a May 7 speech for failing to anticipate rising oil prices that have changed consumers' buying habits.
We for one wish Obama would've kept his 300, not because we hate the environment or think his lecture to Detroit wasn't a wee bit hypocritical, but because hybrids have become nothing more than a decorative accessory for politicians on both sides of the aisle. The Freep reports that John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Hilary Clinton, Mitt Romney and Bill Richardson all have Escape Hybrids in their fleets.
What does it all mean? Nothing really, as hybrids are now politicized to the point where politicians believe owning one gives them a free pass to guilt trip the auto industry in every speech. Less pandering, more substance, please.
We recently discovered this article from Brandweek/Adweek about a new marketing campaign for Land Rover that leaves a bad taste in our mouth. Ad agency Young & Rubicam Brands took the Land Rover LR3 to actual disaster areas and filmed it among the wreckage to create spots that present the SUV as a "hero car." The campaign's theme is called "Created for the one," the idea being that the Land Rover LR3 was designed to handle that one unexpected event like a snowstorm, flood or hurricane.
To film these spots, however, the production crew actually monitored where natural disasters were occurring in the U.S. and arrived on the scene to shoot the LR3 among the wreckage. Last month they were in Levasy, Missouri, which had just been hit by flooding. Y&R creative director Miles Turpin is quoted as saying, "When it snows big time, we'll go out and do that. And when hurricane season starts, we'll go there."
The agency is reportedly aware of potentially being judged as exploiting disasters, and will offer its vehicles to emergency personnel or, as it did in Missouri, make donations to relief organizations. In our opinion, that doesn't mitigate the fact a natural disaster that caused suffering in the lives of real people is being used as a backdrop to help sell Land Rovers.
To be fair, this article was written with the marketing industry in mind as an audience, not us. The agency, which is just doing its job, comes off as insensitive and exploitative to our ears, but a professional in the biz might think this idea is genius. And while it's a good thing that Land Rover may donate money or the use of its vehicles to aid disaster relief efforts as a result of this marketing campaign, that bad taste in our mouth comes from the fact that it likely wouldn't do those things if a camera weren't there to capture it.
We would rather be tasked with reversing the downward tug of gravity than take on the ad account for the 2008Ford Focus. The Blue Oval has announced that the account may not be handled by its usual agency, JWT Detroit, and that it's searching for a brave new agency to take on the daunting task of selling the redesigned Focus. JWT Detroit will bid for the account, but sources say Ford would like at least two outside agencies with fresh ideas to also compete for the job.
We were harsh on the 2008 Ford Focus mainly because the car's new styling leaves a lot to be desired. To be blunt, the designers turned the attractive styling of the original Focus that had survived a couple evolutions into a mess of creases, curves and fake vender vents the likes of which we haven't seen since the Saturn ION first arrived. Nevertheless, the new Focus will be significantly lighter than the outgoing model, which should help handling and fuel ecomony; the new SYNC interface developed with Microsoft is supposedly a serious piece of tech; and a coupe body style is being offered in place of the three- and five-door hatchback.
So the 2008 Ford Focus does have positive attributes on which an ad agency can focus its campaign. Nevertheless, it still looks the way it does, which any ad agency worth its weight in pop up ads knows will be extremely difficult to sell.
Poor Arnold Worldwide. They were mining advertising gold for Volkswagen in the late 1990s with clever spots and print ads. Apparently the relationship went cold, and VW moved on. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Boston, but now, Arnold has found themselves in the crosshairs of father's advocacy groups as they vie for Volvo's ad money.
Arnold is in contention to win the $150 million account for Volvo's advertising, but they're drawing fire for past work that's denigrated fatherhood. Men's-issue advocate Glenn Sacks is leading the charge, along with the groups HusbandsandFathers.org and Fathers and Families. Sacks cites Arnold's recent work for clients such as Fidelity and Verizon as evidence the advertising agency is "anti-father."
For its part, Arnold has been dragged in far enough for CEO Fran Kelly to rebut Sacks's claims and point out that the client has the final say on any creative before a campaign leaves the concept stage. It must be a little bewildering. One day, you're sitting there in the Pru, doing your agency thing, and the next thing you know, they're outside with a cauldron and pitchforks. While Sacks has a point that portrayals of fathers on television is a caricature at best, most of what's on the tube is hyperbole. The efforts of these advocacy groups may be better directed at the brands and companies that are approving the campaigns that offend. With a little sensitivity training, the end customers may start making more considered decisions. We won't be holding our breath, but hey, it could happen.
UPDATE - Volvo has provided us with a statement regarding its current ad agency search:
"Volvo has four outstanding agencies vying for its advertising account, and it is our intention to select the agency that we think has the best understanding of our brand, the best creative and that can best communicate our brand and product attributes to the public. In the end, Volvo will be the ultimate decider on the advertising that reaches the airwaves or the printed page."
Chrysler will further tout its connection to Mercedes beginning with the launch of the Sebring convertible. Well, gee, the Mercedes DNA is fairly oozing off the Sebrings, isn't it? Underwhelmed by the Sebring sedan's sales performance thus far, Chrysler has decided to move the image for the entire brand upmarket. The idea is to play up the idea of "German Engineering" while also emphasizing that Chrysler is the premium American offering under the DCX tent. Ultimately, the goal is to attract customers from Toyota and Honda, which are also seen as premium-engineered vehicles.
Time will tell how successful they are about passing off the Sebring and other mainstream Chryslers as having any link to Mercedes (LX platform excluded). The "merger of equals" has played out more like Mercedes throwing their dregs over to Chrysler in the form of the R170 platform for the Crossfire and the suspension design under the LX cars. The mainstream Chryslers -- the ones that actually need to be popular instead of the halo cars -- have nary a lick of Mercedes in 'em as far as we can tell. Premium in this case must mean content and value for the dollar, which the Chrysler line certainly represents. Then again, how strong is the connection between Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz if one is about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Is that a Grey Goose flying into a Silver Cloud? Not far off, actually. In a bit of brand synergy we can really get behind, Grey Goose, the veritable Rolls Royce of vodkas, has teamed up with Rolls Royce itself on a joint marketing and public awareness campaign.
The promotion centers around two specially-made Grey Goose edition Extended Wheelbase Phantoms. The limos got a specially-mixed French racing blue finish outside and unique upholstery inside. Naturally, the flying Grey Goose icon is embroidered and discretely emblazoned on different parts of the car.
The two special Phantoms will be used to generate publicity, raise money for charity and for a public awareness campaign that will bring them to different cities promoting responsible drinking and, of course, Grey Goose. At the end of their run, so to speak, both Phantoms will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charitable causes.
If you're the owner of certain Toyota products built with the 2.2L I4 or 3.0L V6 between 1997 and 2002, you may soon be receiving notification from the automaker concerning its recent settlement in a class-action lawsuit. Filed as the result of damage caused by sludged oil (which ultimately can destroy an engine by clogging lubrication passages), the suit claimed that affected customers suffered from failures despite following Toyota's maintenance recommendations. As a result, Toyota will be extending the warranty of up to 7.5 million vehicles to 8 years and 120 days from the original purchase date (without regard for mileage), and will pay for damage incurred as a result of oil sludge - also referred to as oil gel.
In 2002, Toyota offered an extended warranty to some owners who were affected by the sludging problem, but many customers claim to have been accused of improper maintenance and were forced to pay for their own repairs.
Sludging is the result of several factors, some of which included longer drain intervals, tighter engine tolerances, and the typically higher operating temperatures of new engines. Several other manufacturers have also faced allegations of oil sludging problems and have responded in a variety of ways.
As a consumer, the best defensive measure is, of course, a regular oil change (following the "severe service" schedule if required) with a name-brand oil that meets the manufacturer's recommendations for viscosity and API service rating. Some manufacturers recommend different viscosities for operation in extremely hot or cold climates; as always, the owner's manual is an outstanding source of information on matters like these.
[Source: Consumer Affairs; a hat tip to AB readers Drew and Ryan]
BMW's MINI brand has never had a big advertising budget, but everyone would agree it's ad agency knows how to stretch a dollar. The latest promotion from MINI is a program called Motorby that takes interactivity at 60 mph to new heights. According to MotoringFile.com, a large MINI enthusiast/news site, select MINI owners were recently email an invitation to join the Motorby campaign, whereby they give MINI some scraps of info about themselves and are then sent a special key fob in the mail. Special billboards called Motorboards have been set up in cities like Chicago, New York, Miami and San Francisco, and when one of these MINI owners drives by the billboard will light up with a personal message like "Looking good today, Scooter," and "David, your hair looks great today". It's a very creative campaign, and if successful (and no one causes an accident by trying to read their message at speed), the brand may roll out the program to all MINI owners.
We have to assume that MINI has people on the back end screening the info that each owner provides, but we'd give our right foot for a pic of a Motorboard that says, "Did you read Autoblog.com today, Joe?" Come on, there has to be a few people at MINI who would let that slide, right?
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