You'd think with an advertising budget of over $2b per year, GM could hire an advertising agency that "gets it." But you'd think wrong. We've seen plenty of "Pontiac Is Car," which is apparently is meant to appeal to illiterate Victorian-era men more accustomed to horses. And now we have an ad for the Cadillac Escalade that declares that it offers "The best highway fuel economy in its class." Do they know who potential buyers of Escalades are? Apparently an ad man was envisioning a fiscally-conscious, sensibly green guy sitting at the computer and having an epiphany. "Hey Miriam, call the dealer and cancel our Lexus hybrid test drive. The Escalade has the best highway fuel economy in its class." A proper Escalade advertisement would sell a combination of three things: instantly recognizable styling, supreme luxury, spaciousness. Maybe if we're lucky, this same agency will do ads for the iPod adapter in the new Buick Lacrosse. Or maybe Chevy's Corvette, which offers the biggest trunk in its class.
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I think GM has “Green Envy”. They are on a mission to prove that Honda and Toyota have nothing on them when it comes to fuel economy.
And they’re going to prove it touting their SUV’s, rather than, I don’t know, a car that gets good mileage. Good plan.
Silly, silly, silly. But, they also tout the fuel economy of the Hummer.
I remember a commercial from a couple of years ago about the great fuel economy of Ford’s lineup, and how they were working towards improving it. At one point they had a shot of a Ford GT being driven down a rural road. Oh yeah, that’s a great example of fuel economy.
Funny. Hummer H2 claims the same thing, and they compare themselves to this SUV.
Can both be right? I think not.
A proper Escalade advertisement would sell a combination of three things: instantly recognizable styling, supreme luxury, spaciousness.
I disagree: it should sell bling, chrome, bling, 23″ rubber, bling, ridiculously big vehicle with poor visibility (who cares) and interior space (who cares), and bling.
I don’t know, I kind of feel bad for the agency copywriters. I mean, who buys these things? Seriously? It’s not easy to write when you don’t know your audience.
I had to laugh the other day when I first saw the ad. As has been pointed out, you don’t buy an Escalade for its fuel economy.
The key words are “in its class.” How many other vehicles are this class, not counting corporate twins?
But this is nothing new. During and right after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, lots of ads were touting the 1974 models’ “efficiency,” including the mammoth Cadillac coupes and sedans of the day. This was before the ads had to show the “official” EPA ratings.
# yankinwaoz :
Funny. Hummer H2 claims the same thing, and they compare themselves to this SUV.
Can both be right? I think not.
Sure can, as long as the Hummer isn’t considered a “large luxury SUV” by Wards.
Everyone knows gas is crazy-expensive right now, so if you’re in the market for a “large luxury SUV” you might as well get the (more accurately titled) least-inefficient one in the class, right?
…it is pretty funny though. What was that about having the most flame-retardant paper hat?
Now that’s funny!
Truth in advertising: modern version
“The new Escalade. For every hour you drive, you’re *only* throwing $15 down the tank!”
Time to play devils advocate:
Not for nothing but an Cadillac Escalade IS a luxury vehicle and it does not make any excuses for being one.
Honestly if one man pulls out of his driveway for a 30 mile commute in an Escalade and another does so in a s550 4matic arent they not getting about the same real world fuel efficiency?
This ad is vaild becuase attempts to inject a little bit of common-sense back into the whole anti-SUV debate. The Escalade is the poster-child of “wasteful-excess” but in reality is it so?
The Escadale is a $60,000, 6000lbs vehicle that can seat up to 8 or 9 adults in its largest version.
An s550 4matic is a $100,000+ 5000+lbs, 4 or 5 passanger car that get at best 19mpg in the real world on the highway. This is about the same MPG as an Escalade.
Now since I am not going to travel on any of the local metro NYC highways in excess of 100+mph anytime in the near future the concept of a high-speed autobahn cruiser doesn’t really make much sense outside of my immagination. But on the otherhand a large, very comfortable, very powerful, plush, AWD, vehicle with a 5 seat movie theater/gameroom in the back for about half the price is beginning to sound rather logical.
A guy down the street from me bought an Escalade just recently. He replaced an early 90s Cadillac Deville with it. According to zabasearch, he’s 76 years old. So I’m not sure who exactly the typical Escalade buyer is. But I would imagine it’s someone that doesn’t have a problem with a $100 fillup. The whole fuel economy angle they’re trying to use for sales isn’t going to work all that well for them. But it is GM, so it’s not surprising that the ad campaign would be OK’d.
Agree this ad is aimed wrong – anyone who cares about fuel efficiency and saving money wouldn’t ever consider buying an Escalade in the first place.
Like others have said, ads for the Escalade should just focus on 3 things: Bling, Bling and Bling.
I’m not sure about the naysaying. First of all, advertising is (or should be) an arm of a company’s PR division. At the very least, the PR division and the ad division should be on the same sheet of music. So, to the extent that they are creating and reinforcing the “buzz” where the words “Escalade” and “fuel economy” are in the same sentence, that satisfies the PR people (and they sure got *us* talking about it, now didn’t they?)
Second, and again I’d happily defer to the advertising specialists if they’d care to chime in, but isn’t part of advertising not just getting people to buy your product, but also reinforcing sales by making people feel good about the product they already bought? So hearing the words “Escalade….fuel economy” over and over might help those people who bought an Escalade last year and who are now feeling the pinch at the pump. The reality of how much they are throwing in the tank is less important than the subconscious idea that the Escalade is the “economy vehicle” of its class and if that helps to keep a reluctant ‘Sclade owner on the GMC bandwagon, then it’s a net gain for GM, right?
It’s probably important to note that the purchase of a vehicle (especially a bling-mobile like the Escalade) is never a 100% rational decision. Given that fact, it should hardly be surprising to anyone that the advertising is not likely designed to appeal to the rational mind either.
“Gas-Guzzler” is a socially negative phase today as it was in the 1970s. Fuel Economy is one of the new “Catch” phases today like being “Green”.
This ad is not just aimed at those cooncerned about the price of gas it is also aimed at those who are prone to bouts of “Soical Consiousness” every now and than.
Going on the expressed views of many that post at TTAC I find that many of the the same folks that want to shotgun every SUV driver on the road today have little to no problems with anyone driving around in a $60,000+ 4000lbs+, v8 powered, AWD, under 20mpg, 4 seat(purposely limited), luxury sedan, IF they can afford it.
Caddy is just arguing their case in this arena. “Don’t feel bad in your Truck, that guy in the A8, Fx45, S550awd, Porsche Chayenne, etc are all burning more Arab petroleum than your American Iron driving A$$!”
Now the flip side is the Caddy driver can/could actually put his vehicle some practical use for the sake of his poor gas milage.
Anyone buying an Escalade is buying one because they can’t afford/finance a Sequoia/M-Class/X5/QX56.
So fuel economy might be of importance to them. It’s like my ‘neighbor’ in the condo building next to mine. He just put 26″ rims on a 2003 Yukon. This wouldn’t be so bad if he owned a house, but he lives in a middle class condo development. Some folks will have rims over shelter. They are the ones for whom ‘class leading fuel economy’ is important.
I’m still waiting for him to puncture his no-profile Pirelli’s on the pothole in the road leading out of my subdivision.
I detect more than a little envy from those who simply cannot afford an Escalade!
Where is this ad from? I don’t see it on the Cadillac site.