This is not a test. Do not attempt to adjust your display. What you are watching is an advertisement for a new car. But before you hit the jump and find out what car this is supposed to make you want to buy (trust me, you won’t be able to tell by watching alone), see if you can guess the answer. Read More >

By slyly slipping an image of a classic Chrysler 300 into this ad, Lancia is subtly admitting the truth about its new Thema. And in light of this half-admission of the Lancia’s less-than-entirely-sophisticated Brampton, Ontario roots, perhaps the better Baudelaire line would have been the great stoner’s admonition to

beware of common folk, of common sense, of sentiment, of inspiration, and of the obvious.

If Baudelaire were alive today, does anyone doubt he would have added “marketing” to that list?

Yes, Lotus certainly made a “splash” in 2010, but to say that the brand’s abrupt metamorphosis was universally applauded would be a severe overstatement. For one thing, the move away from Lotus’s light-weight, low-volume philosophy brought howls from the Chapmaniacs. For another, launching five cars at once may be good for publicity, but it’s not great for ones credibility. Especially when your CEO is something of a supercilious jerk, and even your “advisor” only gives you 60-40 odds. And now that Mama Proton is starting to take a hit as Lotus builds up to reinvent the luxury sportscar (complete with its own engines), you have to imagine that at least a few of the Malaysian money men are wondering if they bit off more than their former Ferrari exec CEO can chew. But at this point there’s nothing to do but burn cash, build cars and hope Porsche and Ferrari fall off a cliff.

The Freep notes that

Sales of the “Imported from Detroit” Chrysler 200 were a modest 2,319 in February. But during the same month a year ago, Chrysler sold 3,160 of the 200’s much-maligned predecessor, the Sebring.

And though the 200 has been in production since December, Chrysler spokesman Ralph Kisiel insists

It’s still in ramp-up mode, and we’ll continue to build volumes over this month and the next several months

But with the updated Avenger selling 3,477 units in the same month (without the benefit of an endlessly drooled-over Super Bowl ad), surely something is afoot here. To the numbers!

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Chrysler got so much buzz out of its “Imported From Detroit” Super Bowl ad that it sold out of apparel bearing the tagline “within hours” and even had GM Marketing boss Joel Ewanick admitting

Yeah, we’re getting our butts kicked.

Now Chrysler is literally wrapping itself in the tagline, covering its Auburn Hills headquarters with the semi-ironic (what with ChryCo headquarters being located in Auburn Hills and all) phrase. And Chrysler’s ad agency is even exploring ways to remake Chrysler’s dealerships into “Detroit Embassies.” AdAge quotes the Creative Director for Chrysler’s ad agency Wieden + Kennedy as saying

One of things we’ve been working on for last couple of days is a dealer kit. How can we make dealers around America feel like Detroit embassies? How can we put this feeling about Detroit and its optimistic resurgence in dealerships? We’ll help them keep that stuff rolling.

But will it make a difference?

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One of the recent advertising trends we’ve seen is the comparison of a new car with something ridiculous… like an armored car or a sofa. Now, Nissan is inverting the “shooting sofas in a barrel” approach by taking on one of the toughest comparisons imaginable: making readers decide between a Juke and a swimsuit model. Here, the Juke and a model from Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition go head-to-head in a “curb appeal” competition… up next, “headlights,” “airbags” and “ride quality.” Then, testers will strap on their crash helmets and try to determine which model “slides its rear end out” in the most satisfying manner… plus whatever other dirty double-entendres you can come up with. Just the thing to get you into that romantic Valentine’s Day mood…

Why do we get the feeling that Chrysler’s giant front-page ad in the New York Times isn’t sending the message Chrysler thinks it is?

This ad, for the Chevy Camaro, was the most-watched spot during the Super Bowl, pulling in 119,628,000 sets of eyeballs according to the ratings agency Nielsen. A Chevy Cruze ad took second place in the “most-watched” category, and Chrysler’s much-chattered-about 200 spot tied for fourth (with 5 other spots, including one for Bridgestone Tires), with 17.565m viewers. In short, cars and car-related products not only accounted for many of the ads, they managed to snag the time slots where the fewest people were taking bathroom breaks or grabbing more bacon-wrapped buffalo wings. But remember, there’s more to effective advertising than merely drawing eyeballs…
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They say that when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail… which is why, after writing about the dangers of “automotive nationalism,” this video made left me more impressed with Ferrari’s pride in the global development of its new FF Grand Tourer than with the pure eyecandy of the spectacle. Although, to be fair, the sheer sexiness of Ferrari’s new shooting brake-style tourer left me fairly riled up as well.

Chrysler is proud of the fact that they did NOT release their Super Bowl ad on YouTube like most of the others. “While many sponsors revealed their advertising plans for Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Chrysler brand remained tight lipped to create a stronger impact for the reveal of their new marketing and advertising campaign featuring famous Detroiter, Eminem,” their press release says. Read More >

Just received this email from Chrysler Communications in my Outlook. It starts: “Dear Bertel: Who won the battle between the flakes of last week and the four-wheel drives from Chrysler Group LLC?”

Now that raised my interest. Did some folks with an Explorer or a Denali call out Dodge to a duel? Or did I just miss another RAM Challenge? And Chrysler PR calls the other guys “flakes?” Are the gloves coming off? Read More >

Can Saab overcome a miserable couple of years that saw global sales plummet as the Swedish brand was kicked out of the GM kingdom? If so, you will be seeing lots of this, the first US-market ad from Saab since the brand’s sale to Spyker was completed. Meanwhile, with Volvo in rebuilding mode as well, seeking to maximize its marketing spend per vehicle, America had better get used to the Swedish turnaround storyline. And, for the sake of these two marginal brands, consumers had better respond to their heritage-heavy pitch.

Chevy dusts off its “may the best car win” theme with a series of videos “daring” consumers to compare the Cruze… with its outgoing competition. The absurdity of the alleged
“comparison” is probably best highlighted in this video, in which the 2011 Cruze takes on a 2010 Elantra… even though an all-new 2011 Elantra is already at dealerships. With a much-improved 2012 Focus coming soon as well, a similarly rigged bashing of the outgoing Focus is made only slightly less unfair by the fact that the Focus isn’t available yet. Ditto the Honda Civic smackaround. And the Corolla. It’s almost as if Chevy knows that the Cruze is about to face some of the toughest competition in the industry… with a design that has been produced since 2008. Too bad the bowtie brand doesn’t seem willing to face the challenge.

Reuters reports that GM is upping its sponsorship and promotional spending, as it seeks to re-establish its media presence which retracted considerably during and after its bailout and bankruptcy. In addition to boosting sports sponsorships and

co-producing TV shows, like a documentary about a year in the life of a Detroit fire station or a three-part Discovery series on the city,

GM has another strategy in mind as well: product placement for the Chevy Volt. According to the report

GM also is in talks with a reality TV producer about the inclusion of the automaker’s new plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt car in a show under development

but what about movies? After all, if Chrysler (which has plans for only one niche electric vehicle, the Fiat 500 EV) can feature heavily in a movie which was promoted using the line “Electric cars are gay” (see video above), surely GM could get a movie made called “Range Anxiety” in which the Volt rescues the President’s daughter from an evil, but range-limited foreign car by driving farther than 100 miles. Subtle, right? Why don’t I just stick to blogging and let you come up with Volt product placement ideas.