German advertisers of the 1950s turned the Volkswagen Transporter into some of the best rolling marketing art ever. (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?

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!

(Read More…)

Buster Keaton reached the height of his fame in about 1927, but Ford’s 1966 marketers must have figured that nostalgia for the allegedly wholesome silent-film era would be big, what with all the not-so-wholesome madness heating up in the United States at that time. How about we put Buster Keaton in the Econoline? (Read More…)

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?

(Read More…)

American car ads of the early 1980s came up short in several departments: Burning rubber, jet-engine-grade turbocharger sound, and blatantly sped-up film that made the cars appear to be going 300 MPH. Oh, and they also lacked James Bond! (Read More…)

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…

Sure, Internet video is mostly about dental-fetish porn (particularly the very stimulating “spit sink” subgenre), but when the novocaine wears off and the last vinyl-clad hygienist has put aside her last stainless-steel scraper, you’re ready to explore the other great thing about Internet video… old television ads for the Citroën AX. (Read More…)

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…
(Read More…)

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.

Back when I was semi-serious about photography— as in Pliocene Epoch photography with lots of chemicals and red lights— I scored a bunch of two-piece glass 35mm slide mounts at a camera store in Los Angeles. Most of them were empty, but a handful came with Chrysler dealership promotional slides from 1974. (Read More…)

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…)

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.