"What if I told you...?" Chevy ad campaign

NOHOME wrote: You guys are missing something, when it comes to automotive related advertising we are something of a litmus test. If the proposed media is well received by the "car guy" contingent, then it will NOT work with the MUCH LARGER non-car segment of the audience. For the most part, they are pitching to the pablum eaters, if they toss down a meaty bone-in steak that would require sharp cutlery, it will go right over the target audiences head.

I think you've got it exactly right. The ads are targeted at the 99%, not the 1% lunatics we are in here. Just like the famous "rounded to the ground" Toyota ad from not too long ago. Car people laugh hysterically at them. Non-car people ponder how much it will actually influence their decision to buy a car.

I will say the Liberty Mutual ads are totally baffling...as an industry insider, I don't get it. WTF??? Misleading at best. Lots of scare tactics and taking pot shots at the industry they are a big part of.

My eleven year old daughter does like the Liberty Mutual commercial where the young, female spokesperson says “I just tapped the rear bumper of another car and my rates shot up”.

My daughter always shouts out “obviously, you SLAMMED!!! into the car”...bhahaha

edizzle89 wrote: the most ridiculous chevy commercial on right now i think is the 'truck bed test' yea the ford had a few tears in the aluminum bed, but if you dont load the stone like a dick head and drop it from 6 berkeleying feet up then it will literally last forever. the next chevy commerical is gonna be them shooting it with a cannon from a pirate ship and talking about how well the chevy hold up to berkeleying cannon fire. you know, an every day problem...

This had bothered me for a long time. They always show manly trucks on manly job sites. Inevitably they show heavy assed stuff getting dumped in the bed of said truck or said truck getting airborne romping through rough terrain.

The guy that does that on a construction site is going to get his teeth knocked down the back of his throat.

edizzle89 wrote: the most ridiculous chevy commercial on right now i think is the 'truck bed test' yea the ford had a few tears in the aluminum bed, but if you dont load the stone like a dick head and drop it from 6 berkeleying feet up then it will literally last forever. the next chevy commerical is gonna be them shooting it with a cannon from a pirate ship and talking about how well the chevy hold up to berkeleying cannon fire. you know, an every day problem...

This had bothered me for a long time. They always show manly trucks on manly job sites. Inevitably they show heavy assed stuff getting dumped in the bed of said truck or said truck getting airborne romping through rough terrain.

The guy that does that on a construction site is going to get his teeth knocked down the back of his throat.

KyAllroad wrote: OTOH, I really enjoy the Dodge brothers commercials. Seeing the different models raced through various time periods, it's fun and entertaining. The real truth though, is that I DVR everything and watch VERY few commercials. The FF button is your friend.

I like the Dodge commercial set to that Phil Collins song with the Charger, Challenger, and Viper. Burnouts, drifts, and glorious noises, that's how you sell a damn car

the aluminum truck bed one made sense to me... cut up a few loads of scrap metal and throw them into the back of your truck and it will make sense. you don't just gingerly set scrap metal into the truck- you load it the fastest way possible and hope that your back window is still intact when you are done... then when you get to the scrap yard, a dirtball looking dude uses a giant magnet attached to an escavator to unload it... you can get damage loading and unloading..

yeah, i know, not the typical use for a new truck, but a lot of them will be used this way when they are 10-15 years old. and i did haul a few loads in with the brand new '02 Silverado HD2500 that i had way back when.

STM317 wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: My theory is that the more a car (...or soda... or beer... or etc.) tries to convince you of something, the more opposite the reality is. Boring appliance? We'll show how exciting it is! Prius? It's the muscle car of rebels!

The Prius commercial where the guys in the Prius are running from the cops (who somehow can't catch them), so the cops get a Prius cop car has to be my least favorite car commercial right now. But that's not a challenge, because I watch very little TV. The fact that the new Prius looks like a turd that rolled through a fire doesn't help either.

The only thing that makes that ad ok is it is the Sabotkas from season 2 of the Wire.

novaderrik wrote: the aluminum truck bed one made sense to me... cut up a few loads of scrap metal and throw them into the back of your truck and it will make sense. you don't just gingerly set scrap metal into the truck- you load it the fastest way possible and hope that your back window is still intact when you are done... then when you get to the scrap yard, a dirtball looking dude uses a giant magnet attached to an escavator to unload it... you can get damage loading and unloading.. yeah, i know, not the typical use for a new truck, but a lot of them will be used this way when they are 10-15 years old. and i did haul a few loads in with the brand new '02 Silverado HD2500 that i had way back when.

i get where you are coming from but like stated before if your bed is going to see this kind of abuse even the cheapest slip in bed liner will take the brunt of the load and do a decent job of protecting the bed. I dont see many trucks running around that haul real loads that dont have some kind of bed liner, not to say thats always the case.

My favorite car commercial was the Nissan super bowl one where they played Cats in the Cradle. Not for the commercial itself but after we watched it my mother, who rarely jokes about anything said "So if Harry Chapin was driving a Nissan he'd still be alive?"

Wall-e wrote: My favorite car commercial was the Nissan super bowl one where they played Cats in the Cradle. Not for the commercial itself but after we watched it my mother, who rarely jokes about anything said "So if Harry Chapin was driving a Nissan he'd still be alive?"

Would have been a flimsy old Datsun back then. He still would have died.

Hmmmmm, as far as truck commercials....

The lady with eyes in the back of her head... driving the GMC Whateveryoucallit... she is dring in the left... no traffic... just hanging out in the left... then another truck come sup from behind, she moves to the right... but does she stay there... NO!!

And what is it with Mazda and Gingerboi???? He is driving on a 2 lane mountain road... a cop comes up from behind... and passes him on the right? What happened to the 2 lane road... and if the road had somehow gained another lane... why didn't gingerboi move right....

Furious_E wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: OTOH, I really enjoy the Dodge brothers commercials. Seeing the different models raced through various time periods, it's fun and entertaining. The real truth though, is that I DVR everything and watch VERY few commercials. The FF button is your friend.

I like the Dodge commercial set to that Phil Collins song with the Charger, Challenger, and Viper. Burnouts, drifts, and glorious noises, that's how you sell a damn car

Favorite dodge commercial

jstand wrote:

EvanR wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote:

EvanR wrote: I fell for Chevy, because I thought *maybe* the "New GM" was better. Also, I bought a 3-year-old Chevy with <30k miles for a 35% discount off new. Six months later it's worth 50% off MSRP. I guess I'm stuck with this one. But you fooled me good, New GM.

Fail to see the correlation. If it's a good car, who cares?

Oh yeah, I didn't really flesh that out, did I? Two parts failures at <35k miles - sway bar end links and air intake hose. Both are known failures on this model. Chevy knows it, because the OEM replacements are made of new material. They should be free. Nope. Also, 6 months after I paid $10k (+tax), it's now worth $6k. I could have gotten a better deal on a better car by leasing a Corolla.

Just curious, if it had less than 35k miles wasn't it still under warranty?

No, because when I bought it, it was already past 3 years since the original sale date :(

Not all car commercials are bad...

...are they?

Brian wrote: In reply to Robbie: That's berking funny. Now the ads I don't understand at all are the ones for industrial/ non consumer manufacturing. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, GE, ect. I can almost give GE a pass because they do make appliances, but how does wind farm technology influence me to buy a GE toaster? The most logical explanation I can think of is advertising to get people to buy stocks. Im scared to think of the Venn diagram of people looking to invest and people influenced by commercials.

We would call to try and get whatever they were advertising on SNL each week to review for our school paper. It never worked.

RealMiniParker wrote: Not all car commercials are bad...

My favorite car commercial of all time.

stuart in mn wrote:

RealMiniParker wrote: Not all car commercials are bad...

My favorite car commercial of all time.

it was a better time back then for car commercials: MR2 pinball

Funny, these ads aren't aired on the shows I watch. Must have something to do with them knowing their market.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rpw-39iKyso

Now here's a car commercial that nailed it. Only saw it on TV once though, whihc is too bad.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KQ0hn-ptesI

stuart in mn wrote:

RealMiniParker wrote: Not all car commercials are bad...

My favorite car commercial of all time.

Also mine!

Ran across this vid this morning, reminded me of this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LmBOYtjBtOE

I think they nailed it.

Duke wrote: I've *never* understood the "Our products are usually so bad that you'll be surprised they're good" ad campaigns. And not just for cars, or by GM, or whatever. It's just a stupid premise to start from.

Possibly the most heinous example of this type of ad is Chrysler's "America's Import" ads. I made a thread on those way back when.

In reply to t25torx:

Very much so.

If you ever want to know what a product's weak point is... just watch the ads and they will hype it.

Camry not sporty? Let's show them racing!

Truck is not tough? Lets show farmers using it while Bob Segar sings Like a Rock!

New X5 is a just another boring SUV? Let's bring back the "Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign from the 1990s when we used it to sell sedans.

Skittles taste like plastic? Let's make plastic a flavor and call it "Rainbow" :)

Huckleberry wrote: If you ever want to know what a product's weak point is... just watch the ads and they will hype it. Camry not sporty? Let's show them racing! Truck is not tough? Lets show farmers using it while Bob Segar sings Like a Rock! New X5 is a just another boring SUV? Let's bring back the "Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign from the 1990s when we used it to sell sedans. Skittles taste like plastic? Let's make plastic a flavor and call it "Rainbow" :)

Prius not exciting? Lets escape capture from the police with it!

Honestly if these ads broke it down and were straight up with people I think it would appeal to EVERYONE.

Toyota: "Want an Accord?"

Consumer: "Yes."

Toyota: "Don't care about anything other than MPG and having 4 doors and the ability to listen to podcasts and your recently converted CD's to MP3s on the way to your soul sucking middle management job?"

Consumer: "Yes."

Toyota: "With your commute you'll save $756 a year in fuel based on your current habits. That's two payments saved as opposed to the Accord. You don't care about excitement or driving a manual transmission anyway. Pick this one"

Consumer: "Yes."