Opinion: GM Should Not Be Outside Looking In At This Super Bowl

[nsap]

Opinion: GM Should Not Be Outside Looking In At This Super Bowl
Forbes.com
February 3, 2013

Not being in this Super Bowl should be driving General Motors marketing executives crazy. It’s the one major decision made in the Joel Ewanick era that they probably would rather have back.

Affiliating Chevrolet with Manchester United?: a great move by the exiled former CEO last spring just before he was ushered out. Not advertising on Facebook anymore? It probably was a good idea to pressure the too-big-for-its-breeches social-media giant to make its paid space more effective, and it was a move that drew muttered agreement from many CMOs in other industries.

But GM finally is undoing the Ewanick-approved “Chevy Runs Deep” tag line, which quickly proved shallow and ineffective. And brand marketeers in every one of the company’s four remaining divisions also probably would love to have seen interim CMO Alan Batey reverse his former boss’s decision about exiting the Super Bowl as well.

This isn’t 2009. While the company remains saddled with some ownership by the U.S. taxpayer, and the likelihood that the federal government will exit its oversight of General Motors with a significant financial loss, the company itself is in better shape now than in many years.

Surely a well-executed bet on Super Bowl advertising, $4 million or $8 million or $24 million, no longer would be considered a risky bet. But as it is and shall be on this, the day of Super Bowl XLVII, GM won’t be able to play with the other kids on the biggest marketing field of them all.

And look what each or any of GM’s brands might have been able to do with the air time:

Read More...

[nsap]

I have to agree with him, particularly with Cadillac. The Super Bowl was Cadillac's chance to trumpet the ATS, but they missed it.

[Hitman1970]

They could use you at VW yesterday. That Bug commercial was awful. ATS and Corvette definitely deserved Superbowl ad money.

[bballr4567]

Im not so sure it was a good or bad idea. Sure, a lot of people watch the super bowl but when you put out mediocre ads such as years past just doesnt help. Until GM can get consistincy from its marketing department then they need to spend the money elsewhere.

Take Chrysler for example. Two GREAT ads this year. The Farmer and The Return were just moving. Can GM even come close to that? If not, no need to try and fail.

[nsap]

Im not so sure it was a good or bad idea. Sure, a lot of people watch the super bowl but when you put out mediocre ads such as years past just doesnt help. Until GM can get consistincy from its marketing department then they need to spend the money elsewhere.

Take Chrysler for example. Two GREAT ads this year. The Farmer and The Return were just moving. Can GM even come close to that? If not, no need to try and fail.

I liked The Farmer spot, but was less enthused about The Return. They are both touching spots, but I doubt either one of them moves metal.

[bballr4567]

I liked The Farmer spot, but was less enthused about The Return. They are both touching spots, but I doubt either one of them moves metal.

Jeep is already known very well in the military community and it just reenforces the idea that they havent forgot about you.

The Farmer was just a great story about America. Ive had friends that arent even farmers or remotely related to it that want that feel. I even had one friend cry during the commercial.


If neither moves metal then nothing GM can come up with will either. Got to remember that the past three super bowls Chrysler has destroyed any other car maker with their stuff. The bar has been set very, very high in that regard.

The last GM super bowl commercial I remember was that awful truck apocolypse one. When was the last good GM super bowl commercial?

[Butz]

How much does it cost to advertise during the Super Bowl? GM would be better off using that money to give us the CIEN.

[krusshall]

Superbowl advertising is a waste of money. Nobody cares about what is being advertised, they just care about how cute or whimsical or catchy the skit is. When the advertisement itself becomes more important than the actual product, then something is not right.

[jzchev28]

I like the truck apocolypse one, got a laugh out of me, but I don't know that it was the greatest for helping to move metal. They should have been bragging about the ATS and it's gazillion awards.

[MisterMe]

I seem to recall the Paul Harvey voiceover for The Farmer when it was a new recording. It was somewhat moving, but it took me forever to figure-out that it was selling Ram pickup trucks. The Return was nice enough, but it came across more like a PSA than a commercial. I absolutely loved VW's commercial with the Minnesotans from Jamaica. I also loved the Kia ads--at the time. However, I had forgotten about them until I had nearly completed this post. The most useful automobile ad was the introduction of the new Mercedes-Benz CLA. That said, I am not so sure about a sub-$30k Mercedes. Sure, now virtually anyone can buy a Mercedes. If anyone can buy a Mercedes, then why would anyone want to buy a Mercedes?

The notion that Cadillac lost an opportunity here is just silly. The purpose of an ad is ultimately to move metal. From what I can see, the ATS is selling quite well without a Super Bowl ad. It is not going to lose sales for lack of a Super Bowl commercial. If Cadillac were ready to put the ELR into showrooms, then there might be a point. Perhaps, we will see ELR ads during the World Series.

[megeebee]

How much does it cost to advertise during the Super Bowl? GM would be better off using that money to give us the CIEN.

A Superbowl ad wouldn't pay for the design and devlopment of the door panels on a car like the Cien!

[skylark68]

A Buick Regal GS ad would have been nice.

[SX3]

Jeep is already known very well in the military community and it just reenforces the idea that they havent forgot about you.

The Farmer was just a great story about America. Ive had friends that arent even farmers or remotely related to it that want that feel. I even had one friend cry during the commercial.


If neither moves metal then nothing GM can come up with will either. Got to remember that the past three super bowls Chrysler has destroyed any other car maker with their stuff. The bar has been set very, very high in that regard.

The last GM super bowl commercial I remember was that awful truck apocolypse one. When was the last good GM super bowl commercial?

The ATS commercial at the 2-minute warning was brilliant.

[prowlerjc]

Superbowl ad time is too expensive. Waste of money, IMO.

[MCGARRETT]

The Farmer ad was a rehash of a FFA(Future Farmers of America) ad from several years ago, they just added some Dodges to the footage.