Saturn Goes Social

It seems the world is abuzz with social media these days. Or should that be atwitter? Either way, major companies are taking note, including GM’s Saturn brand. Once known for its customer get-togethers in the hills of Tennessee, the company is moving into today’s Web 2.0 world with imsaturn.com.

The social website allows people to sign in and join the community by creating their own pages, similar to Facebook or MySpace. As I’m writing this post, there are 215 members on the site, which launched sometime last week.

We’re not sure if the world needs more social websites, but Saturn seems to be a logical car brand to do it. What do you think?

Dodge's Largest Web Campaign Launches New Journey

Dodge is allocating nearly a third of its advertising dollars for the new Dodge Journey compact SUV to the interwebs. Starting today, web surfers will be bombarded with advertisements spouting the new tagline “If you can dream it, do it.” Sounds like someone is mixing MLK and Michael Jordan metaphors, but we’ve heard much worse.

The idea is that the Journey is so functional it can do just about anything. We’re not sure how much different the Journey is compared to others in its segment, but perhaps homepage takeovers of AOL (today), Yahoo! (Friday) and MSN (Saturday) will tell us.

The rest of the advertising pie is heading to traditional media, like TV and print, along with hands-on efforts across the country, including three NASCAR races. The Journey went on sale quietly last month and sold nearly as well as the full-size Durango. And that was before a major ad blitz.

More Dodge Journey News (KickingTires)

BMW Heads to Facebook for 1 Series

Hey twentysomethings, there’s a new BMW in town: It’s the 1 Series and it starts for under $30,000 so it’s a BMW you might actually be able to afford.

That’s not actually the advertising copy from BMW but the company is using roughly half of its ad budget to push the 1 Series — estimated from $15 million to $25 million — on online media, including Facebook. On the social media site, users will get to build their own 1 series and send it to friends. The company hopes to woo new shoppers to the brand who may have never considered it before.

BMW will also advertise on Yahoo! and MSN, but the Facebook move gets our attention most. The company will have virtual road trips from one Facebook page to another. We’re not sure how that will work but the gist is to get the shopper — and his or her friends — involved and not to cram the message down their throats.

What do you think? Would an interactive ad motivate you towards a car or do you just want to see something traditional?

BMW Turns to the Web for Its 1-Series (New York Times)

Ford Not Targeting Families With Flex Ads

Ford’s answer to the minivan will not be directly marketed to families, according to a story by Automotive News. The company’s new head of marketing, Jim Farley — previously of the trendiest of trend-setting brands, Scion — has revamped the marketing plan of this very important new model to focus on trendsetters instead of just the family market.

As an early example of this plan, Ford had a famous street artist decorate the white roof of the Flex in various urban themes at the recent New York auto show. Ford wants to get far away from the minivan stigma with the Flex, especially since it’s discontinued its own failed minivan, the Freestar.

It seems to me Ford should play up the minivan stigma to the hilt with the Flex.

Hybrid Owner Mindset

An online ad network called Mindset Media has come up with a profile that pigeonholes hybrid car owners. The company used Nielsen Online to find warm bodies for the study, which determined that hybrid owners are highly creative, sensitive, liberal, able to lead others and intellectually curious.

The company'€™s purpose in conducting the study was to ensure automakers going into the hybrid market know it has the pulse of the hybrid buyer locked down, just in case there'€™s any ad-agency shopping going on.

We wish the company the best with that, but our own anecdotal evidence suggests that almost everyone we talk to these days looking for a new car at least asks what we think of hybrids. We'€™d guess a few them are unimaginative, callous, conservative followers, but that'€™s just us.

Hybrid Car Owner + Mac User = Contender for Global Dominance (AdRants)

Sexy Toyota Sienna Ad a Must-See

There are a lot of ways to advertise incentives, but Toyota ups the ante with its new spot for the 2008 Sienna minivan here. The black-and-white ad satirizes a Calvin Klein Obsession commercial, but with the family-hauler as the object of desire. The actors seductively whisper “Five-star safety rating,” and the finishing line — “Somewhere between luxury and soccer practice lies Sienna” — is plain hilarious. The ad then shows the current local incentives for wherever it’s airing, which here in Chicago is $1,500 cash back. 

This ad follows two great commercials for the new Toyota Sequoia SUV and mildly funny spots for the new Corolla. The Sienna spot tops them all, though, and really stands out. It’s ironic that a company stereotyped as producing boring cars can come up with such innovative spots. Let us know what you think of the ad in the comments below.

Hummer Owners Don't Like Stigma

SUV buyers avoid getting Hummers more than any other brand because of the image attached to owning one, or so says a survey by J.D. Power. That’s leading GM to change the marketing for the brand to highlight the utility of the H2 and H3.

The new campaign calls Hummers “Purpose Built” to show that people buy them to handle tasks other vehicles simply couldn’t accomplish. Hummers aren’t status symbols, you see, they’re to go white-water rafting after crossing the Rubicon. While it may be a good slogan on its own, we doubt that this attempt to change the image of Hummer will actually stick.

Hummer owners themselves are tired of getting nasty looks, and often find their SUVs vandalized, according to a story in USA Today. New ad campaign aside, we doubt mainstream buyers will stop looking down on Hummers as long as the SUVs continue to get the same — or worse — gas mileage as other SUVs. At least that’s our guess. What’s yours?

Hummer's Feeling a Little Misunderstood (USA Today)

Super Bowl Car Ads: Winners & Losers

The Super Bowl is the premier place to debut commercials that can help make or break a car company. One of the big players every year is the automotive industry and Super Bowl XLII was no different. KickingTires’ David Thomas and Cars.com managing editor Patrick Olsen go over the winners and losers. And no, we’re not reviewing Cars.com’s two spots. The ads are listed in order of their airing.

2008 Audi R8

David Thomas: Winner
Taking on the Godfather is the appropriate way to deliver the message that Audi wants to play in the $100,000+ luxury market, which it’s new R8 certainly does. Of course, it doesn’t really replace a Bentley or a Rolls like we saw in the bed, but the ad was extremely well done and the R8 blasting down the drive was sure to win over any car guy.

Patrick Olsen: Winner
The ad took the idea someplace that The Godfather movies never went: It showed the villain gloating over his bloody (oily) deed. The closeup on the R8 grille and LED lights were as expressive as Marlon Brando, and all the guys in my family room reacted well to the ad. My favorite car ad of the night.

Video: Cars.com's Super Bowl Ads

If you’re like 90 million or so other people, you’re probably watching the Super Bowl right about now. You’re probably also watching the commercials, which often are vastly more entertaining than the game itself. This year, Cars.com has two commercials airing during the big game and we have them both right here for you via the magic of You Tube — so you can, you know, share them.

The one above is our favorite, but don’t forget the second ad. After all, shrunken heads have been funny since Michael Keaton was "Beetlejuice." OK. That’s it for the shameless plug. Go back to enjoying the game.

Update: Check out all our commercials in a virtual waiting room here.

Bob Dylan: Cadillac Spokesman?

We were a bit surprised — but not too surprised — to see three videos hit YouTube today featuring Bob Dylan in a Cadillac Escalade. It seems the rock ‘n‘ roll legend has a new radio show on XM and, to promote it, he’s promoting Cadillacs in the three spots you see here. The one above is a one minute spot, a two-minute version is posted below and a 30-second spot we’d expect to see on TV can be found here.

Bob Dylan has sold his soul for commercials before, most famously for Victoria’s Secret. At least this ad has a tie-in to a radio show. However, we’re a bit shocked that the ad gurus featured him in an Escalade SUV. Not only that, but they have the not-too-gas-friendly Escalade passing a gasoline truck prominently in all three versions. Couldn’t they just have picked a regular semi?

YouTube via Jalopnik

Ford Ad Leads to Confusion

Perhaps you’ve seen the Ford ads that offer to “Swap Your Ride” with unwitting consumers who think they’re getting a new Ford for a limited amount of time for a market research study. As it turns out … no. They’re actually part of an elaborate ruse to get positive comments for advertising fodder. However, one Boston-area man thought the ad — which ties into a cash-back offer if you trade in your car for a new Ford — was saying anyone could trade in their old car for a new Ford for free.

That’s when he met a Boston-area Ford dealer who had to fill in the poor man about the intricacies of advertising.

Here's My Honda, Where's My Ford? (The Detroit News)

Nissan Gives Away Five Rogue SUVs on NBC

The integration of automakers and TV networks is getting deeper and deeper. With the 30-second ad going the way of the dodo bird, we now get characters driving the latest and greatest car or SUV during the shows themselves. It seems NBC’s hit “Heroes” will debut Monday with an extra reason to tune in. Nissan will be giving away one of its Rogue compact SUVs after the show — if you answer a question about that night’s show correctly. Then, for the next four nights, Nissan will do it all over again for other new shows.

This post isn’t to promote the contest, just to point out how car companies are trying to promote their products with the advance of technology. However, if you’re interested in the contest itself, we’ll still point you to NBC’s page about it here.

Related
Nissan, NBC Hit Show Heroes Team Up for Second Season (KickingTires)
More Advertising News (KickingTires)

The Last Frontier: Parking Stripe Ads

Every morning we roll into the Cars.com parking lot amid the stock traders and financial bigwigs that call our block of downtown Chicago their work-home. We get out of our test cars and into the office to write about them. We don’t really think about the two lines we just parked between unless we’re complaining about the guy next to us or bragging about how awesome we are at parking a particularly huge SUV. Ad agencies, however, seem to think people will start paying attention to those white — or in our case, yellow — lines.

In California, ABC is advertising the return of “Desperate Housewives” on parking space lines with the sort-of-clever tagline, “Parking for Desperate Housewives. They’re Back Sunday 9 p.m.” We scoff at the idea, but they seem to have been a hit with the L.A. denizens who tested them out. One professor of communications called it “brilliant.” The company behind the ads has been around for three years, and they say business is booming.

Time to give these the KickingTires test. What do you think? Is there no place left on the roads that isn’t up for a quick advertising buck?

'Desperate' Advertising: Parking Stripes Hot New Way to Get the Word Out (Dailynews.com)

CBS and CTS: Cadillac Banks on TV Comedies, CSI

As the DVR/TiVo-ing of American continues, advertisers have to find new ways to get themselves in front of couch potatoes. Cadillac is going all out this month by tying into the launch of CBS’ Monday night lineup to advertise its own launch of the all-new CTS sedan. While we think the idea of putting the CTS in numerous episodes of “CSI: Miami” is a no-brainer, we’re not so sure how the sleek sedan relates to two hours of comedy, or its audience.

GM To Spend $100 Million Marketing New Malibu

There’s no question the Chevy Malibu is one of GM’s most important vehicles. When it was last redesigned in 2004, the blocky look turned many off to what had been a perennial best-seller. Now, the company has a bold new design and an already-praise-winning chassis— the Malibu is virtually identical to the new Saturn Aura — and they’re ready to tell the world about it.

GM is planning a $100 million marketing assault for the new Malibu so it can get the new car in front of the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord shopper. A new, redesigned Accord goes on sale this fall. Sales of the new Malibu begin Nov. 1, and an efficient, entry-level four-cylinder model teamed with a six-speed automatic transmission will be available in early 2008. Prices haven’t been announced, but we expect base models to remain close to the current Malibu’s $17,215.

Chevy recently launched a Malibu-only website and has provided some new images of the car we’ve added to a gallery below. UPDATE: Additional photos have been added below.

GM Pedal to Metal for Malibu (The Detroit News)

Related
More Chevy Malibu News (KickingTires)

Tiger Woods Still Shilling for Buick

Last week we heard word that General Motors was moving Tiger Woods from in front of Buicks to a more corporate role promoting such things as OnStar. According to one of GM’s blogs, that’s not the case. Tiger will still be a spokesman for Buick but will be “expanding” his role to include other GM services.

Perhaps this move comes because Buick has just one new product it’s banking on, the Buick Enclave, and there isn’t enough for Tiger to do. GM’s head marketing guru, Mark LaNeve, recently told AutoWeek that the company doesn’t want a spokesman at the center of its advertising efforts.

“We don't want Tiger, or any celebrities, as core to one of our brands," he said. “We felt we can deliver that message much more clearly and distinctly without Tiger in the middle of it — so we put Tiger on the edge — and get back to really talking about the product." Even with a better-looking Buick, most people will probably still enjoy seeing Tiger more than 30 seconds of seat and cargo area close-ups.

If you’re a Tiger fan, he has posted pictures of who will undoubtedly become the greatest female golfer of all time on his website.

Tiger Woods and Buick (FYI Blog)

Nickelodeon Signs Chrysler as Big Sponsor

Chrysler is going all out trying to pitch its redesigned minivans, particularly the new Town & Country. Today, the company unveiled an advertising and promotional partnership deal with kid-friendly cable network Nickelodeon. In many ways, Chrysler is drawing a line in the sandbox for what is essentially the last great American minivan. Chrysler’s minivans remain the most popular with minivan drivers, but Honda’s Odyssey and Toyota’s Sienna are creeping closer. The foreign competition has essentially forced Ford and GM out of the minivan game, turning the domestics’ attention toward crossovers: SUVs with minivan-like interiors.

It makes a lot of sense for Chrysler to target Nickelodeon; my kids have watched that channel for many years, and frequently (especially when they were younger) would ask me for products they’d seen advertised between “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Jimmy Neutron.” Chrysler is probably hoping that when it pitches Nickelodeon playing on satellite TV in the Town & Country, not to mention the new “Swivel & Go” seats, kids will beg their parents to go out for a test drive.

Audi's DVR-Focused TT Ads

Audi launched a new television ad campaign yesterday for its TT coupe and roadster that features a slew of .02-second-long video shots that, when viewed normally, go by in a flash. The commercial then asks you to rewind to see what the heck you just missed.

It’s an intriguing idea considering Audi’s target audience is likely to be watching TV on a DVR. You can check out the ad here. Now, the big question we have for our savvy readers is this: If you use a DVR, don’t you just skip all the commercials anyway?

Sometimes you might fast-forward past a commercial that catches your eye and go back, but it looks like no one will be able to even catch a glimpse of the Audi ad at all. We’ll have to wait and see if it has its desired effect.

This ad is part of Audi’s new campaign, “Truth in Engineering.” Not exactly “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” is it? Don’t these car companies get it? Wouldn’t something like “Style and Substance” resonate more, or even at all? What would your Audi tagline be?

Ford, Chrysler Get New Rebates, Ad Campaigns

Ford is using a new ad campaign to promote its latest round of incentives, but instead of glorifying the vehicle, it’s trying to sell the company’s new “reality” route. Ford hired Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel reality show “Dirty Jobs” — in which Rowe takes on a different arduous and, yes, dirty task each episode — for its new “Ford Challenge” ads showing off the F-150. The incentive is $3,000 cash back or 0% financing for 60 months on all 2007 F-150s, minus the Harley-Davidson edition.

Chrysler, on the other hand, is using options as incentives. As we mentioned before, the company is offering a free upgrade to a Hemi engine in the Dodge Ram pickup and Durango SUV, in addition to $5,000 cash back on the Ram and $2,500 on the Durango, according to Dodge. Jeep Grand Cherokees get $3,500 cash back but no free Hemi upgrade.

Check out all available incentives here. 

[Chrysler, Ford Roll Out New Rebates, The Detroit News]

Related:
Dodge Offers $500 Cash Back on All-New Avenger
New Chrysler Incentive: Free Hemi Engines and DVD Systems

Blurry Mustang Billboards

Those dispensers of all things advertising-related at AdRants bring us the latest in billboard innovation. Ford has created blurred billboards made out of a transparent resin that makes any object behind them appear blurred. This is supposed to give the effect of driving by really fast, like you presumably would in a Mustang. However, the folks at AdRants think the Mustang logo is too small to get much attention by drivers. What do you think? Ingenious or a waste of time?

[Mustang Blurs Billboards, Point is Equally Blurry, AdRants]

Related:
Mini Billboards to Get Interactive

How They Made Those Toyota Tundra Super Bowl Ads

Yesterday, we posted a recap of the car commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. Overall they were pretty boring, with the best ones, promoting the Toyota Tundra, seemingly faked. We didn’t even notice the “actual demonstration” disclaimer at the beginning of each one. Come on, you didn’t think they were really going to drive straight off a cliff and trust the brakes, right? Well, umm … it looks like that’s just what they did.

On a company website, Toyota talks up the “actual demonstration” part of the ads and you can view both commercials in their entirety. There’s also a “making of” video for the seesaw ad which we thought would lead to the trailer flipping over. After seeing the “making of” video, you can guess the speed of the descent a lot more than you could in the finished commercial, which made everything seem a little faster. OK, one down.

Super Bowl Car Commercials

Like everyone else, we spent most of our night yesterday watching Super Bowl XLI, and like most people we watched the commercials with almost as much interest as the game. Usually, automakers spend just as much time and money on the Super Bowl as do beer and soda manufacturers. That didn’t seem to be the case this year.

Toyota and GM seemed to spend the most getting their new commercials out there. Toyota’s new Tundra got two new commercials showing off the vehicle’s capabilities. One had the truck speeding through a closing steel door — kind of like in “Independence Day,” except without aliens and spaceships — then coming to a full stop before the road ran off a cliff. Neat. Totally fake, but neat.

City Man Replaces Jeep Bobblehead Ads; Still Not Interesting

When Jeep introduced the new Compass small SUV, it used a series of ads with bobbleheads driving the car around, listening to music and bobbing their heads. That was it. To say it was lackluster is an understatement. Now Jeep is following the bobbleheads with City Man, a giant made up of urban things like road signs and newspaper stands. City Man surfs the Compass around streets, supposedly showing it off.

Advertising pundits aren’t impressed with City Man, and I admit I didn’t get it at all when I first saw it last week. I never got the bobbleheads, either.

What would be a better commercial?

I vaguely recall a Dodge Caliber commercial with a bunch of young, hip guys on a road trip, drinking from the refrigerated glove box, then pulling over to the side of the road for an impromptu bathroom break. Maybe they could have a bunch of young, hip women drive the Compass on a road trip and show off its features.

What do you think? What’s the best car commercial on TV right now?

[Message Lost For Some in Jeep Ads, The Detroit News]

Nissan's New Heroes

Tonight, TV geeks across America rejoice as new episodes of “Heroes” return to NBC. Fans of the show are already familiar with Nissan’s not-so-subtle placement of a new Versa compact car in the program, but tonight the carmaker will actually give fans something extra.

Nissan will sponsor original online content from “Heroes” using NBC’s new “TV 360,” which will deliver character secrets and more information about the popular show. Nissan also sponsored a free iTunes download of the “Heroes” pilot episode in the fall. The deal with the surprise hit show is a bit better than Nissan’s summertime foray with NBC. The car company sponsored the online-only — and completely unheard of — “Star Tomorrow.” Something makes us think the “Heroes” tie-in is worth a bit more to Nissan.

[NBC Takes 'Heroes' To Web, MediaPost]

Cadillac Goes to YouTube, Recruits Joan Jett and Tiki Barber

Automakers are always looking for new ways to promote their products. After all, there are only so many camera angles and TV commercial ideas. Cadillac shed some of its fuddy-duddy grandpa image when it released the CTS a few years ago. Today, it’s going a step further with an interactive video site called MyCadillacStory.com. 

Celebrities like Joan Jett and Tiki Barber join more pedestrian Cadillac owners — including some fuddy-duddy folks — to reminisce about Cadillac. Other fans out there can submit their own Cadillac story via YouTube as well. 

It’s a well-executed internet promotion that, believe it or not, is a rare thing.

[MyCadillacStory.com via Jalopnik]

Mini Billboards to Get Interactive

Mini is sending out invitations to some preferred owners in order to test a new advertising concept to promote the new Mini Cooper and Cooper S. The company is sending out instructions that allow the owners to personalize messages broadcast from billboards — yes, the big billboards you see on the highway — in select cities including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. The company is known for its innovative billboard advertising, but this is a whole new level of attention-grabbing.

After you enter some non-intrusive facts about yourself the company sends you a key fob. Their new billboards will sense the key fob approaching and display an appropriate message just for you, even though everyone else on the highway will see it as well. An example from Mini’s release reads: “David, your hair looks great today.”

How did they know it was me? I don’t even own a Mini and my hair looks awful today, really.

[MINI USA’s Motorby Pilot Program, MotoringFile]

Mazda Lineup Growing, Advertising Not Catching Up

We just finished reading AutoWeek’s story on Mazda’s expanding lineup — moving from seven nameplates to nine in two years and adding six more bodystyles in the same timeframe — and we’re a bit dismayed that the company isn’t planning on expanding ad buying in the same proportions.

Here’s where we dissect some of the industry speak for you. Mazda’s new director of marketing David Klan isn’t planning on highlighting the new CX-7 and CX-9 crossovers over the rest of the lineup despite their positive reviews and brisk sales of the CX-7. He went the understated route, saying “the crossovers are a natural extension of the brand.” Sounds like a politician or losing quarterback who can only say one thing, no matter what the topic is.

The point is the CX-7 and CX-9 are probably the most important vehicles to hit Mazda’s lineup since the Mazda6.

New Product Placement: Best-Selling Novels

Over the weekend, my wife sat down to read the latest James Patterson novel, “Cross.” This is the latest in a series of mystery thrillers featuring the hero Alex Cross, and I guess they’re pretty popular. My wife pointed out early in the book that Cross detailed a trip to a Mercedes-Benz dealer in detail, and it seemed odd to her — especially in the middle of the plot. Here’s that first excerpt:

“So we stopped at the Mercedes dealer…Jannie and Damon ogled a silver CLK500 Cabriolet convertible, while Ali and I tested out the spacious front seat of an R350. I was thinking family car — safety, beauty, resale value. Intellect and emotion.”

The italics are verbatim. He goes on to talk about the rest of the trip to the dealer, but resale value? Anyway, this takes up an entire chapter. Perhaps if it had been just one mention we wouldn’t have been disturbed, but then Cross goes and buys the R350 later and repeatedly goes for drives to clear his mind during the investigation. Even that wouldn’t be that bad if he didn’t describe the R350 each time like this: “I liked the vehicle’s zip and also the dual-dash zone climate control, which would keep everybody happy, even Nana Mama.”

Mercedes gets a handful of mentions in the best-selling fiction novel in the country, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Patterson were shuttling between book signings in a new R350 of his own. Even though this is a work of fiction, the repeated mentions bugged my wife a lot more than seeing James Bond drive an Aston Martin or the “CSI” staff in Hummers.

What do you think? Is product placement in print more bothersome than on the screen?

Lexus Parallel Parking Ads Generate Buzz

Few posts on KickingTires have inspired such debate as Joe Wiesenfelder’s walkthrough of the new Lexus LS 460’s automated parallel parking system. Our readers weighed in with their thoughts, mostly seeing the technology as either an insult to drivers or a step closer to full car automation.

What was overlooked was the fact that Lexus chose to focus on this one feature out of the many in the new LS 460 during the vehicle’s launch and initial ad blitz. The parking feature is only an option, while standout attributes like an eight-speed transmission and 380-hp V-8 are standard. Maybe Lexus chose that route because even if the LS 460 turns out to be the best-driving, best-handling car ever made, people have seen all those ads before. They’re inundated with commercials of cars driving on picturesque roads with a voiceover telling them how great Car A is versus Car B. Would they care if Car A is a luxury sedan that can hit 60 mph in 5.4 seconds? Maybe.

But Car A parking itself? They’ve never seen that before.

Dodge Advertises Journalist Speeding Ticket

Earlier this month, an automotive journalist in Quebec was caught going 138 mph in a 62 mph zone. Both the journalist and police officer were driving the same car — a Dodge Charger SRT8 with a 425-hp Hemi engine. That said, the police cruiser’s flashing lights were one special option that led to the journalist getting a $985 ticket.

Dodge of Canada went ahead and decided to make lemonade out of the much-publicized event — Canadian newspapers apparently covered the incident heavily — with this ad extolling the performance of the SRT8.

A roulé vite, vite, vite. (Drove fast, fast, fast)
À vendre vite, vite, vite. (Sell fast, fast, fast)

And the bottom numbers are a telephone number. Of course they added a disclaimer that owners should only drive that fast on a track. Good idea.

Source: Dodge

GM's Crossover Conundrum

Marketers at GM are having trouble deciding what to call the automaker's newest crossovers, reports Automotive News. The cars in question include the 2007 GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook, and the 2008 Buick Enclave. Invoked to describe everything from the Chevrolet Avalanche to the Toyota Matrix, "crossover" technically indicates a vehicle that joins two different segments.

It's more than just marketing-speak: Crossover have come to refer to a unibody SUV that offers the utility and tall seating position of traditional SUVs (like the Ford Explorer or Toyota 4Runner) while retaining gas mileage and maneuverability that's closer to a car's. Cadillac calls their SRX a crossover, as do Ford and Nissan with the Edge and Murano, respectively. Honda and Toyota call their crossover vehicles SUVs – and by the looks of it, that billing hasn't hurt their popularity.

Where will the Acadia, Outlook and Enclave end up? We bet GM will eventually pick "crossover" or something like that. Most buyers, on the other hand, will probably call them SUVs.

[Crossovers: GM Can't Decide What to Call Them in Ads, Automotive News – registration required]

Buy A VW, Get A Guitar

In one of the most bizarre bits of marketing we’ve seen, Volkswagen announced today that any customer that buys or leases a 2007 Jetta, Jetta GLI, GTI, Rabbit, New Beetle and New Beetle Convertible will get a custom guitar that can play through the car’s audio system. Each guitar is custom made to match the car itself: it comes in the same color and has the car’s Vehicle Identification Number displayed on it, in addition to various VW emblems. Obviously, the marketing campaign, featuring rocker Slash and sort-of rocker John Mayer, is for the First Act guitar company itself, but we’re guessing VW hopes to sell a few more cars at the same time. Click below for a closer look at the First Act GarageMaster model VW buyers will get.

[Volkswagen via Jalopnik]

Chevy Leans on Mellencamp, Americana for New Silverado Commercials

Chevrolet will launch a new ad campaign Sunday night during NBC’s primetime football coverage. Called “Our Country. Our Truck.,” the campaign features a new song — appropriately titled “Our Country” — by rocker John Mellencamp and a slew of images that conjure up rural and blue-collar America. The final ads are as benign as Mom and apple pie, but both The New York Times and automotive blog Jalopnik reported on earlier versions they were shown only a few days ago that also featured graphic imagery of 9/11 and nuclear explosions that ad execs said showed off both the good and bad of the country’s history.

Luckily for Chevy, the flub was corrected after reports surfaced online, and the ads will now feature just positive imagery. One can only imagine the outcry that would follow a car company trying to profit using tragic images relating to 9/11.

There’s a whole other take on the nuclear bomb images. The online reports suggested a correlation between the bomb imagery from the end of World War II and the fact that Japanese competition is expanding in the full-size truck market, notably the upcoming redesigned Toyota Tundra. Someone at an ad agency somewhere should be looking in their inbox for a pink slip any day now.

Related:
$400 Million and Mellencamp to Usher in New GM Trucks
2007 Chevy Silverado Revealed

Like Always: Saturn Still Committed to No-Haggle Pricing

The hot Saturn Sky roadster has prompted some dealers of the famous “No-Haggle” brand to charge a premium for the in-demand convertible. This is a huge no-no for Saturn, a brand that made a name for itself by selling at a flat rate with no negotiations, up or down.

In a recent CNNMoney story, Saturn representatives are adamant that dealers unfairly upping the price on the Sky will be punished. The no-haggle approach is the core of Saturn’s brand identity; one study even stated two-thirds of shoppers prefer to pay a set price.

That’s why you see commercials on TV saying “Like Always, Like Never Before.” The “Like Always” part means no-haggle, the “Like Never Before” part means they actually have a slew of attractive products arriving at dealerships this year.

The old plastic body panels and homely looks may be a thing of the past, but Saturn seems steadfast in keeping customers happy with their one-price mantra.

[Saturn: Secrets of the 'No-Haggle' Price, CNNMoney.com]

Cars Making a Comeback on TV

I’ll just say up front, I’m a TV junkie. I love TV. I love TV almost as much as I love cars, and when the two meet in a proper fashion, let’s just say I’m impressed. Last night I was watching the debut of Ray Liotta’s new show, “Smith,” and two cars caught my eye in one of the best shows I’ve seen so far this year.

Liotta’s character, Bobby, is living a double life. He appears to be a devoted family man with a wife, two kids and a job selling promotional products. This Bobby drives a tan Ford Five Hundred, possibly the most sedate, unassuming car someone could purchase. When the other Bobby gets ready to do some crime as the leader of a gang of professional thieves, he heads to his safe house, picks out wads of cash, new IDs and credit cards, and rolls out of the garage in a hot $100,000+ Aston Martin V8 Vantage sports car.

It might surprise some of our readers that Ford actually has an office in Hollywood that makes deals with TV studios to get these cars driven by characters. Remember Eva Longoria’s “Desperate Housewives” character moving up from a Jaguar to an Aston Martin last year? Yep, that was Ford.

Tiger Woods to Launch Buick Enclave

Buick finally has a product worthy of superstar golfer Tiger Woods’ full attention. Sure, the best golfer in the world has starred in ads for the Lucerne sedan and other Buicks since he signed on as spokesman a few years ago, but never has he taken part in the launch of a new vehicle. That will all change at the Los Angeles auto show in November when Woods will introduce the production version of the Buick Enclave.

The Enclave was a stunner as a concept in Detroit in January 2006, and the production version — which will go on sale in the middle of the golf season next summer — is vitally important to the Buick brand. General Motors is also getting the most out of its high priced pitchman, now no journalist will want to miss this introduction.

$400 Million and Mellencamp to Usher in New GM Trucks

There is no more-important vehicle launch for GM this year than that of its all-new line of full-size pickups. A few weeks before the new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups roll into dealerships in October, GM will begin a $400 million advertising blitz during the World Series and NFL games.

There's even word that John Mellencamp will provide the musical backdrop for the ads. GM dropped the popular Bob Seger-backed “Like A Rock” truck campaign in 2004. Whatever song it decides on, expect to hear it ad nauseam all fall long, especially if you’re a sports fan. 

[Big Trucks, Big Bucks, AutoWeek]

Related:
2007 Chevy Silverado Revealed
2007 GMC Sierra Revealed, Too

GM Announces 100,000 mile/5-Year Powertrain Warranty

The warranty wars are heating up. Two months after Ford amplified its powertrain warranty to five years or 60,000 miles, GM announced today that it would extend its own powertrain warranty to five years or 100,000 miles across its entire line of 2007 models. That includes Cadillac, Hummer, Saab, Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC and Buick, and is retroactive for anyone who has already purchased a 2007 vehicle.

Powertrain warranties cover the engine, transmission, transfer case and drive assemblies. GM’s bumper-to-bumper limited warranty remains unchanged. The news will be heralded in a new series of commercials kicking off during tomorrow night’s NFL season opening game. The commercials feature drivers stuck in traffic, with those in GM vehicles magically floating and passing all those stuck in the gridlock below. We’re not sure about flying cars, but any increase in warranty length is a good thing for consumers.

Dr. Z Ads On Hiatus

Chrysler’s two-month, $100 million ad campaign starring charismatic and heavily accented chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche has been put on hold while the company thinks of a way to bring it back successfully. The series of ads has been one of our most commented on posts related to advertising and has strong advocates and detractors alike.

We thought the concept was a good idea but the execution — and non-stop bombardment — had us feeling like the good doctor had given us an overdose of sly wit.

This is not a small failure. Chrysler thought the Dr. Z campaign — and its corresponding website AskDrZ.com — would be a smash leading into a fall that sees new products like the Dodge Nitro compact SUV, Chrysler Sebring sedan, all-new Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler unlimited and the Jeep Patriot. Instead, its lukewarm reception during the summer sale season has the company looking at new ways to make Zetsche more engaging. We’ll suggest simply showing off the products. Meanwhile, here’s a concept off the top of our heads: Dress up the Hemi-guy in a suit, give him a fake title — like “Chief Hemi Officer” — have him speak like a college grad, and then have him introduce the new vehicles as a deadpan pitchman. At least everyone can understand what he’s saying and it’ll have some resonance with viewers.

[Chrysler Suspends Dr. Z Ads; Return in Works, The Detroit News]

Chrysler Giving Away Three Dodge Challengers

We don’t like promoting contests for automakers; that’s not really reporting. But this one’s pretty darn good. Chrysler is giving away three Dodge Challengers, three Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon models and three Chrysler Sebrings in a new contest via its Ask Dr. Z website, askdrz.com.

While we’re about as tired of the Dr. Z commercials as many of our readers — and we probably wouldn’t take a new Sebring if we were offered one — we are pretty peeved we can’t try for one of those Challengers or Wranglers. So you, our readers, may have that chance. The only problem? You have to go to a Dodge, Jeep or Chrysler dealer to receive a promotional code, then enter it on the Dr. Z website. And you have to do it by Sept. 4. That just happens to be a few days after Chrysler’s current Employee Pricing Plus sale ends. It’s up to you if the hassle is worth the potential reward.

Update: You can also get a code by calling 1-800-4ADodge. Thanks to Neil for the tip.