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)