Super Bowl af Auto-Annoncer-Vindere eller Tabere?

[Road&Track]

Kald mig kynisk, men jeg har aldrig været en stor fan af auto virksomheder bruger millioner af dollars til at reklamere på Super Bowl. Jeg tror min negativism startede i 1993, hvor Subaru indført Impreza. Et år senere har jeg beregnet de annoncer koste et sted tæt til $2.000 pr bil sælges. Jeg regnede med, Subaru ville have solgt mange flere Imprezas hvis det lige havde hugget til $2.000 fra listen pris for bilen. I øvrigt er de to andre annoncører, der år var Oldsmobile og Cadillac.

Med et par undtagelser bil-annoncer har sjældent genklang hos Super Bowl-seere. Gennem årene har jeg spøgende foreslog reklame biler på Super Bowl blev dødsstødet for salg. Den eneste grund til, at virksomheder, der reklameres var at optegne egoer af reklamebureauer og chief marketing honchos på bil, selskaber.

Sidste år bilen annoncer syntes at forbedre, og jeg må indrømme, at det helt sikkert betalt sig, for Audi og Kia, som de opnåede pladesalg i USA sidste år. Men det synes ikke at gøre meget for VW eller for Honda, som annonceret Aftalen CrossTour.

Årets bil annoncer endelig lavet den brummer normalt er forbundet med traditionelle Super Bowl annoncører som Budweiser og Doritos. Volkswagen trak den største kup med dens Darth Vader Jr Star Wars annonce for den kommende alle-nye 2012 Passat. VW dygtigt udgivet den fulde annonce før tiden, som plejede at være et absolut no-no. Af lørdag aften var det allerede blevet set mere end 13 millioner gange på YouTube. Thats endnu mere end 6 millioner visninger af æbler ikoniske 1984 Macintosh annonce, der anses for at være den ultimative annonce, Super Bowl.

Der syntes at være generel enighed blandt de mange mandag morgen quarterback ad kritik at VWs ad var bedst. Personligt var min favorit Audi flugt fra luksus fængsel for 2011 Audi A8. Min kone kunne godt lide Bridgestones Carma ad, men desværre kunne hun ikke huske, hvad annoncen var, da hun fortalte mig det var hendes favorit. Ups.

Mit take: Volkswagen havde bedre alvorligt øge sit salg i USA i år - hvis reklame betaler sig.

Call me a cynic, but I have never been a big fan of auto companies spending millions of dollars to advertise on the Super Bowl. I guess my negativism started in 1993 when Subaru introduced the Impreza. A year later I calculated the ads cost somewhere close to $2,000 per car sold. I reckoned Subaru would have sold many more Imprezas if it had just lopped $2,000 off the list price of the car. Incidentally the other two advertisers that year were Oldsmobile and Cadillac.

With a few exceptions car ads have rarely resonated with Super Bowl viewers. Over the years I have jokingly suggested advertising cars on the Super Bowl was the kiss of death for sales. The only reason companies advertised was to stroke the egos of ad agencies and the chief marketing honchos at car companies.

Last year the car ads seemed to improve and I have to admit that it certainly paid off for Audi and Kia as they achieved record sales in the US last year. However it did not seem to do much for VW or for Honda, which advertised the Accord CrossTour.

This year car ads finally created the buzz normally associated with traditional Super Bowl advertisers like Budweiser and Doritos. Volkswagen pulled off the biggest coup with its Darth Vader Jr Star Wars ad for the upcoming all-new 2012 Passat. VW cleverly released the full ad ahead of time, which used to be an absolute no-no. By Saturday evening it had already been viewed over 13 million times on YouTube. Thats even more than the 6 million views of Apples iconic 1984 Macintosh ad that is considered to be the ultimate Super Bowl ad.

There seemed to be general agreement among the many Monday-morning quarterback ad critiques that VWs ad was the best. Personally, my favorite was Audis Getaway from Luxury Prison for the 2011 Audi A8. My wife liked Bridgestones Carma ad, but sadly she could not recall what the ad was for when she told me it was her favorite. Oops.

My take: Volkswagen had better seriously increase its sales volume in the US this year — if advertising pays off.