Car Commercials, the good, the bad, and the annoying!

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  • anythngbutgmanythngbutgm Member Posts: 4,277
    The joke began with the DB's snazzy "Members Only" jacket. Me thinks he drove to the shoot in a Corvette... :D
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I reacted the same way. Cadillac Crack?
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    This is neat, I think fintail will appreciate it:

    http://www.britishairways.com/travel/to-fly-to-serve/public/en_gb
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Now that's a well done ad.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    Been seeing a Buick Lacrosse commercial with car during daylight and moving on a paved street/road in an office complex area city/suburb. A couple of people 30'ish on sidewalk look at it and smile. Car and driver doing what probably 99.99995 percent of car owners do with their cars.

    So. Amazing. How can a car company not have their car in commercial sliding sideways on sand or gravel?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Saw a new Infiniti spot touting "decades" in the business of making sport luxury cars, or something like that. Yeah, two decades. The commercial also had the grotesque QX.
  • roadburnerroadburner Member Posts: 18,393
    Been seeing a Buick Lacrosse commercial with car during daylight[sic] and moving on a paved street/road in an office complex area city/suburb. A couple of people 30'ish on sidewalk look at it and smile.

    Be still my heart.

    Car and driver doing what probably 99.99995 percent of car owners do with their cars.

    99.99995 % of dreadfully boring drivers, at any rate.

    So. Amazing. How can a car company not have their car in commercial[sic] sliding sideways on sand or gravel?

    I still can't decide whether you are putting us on or if those commercials actually DO get your panties in a wad...

    Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
    Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
    Son's: 2018 330i xDrive

  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    And for the Venza, no less.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUGmcb3mhLM
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    Like I said in another thread - the Venza is targeted at aging, active boomers.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited October 2011
    Oh, is this a ride I should go take a look at? Got a suitable roof for a canoe rack and room inside for my snowboard? (just put the bindings back on last night and put a slack rope up in the backyard today :shades: ).

    I've discovered that the biggest problem with being an aging boomer is always forgetting to ask for my senior discount.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 267,571
    Thinking that pretty soon.. .you won't have to ask, any more... they'll notice... ;)

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  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    Oh, is this a ride I should go take a look at? Got a suitable roof for a canoe rack and room inside for my snowboard?

    Yes, yes and yes.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Aimed at an aging group? I think that would be all of us. If you aren't aging you certainly aren't buying a car.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    I think you are way more active than the Venza demographic. An activity for them is a trip to Costco or maybe to a casino.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Sounds good until you look at my friends, most of whom I can't keep up with. The 70-something neighbor we go to yoga with broke her leg on a mountain bike six weeks ago (the small bone). This week she's doing a 168 mile rails to trails.

    Hm, my sister has a Costco card; that'd be kind of fun too.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    I bet that 70 year old doesn't want a Venza though (sounds like a Subie candidate).

    I think age is going to hit the boomers all at once, and hard. You can spot it already, graybeards with slightly too small shirts, always tucked in. Soon it will be pants pulled up to the neck :shades:
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited October 2011
    She has a Honda Pilot so sort of close to say, a Forester. If the manufacturers were smart, they'd start showing all those drifting commercials with cut-aways to the geezer strapping in and flooring it and then pulling into the pit area after the lap.

    For added realism, they could use a dash cam with a blue-hair geezerette screaming through the turns. Or have Sir Stirling Moss ride shotgun giving apex tips.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Make ads like the tire company one with the elderly couple in the Eldo Brougham hooning around on a salt flat.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    sounds like a Subie candidate

    Yeah, pull up to Fletcher's boat house, where all the kayak/canoe folks go, and it looks like a Subaru dealer parking lot. I'd say half the cars are Subies.

    Same for the mountain climbers when our boy scout troop went hiking.

    They need one of those "Subaru Parking Only" signs.
  • slorenzenslorenzen Member Posts: 694
    "Soon it will be pants pulled up to the neck"

    You made me spit coffee on my keyboard...

    ROFL!!

    :P
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Around here, it could be the ski rack dealer, too. Not the ski slopes mind you, just where you can buy the gear...I have known more than one Subie driver with a perpetual roof rack who doesn't even ski, just likes the image :shades: :sick:
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    On the real ski slopes, too.

    I remember walking through the ski instructors' parking lot and it seemed like half of those were Subies. The reserved spots for Managers were Audis. ;)
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    edited October 2011
    Getting in on the AWD game early was a good move, but now everyone is doing it. The posers amuse me the most, just like Jeep drivers who will never leave paved roads.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Soob is doing well despite all the AWD options. They broke records in 2009 and 2010.

    Right now they are short on supply, as the Forester and Impreza are Japan-made-only, so they're hurting a bit.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    AWD helps them immensely, they own the image, everyone assumes it. I don't see a lot of distinction there without it.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Agreed.

    They all have boxer engines (something even Porsche cannot claim) but the public could not tell a boxer from a mixed martial arts fighter.

    This is why I'm concerned about the BRZ sending mixed messages. Great traction, except this one! But you can compete in Formula D!

    Where's the roll eyes emotorcon?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    I don't see the boxer engines as a selling point - to me they are coarse and not particularly efficient.

    But a Subaru without traction, yeah, kind of fails to have a point - what exactly does it offer then?
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Their marketing has talked about the low center of gravity, displays in the showroom demonstrate this.

    Even so, they've labeled it "Symmetrical AWD", so take away the AWD and it creates confusion no matter the engine layout.

    They have an uphill challenge now, at least in terms of marketing.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Marketing likes to grasp at straws :shades:

    Pre-AWD Subarus barely sold...might not bode well.
  • fushigifushigi Member Posts: 1,459
    The New Normal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG0kOoWaOtQ
    What's probably the TV version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx_X6tCwet4
    2017 Infiniti QX60 (me), 2012 Hyundai Elantra (wife)
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Yeah, I think the last year for FWD was 1994, and they were under 100k units. They're well over double that now, thanks to ... a clear AWD identity.

    Good luck. :sick:

    At least the BRZ is theirs and RWD, and not some rebadged FWD JDM Toyota.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    OK, I will focus on evaluating the commercial itself, rather than the car, since that's what this thread is about.

    Likes:

    * fields of corn and wind mills will appeal to the Prius crowd
    * Music tugs at your heart strings (plus the vinyl LPs shown)
    * All American town, old school feel

    Dislikes:

    * geezers will not sell cars
    * Mitsubishi is Japanese and this commercial feels domestic
    * when I saw corn I thought of Ethanol, not electricity

    The TV version is much better. Edits out the old lady behind the wheel.

    They have an uphill battle, IMHO. I'm not even sure they're targeting the right consumer - it's a city car, not small town USA.
  • fushigifushigi Member Posts: 1,459
    I agree about the geezer thing. They could have instead had an "enthusiast" talking about instant torque and it being the only RWD EV.

    The commercial is for the domestic audience. Honda and other manufacturers orient their US ads around us so I don't why Mitsu shouldn't.

    The TV version is better, unlike the Soul "dancing gamers" commercials where the long version is much better than the short one.

    Normal is where their US plant is so both Mitsu & Normal have a vested interest in seeing each other succeed. And I very much like that it's not California or one of the other traditional "early adopter" states that get Leafs & Volts before the rest of the US.

    Personally I don't see why a city car won't work in rural settings. Those folks are just as likely to have secondary vehicles for distance runs, though I admit those vehicles will more often than not be less-efficient pickups. On the plus side they're likely not in an area with an overburdened grid.

    What plays in Mitsu's favor is the i costs thousands less than the Leaf. Like 6 or 7 grand less while range is only about 10% smaller. If they can find the right audience, it could be successful.
    2017 Infiniti QX60 (me), 2012 Hyundai Elantra (wife)
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Isn't it the lowest priced EV? Use a slogan like "the EV you can actually afford" or something like that. Show young looking folks on a college campus.

    Dunno about the rural target - distances between places are a lot greater, so range is a concern to those folks.
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    juice - Normal, IL isn't some little town in the middle of nowhere. In reality its a small city in the middle of nowhere.

    It has a population of over 50K and is where Illinois State's main campus is located. The school adds another 20K to the population. They have theatres and malls and everything else a good size city has to offer. The city itself is surrounded by farmland but Normal itself is pretty metropolitan.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Thanks for the edumacation. :shades:
  • robr2robr2 Member Posts: 8,805
    You're welcome. Not really - I just like being right!!
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,709
    that I have so much respect for Mitsubishi. The lowest-priced all-electric on the market, in this economy? Mitsubishi's future is so bright they best be all donnin' Burton Cummings shades for dinner.

    What plays in Mitsu's favor is the i costs thousands less than the Leaf. Like 6 or 7 grand less while range is only about 10% smaller. If they can find the right audience, it could be successful.

    Hey, are we out of the recession yet, or is Facebook driving up the cost of admission to using our brains? We're still in one and Mitsubishi is once again leading the automotive market in intelligence.

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X0dPeZxSy0M

    I like some of the CGI, building the car around him, but I do not like the emphasis on the distractions.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Just what we need, more oblivious Camry drivers. And that big dog will destroy that back seat :shades:

    I like the new Smart ads - the "uncar". Indeed, it is. Corolla could also use that line.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    I am not sure if the Honda "Puddy" commercials are any better than Mr Opportunity...seems to be the same mind behind them.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    And just as annoying.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,817
    The one thing that doesn't work for me with those commercials is the lady standing by her car who waves to someone driving by.
    I thought she was filling her car with gas until I saw it the second time.
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,528
    Saw a Hyundai Equus commercial today, no kidding. Nothing special in the ad department, but odd to see one for such a boring zero volume car.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 20,353
    I find the current series of Nissan ads to be disgustingly ridiculous. The worst offender is the one for the Frontier where the jumbo jet with failed front landing gear uses the Frontier's bed as a substitute. I'm sure there's an on-screen disclaimer somewhere that it is all just fantasy, but I missed it. What is the landing speed for a commercial airliner, 150mph? And the weight? The ad is structured in such a way that the unsuspecting viewer might believe it actually happened. Ridiculous.

    The other ones are equally bad - one where a Nissan pickup goes up a sand dune that a purpose-built vehicle could not, and a Leaf ad that shows a driver unplugging it from a (non-existent) charging station/parking meter device. Perhaps Nissan is catering to the delusional.

    I have disliked Nissan's ads for several years now, with their overemphasis on computer effects, cars spinning into position from beneath the "floor" on the screen, etc., but really, these are just too much.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    A man had to sell his classic 1965 Chevrolet Impala two-door hardtop for some reason or other and had it returned to him by his son many years later.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    FWIW Equus is selling at a much better rate than the Phaeton ever did.

    I compare those because you have a mainstream brand trying to sell a luxury car.

    They were stupid - they cancelled the free iPad that let you schedule service. That was the one thing about it that stood out.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 267,571
    I kind of like the Leaf commercial... all the electronic appliances running off of gasoline is pretty cool...

    It was about the fifth time I watched it, before I remembered what it was for.... :)

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  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    It's interesting, but my issue with it is that the ad focuses on the Volt, instead of their own product.

    A bit too indirect for me.

    Buy ours because GM's is bad.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 267,571
    Well... I just like the imagery.... Once the car stuff starts, it gets boring, really fast...

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