New Chevy Ads

My first impression when I saw the new Chevy ad on TV was: Holy Shit, that looks expensive.

Indeed neither GM nor their agency Campbell-Ewald appeared to spare too many expenses in the Michael Bay directed spot. It is part of a launch of their new cars and trucks and for the first time in a while they seem to be doing something interesting for their brand.

The new campaign was criticized by both Bob Garfield and Barbra Lippert (Lippert’s critique was free yesterday, but I can only seem to find paid version today). Garfield describes Chevy’s brand image up until this point:

Chevy has had no image. Alfred P. Sloan’s stylish entry-level brand has become the family values/rugged/Americana/ economy/muscle-car/lunchpail/rock music/country music/plastic-piece-of-crap division. All things, that is, to fewer and fewer people.

and rightly praises them for doing something, anything, for their brand. It’s a good idea to focus on the Americana of the brand, since that is basically what they have left.

Garfield likes a smaller, funnier ad in the campaign better than the big splashy one. That ad does show off their best new vehicle, and it does it in a very amusing way. I however feel like when you make this kind of an introduction, you need to make a big impact, with an expensive but well shot ad. I much rather have the first ad in my book, but the seeing the latter makes me more impressed with the new Chevys.

The exception to Chey’s lousy branding has been their trucks, which have successfully used the “Like a Rock” tagline to describe their brand as tough, rugged and American. The work has been uninspiring but effective.

The problem is that the GM brands, which were very relevant in the fifties, are now obsolete. Chevy used to be lower end, but striving and working class. This fit well with the trucks and the cars. Now they have such a variety of vehicles under the Chevrolet name, that they have to brand each one as well as the Chevy brand, which they understandably don’t want to give up on. Unlike Olsmobile, which is now dead, but used to be a thriving brand referring to the upscale, but not quite as good as Cadillac, line of cars for the successful but conservative banker, doctor or lawyer. Cadillac has sort of kept its high end image, but now means “old” as much as “high end,” Pontiac, and to a certain extent still is, the younger, sportier line, but their cars clearly suck so much the brand is barely relevant. I almost forgot to mention Buick, and I have forgotten what Buick was even supposed to mean as a brand.

That is of course the main problem: American cars suck. Other than the SUVs and Pickups they have been doing horribly. Few people I know consider buying from GM. The new SSR is cool and this new campaign could definitely give a jolt to the Chevy brand, but they have a ways to go to convince me that Chevy is anything more than a catch-all brand riding on past glories.