What Drives Edward? The Volvo XC60
on Nov 17, 2009 in Volvo Contest Integration TV online media It's highly unusual for a car company commercial to generate any buzz, but team up with this Fall's most buzz worthy film and people start watching and commenting about your ad. The latest movie that uses a car as star in a film is Twilight: New Moo...

Subaru, the Muse of Advertising Inspiration?
on Nov 16, 2009 in Honda GM Subaru Book Review TV I was on a plane reading the classic marketing book Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign when I came across a rather interesting remnant from Subaru’s brand campaign launch in 1992. Their big brand spot used a very...

Toyota Yaris Social Marketing on the Cheap
on Nov 9, 2009 in YouTube Facebook Yaris Social Media Twitter Toyota There is a fascinating analysis on the Toyota Yaris Australia decision to give six agencies $15,000 each to do a viral social media campaign. The winner of the agency contest could get more budget to move forward.This is a really odd example of an au...

What We Can Learn from a Video Game Ad
on Nov 7, 2009 in Video Game TV The best automotive ad I’ve seen in a long time isn’t for a car, truck or SUV. No the best ad out there is for a video game. “An Open Door” is a television spot for the new Xbox Forza Motorsport 3 video game. I know this is unfair. It’s...

Ram Launches First Ad Using 1960's Kodak Carousel Slide Projector
on Nov 5, 2009 in Dodge Mad Men TV Ram Chrysler At yesterday's eight hour press conference, the Chrysler group unveiled the first television spot for the Ram truck brand. Ram was recently spun off from Dodge. The new spot is titled “I am Ram.” It features a slide show of various images showca...

Was the CTS-V Challenge a Marketing Win?
on Nov 1, 2009 in Audi BMW Mitsubishi Social Media Cadillac CTS-V Twitter racing Let me get four things out of the way before my post-game analysis of the CTS-V Challenge as a marketing event. First, I love it that Bob Lutz challenged the media and followed through on it. Bob is a legend and this is why. He is a car guy through...

Toyota's Latest Social Efforts Absent of Cars
on Oct 30, 2009 in Facebook Social Media Brand Prius Toyota microsite I was doing my typical evening browsing of the New York Times website, catching up on Paul Krugman’s latest rant about the financial crisis when I noticed a large Toyota ad telling me, “We See Ways to Enrich the Community.” So I did what appar...

Bob Lutz Challenges Lead-Footed Automotive Journalists… Buzz Ensues
on Oct 27, 2009 in Jalopnik GM Social Media Cadillac Blog Back when GM launched their May the Best Car Win marketing campaign, Bob Lutz “told reporters he would challenge anyone in any production sedan to a race around Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway and try to beat him,” reported the automotive blog Jalopnik...

Cadillac Launches Redesigned Shopping Site
on Oct 27, 2009 in Acura Shopping Site Cadillac Mercedes-Benz Cadillac released a complete redesign of their shopping site on October 23. The new Cadillac.com showcases the cars with larger images, 360 views on the home page and vehicle home pages, and includes a much more concise navigation. Large images with...

Did MINI Just Diss Its 160,000 U.S. Fans on Facebook?
on Oct 21, 2009 in Facebook Mini MINI just launched its “Official MINI Facebook Page.” Huh? MINI, waited until the Fall of 2009 to join the Facebook community? That doesn’t sound right. Well it isn’t exactly correct. MINI has been on Facebook for quite awhile with their MI...