Friday, March 6, 2009
These are video game ads?
This MLB 2K9 spot featuring Tim Linecum could be easily be a spot for SportsCenter, as could the rest of these. Then there’s this one below which schools Comcast on how to incorporate a virtual world with a real one:
Then there were the stunning HALO spots from last year, the classic Ratchet and Clank Tractor Beam from a few years back, and so on. Not sure comparing two different categories works, but after seeing the MLB spots, I can’t help thinking automotive has fallen behind. When’s the last time a car spot made you go “Damn!”
Instead you get the same old captivating voiceover from (insert actor of choice), running shots on closed tracks and please do not attempt this at home thank you very much. *yawn* Only work jumping out at me in the past few years: Suicidal GM robots, Hyudai’s Think work or the overall work on VW/Golf GTI/Jetta. (The Slash spot, still cool.)
Everything else in car ads though seems like a blur. Exceptions aside, video game spots over the past decade seem to have connected the product with the consumer better than car spots have. Maybe because games always improve each year vs. the perception people have of Detroit not improving?
Tags: MLB 2K9
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3 comments:
Not sure I completely agree with your assessment. Certainly nothing in automotive is out of the box or insanely creative these days. But the Cadillac stuff is quite memorable. Sure, it's kind of expected, but it speaks right to the heart of the target market and differentiates the brand.
I also think the general Ford Drive One stuff has been memorable, although I don't think nearly as motivating. It's just not compelling.
But to be fair, there are lots of bad spots out there that fit your mold. I specifically recall the Toyota truck ads (is it Tundra?) that for a year I thought was a Dodge ad.
http://beancast.us
Overall though, video game spots resonate better. I don’t watch one and then think, well, the ads are a lie because Silicon Valley hasn’t made a good game in years.
That’s the baggage that undermines a lot of spots you see from Detroit though.
Though I loved the Slash spot, it's worth pointing out that you can pick up those VW issued First Act guitars for dirt cheap on craigslist and eBay. In a way that illustrates the problem with marketing cars these days--the idea is far different from the experience.
Simply having a cool guitar doesn't make you Slash. You've got to be able to play that guitar. It only takes a couple minutes for the novice to figure out that that's never going to happen.
So it is with cars. While car ads don't do it for me, I love Top Gear on the BBC. After Jeremy drove the Atom, I really, really wanted one. Then, I thought of the real world, and the idea of sitting in hot, humid, summertime traffic on the AC Expressway, or on the Schuykill, wedged between 18 wheelers piloted by sleep-deprived methheads, and suddenly the Atom didn't look so good. After seeing the Audi R8 overpower and outmaneuver the 911 Carrera, I just knew it was the car for me. Then I realized it was the car for me to be stuck in behind a line of cars waiting to turn into the big-box stores, or maneuver down a pothole-ridden road with a crumbling shoulder, and I really couldn't justify spending all that money for a car that would never fulfill a fraction of its potential.
So it is for car ads. No matter which vehicle, they're always portrayed gliding down meticulously clean, recently watered down, and usually empty city streets, or speeding along a closed coastal highway. They put disclaimers on the screen that suggest you don't drive like they do. I suspect the audience was figuring out it's fantasy world some time before gas hit $4 a gallon.
That's the difference between cars and video games. You can be a fat guy on a crummy couch in a dumpy apartment is a shitty neighborhood, and that video game is going pretty much going to deliver on expectations. For a fairly low investment, you get a pretty good experience. They take you someplace good.
While cars (even American cars) offer pretty good value for the price, it's a value that's not realized until you use them. No matter how great the car, driving them is usually a low quality experience. Most people don't like driving these days.
"It's great until you use it," isn't much of a branding statement.
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