If you're a cable subscriber -- and statistics tell us that most of you are -- you've probably stumbled across the Discovery Channel show called "I Shouldn't Be Alive". If not, the title conveys the show's concept pretty clearly: people who have had near-death experiences relive them in front of...Read More»
A few quick updates about the 2012 Ford Focus, which is set to be the centerpiece of another massive advertising blitz from Ford Motor Company: 1. That social media campaign for the Focus that we mentioned the other day -- the one called "Global Drive" that looks a lot like the Fiesta Movement, but...Read More»
Europe can be a confusing place for Americans. The streets are narrower, the coffee is stronger, and everything seems historic. The cars are different there, too -- and so are the car ads. Case in point: the latest campaign from Citroen, called "Dating 2.0". At heart, the campaign's conceit is...Read More»
It's no secret that Volkswagen and its CEO Martin Winterkorn have big dreams of conquering the world. (Ah, Germans.) In fact, the company has repeatedly said that it wants to surpass the current #1 automaker, Toyota, by 2018, but in order to do that, Volkswagen will really need to up its game in...Read More»
Yesterday, we told you about Subaru's well-designed, poorly executed marketing campaign called "Mediocrity". Today, we've gotten wind of another Subaru campaign, one rolling out on Facebook for a much clearer target market: 30something hipsters. Before we go any further though, we should point out...Read More»
During tough economic times, companies often cut back on marketing -- in fact, advertising budgets are frequently the first to shrink when danger looms and the last to expand once the coast clear. As a result, some analysts see ad spending as the equivalent of the canary in the mine shaft: a sign...Read More»
Last week, an eagle-eyed reader over at Motor Authority sent in some spy shots of a curious sedan sporting a "M" on the grill and a nameplate that read "Mediocrity". Painted the color of a 1998 IBM desktop computer and looking a lot like an old Kia Optima, Marty Padgett's first guess was that the...Read More»
Ford's Fiesta Movement was a big hit with consumers. It generated huge product awareness, killer demand, and may explain why the Fiesta is commanding such impressive prices in showrooms. Knowing a good thing when they see it, Ford's social media guru Scott Monty and his colleagues have decided to...Read More»
In our world, Thursday is a day for optimism. The weekend's looming, the drink specials are flowing at local theme bistros, and tomorrow's Friday, which is essentially Saturday's little brother. And so, in that spirit of a future bright with hope and caffeine, we bring word of a new contest...Read More»
We don't talk much about Mistubishi these days -- and we're not alone. The company's annual sales have been on the decline since hitting a high water mark of around 354,000 vehicles in 2002, hovering around 50,000 today. There's even been talk about the automaker pulling an Isuzu on the American...Read More»
It begins today: High Gear Media is running the 2010 Fireball Run Adventurally! We'll talk about it a lot over the next 10 days until @raywert covers his ears and goes, "La la la la I don't hear you." [MotorAuthority] Cool thing: for the Fireball Run, we've turned a Chevy Camaro SS into a mobile...Read More»
Once upon a time, corporations sponsored entire TV shows. Philip Morris brought America I Love Lucy. Dutch Master Cigars beamed The Addams Family to your living room. And The Flintstones was brought to you by the good people at Winston. The practice of sole sponsorship had mostly ended by 1971 --...Read More»
People discuss lots of stuff on social networks. Grandchildren. Farmville. Cat videos. But they also discuss the world of commerce -- what they like, what they're buying, and what they try to avoid. And of all those things, all those products, we talk about cars most of all. ROI Research recently...Read More»
Football fans: GMC has your number. The roughest and ruggedest member of the General Motors family recently launched a new contest that will give 17 folks a trip to Super Bowl XLV and one lucky son-of-a-gun a brand new, 2011 Sierra Denali. The premise of the "Never Say Never Moment of the Week"...Read More»
There are plenty of reasons to curse reality television. It's made Heidi Montag a household name. It's put even more dollars in Paris Hilton's purse. And then there's Snooki. But reality TV has also generated a handful of good shows, and it's given advertisers like Chevrolet a cheaper, more...Read More»
Just a few weeks ago, Forbes magazine published its picks for the 20 best social media campaigns of all time. Given the huge sums of ducats that automakers spend on advertising, we'd expected to see several car companies on Forbes' list, but there were only two. Now, AdAge has published a slightly...Read More»
Chevrolet has made quite a big deal about the upcoming 2011 Cruze--trotting it out at nearly every auto show for the last year and today, launching production in Lordstown, Ohio. Now that it's finally here (well, almost), the ad campaigns have begun. Last week we wrote about Tim Allen (you remember...Read More»
Late last week, Lexus launched an eye-catching new commercial for the 2011 IS sedan. It's also proven to be fairly ear-catching, and now Lexus has uploaded a YouTube clip to show how the ad was made. The commercial is called "Music Track", and it features an Ultrasonic Blue Lexus IS drifting...Read More»
The weekend's coming, and we know many of you are planning last-minute getaways and Labor Day cookouts. Sadly, like some of our East Coast pals, we're stuck poking around the interweb and trying not to resent our meteorologically advantaged colleagues. For us, there's only one vacation we can...Read More»
