In honor of Chrysler coming out with their new campaign to save the company, I thought with this week’s Old School Thursday I would take a look back at an old Chrysler spot. I found this old Charger spot intriguing and may give some insight into why the big three are in the position they are in right now.
The 1971 Charger was a great vehicle. It had sleek lines, a low, powerful stance and an aggressive grille. The car was the epitome of muscle in a muscle era. That is why the strategy of this spot is so confusing to me.
The customer in the commercial is shown a Dodge Charger. He loves the car but is looking for something more family friendly since his wife is expecting. The salesman then spouts off the usual family car line, economy, fuel mileage and room … and promptly shows the gentlemen another Charger. This strategy shows Dodge trying to make every car fit everyone.
Instead of making a muscle car for the people that want a muscle car, and a family car for the people that want a family car they tried to sandwich everyone into their best selling vehicle. This strategy only leads to a water-downed product that disappoints everyone.
The road to where the big three are today was long and winding. There were a lot of factors that went into their demise. But in my opinion, this kind of thinking was the beginning of the end of them.
What do you think about this spot? Is this one of the reasons the big three are where they are now?
Chevy’s newest campaign is a full on assault on the competition. But they chose an odd way of bashing the competition. Normally when you take a shot at the competition, you pick an area where you directly beat them and go after it. If you have more horsepower than your top competitor, you say, “we have more horsepower than you”. It’s clean, it’s concise, and it’s effective.
But what happens when you don’t have an advantage in a meaningful area? Most brands choose not to attack the competition and instead focus on their own good points. Chevy on the other hand attacks the manliness of the competitions features.
In the first spot, Howie Long talks to the driver of a Dodge Ram about his heated steering wheel and manicured nails after being involved in a fender bender. At the very end of the spot, they throw in an EPA estimated 21 miles per gallon on the highway. What in the world does a heated steering wheel have to do with fuel mileage? Does Chevy really believe that making fun of the heated steering wheel on a Dodge makes their truck seem tougher, more manly and therefore more deserving of your hard earned money? Meanwhile a quick look on the EPA’s website reveals that the Dodge Ram gets 20 miles per gallon. Maybe that’s the real reason. One MPG isn’t a big enough advantage so they attack the manliness of the Dodge Ram and its owners.
The second spot is an even worse attack on a make believe advantage. In this spot, Howie Long makes fun of the tailgate step on the Ford F-150. His snide remark about leaving the “man step” down, does nothing to show an advantage that Chevy has over Ford. They cast a short, round, awkward person to use the tailgate, making it seem ineffective. And to top it off, they throw in a 100,000 mile or 5 year warranty at the very end of the spot. Ford has a 60,000 mile or 5 year warranty on its F-150. Why not use this as the basis to your spot. This is a legit advantage. Challenging the manliness of the F-150 and the tailgate step obscures the real advantage they have.
What do you think? Do these Chevy spots work in your mind?
