Incredible Detroit/Chrysler commercial - Super Bowl

bartock · February-07-11, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by rhythmc

I thought the ad was great. Makes me wonder what sorts of biases existed in the groups polled in the USA Today article.

Most everything I've seen is praise for the commercial and on "best of" Super Bowl ad lists. USA Today's experiment with 282 "volunteers" from Virginia and California would probably have statistics people shaking their heads. Not exactly a reliable study, I would guess.

**MCP-001** · February-07-11, 12:20 PM

In a word: meh!

Why anyone thinks a Minneapolis-based agency with no local presence can do any D3 companies justice is beyond me.

Until Pres. B.O. took over the Chrysler Corp, there were a large number local ad agencies who did handle producing these spots, and did a damn good job of it.

My two main issues with the spot itself:

What was the point of the Detroit travelogue? It's not even made there, it's cranked out in Sterling Heights [[SHAP).

And using Eminem to plug a [[relatively) high end car model?!?

I don't see any monied people stampeding to their nearest Chrysler Dealer to order one because of that.

**d'oh** · February-07-11, 12:22 PM

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since when is the Fox Theater a church?

In the commercial it looks like one, but that is a dumb faux pas on the newscaster's part.....

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Seems the ad did not poll strongly compared to the rest. 

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advert...er-chart_N.htm

EFF the USA Today ad poll; the ad got a lot of play, and high praise, on all the national morning news and talk shows, like "Morning Joe", "The View", etc..
That thing is a masterpiece....

**Scottathew** · February-07-11, 12:32 PM

Was the ad effective? Let's take a look:

"Chrysler 200" scored as the top search in Google on Monday morning due largely to a gritty commercial featuring Eminem and his hometown ode, "Lose Yourself."

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/07...umbles/?hpt=C1

**Islandman** · February-07-11, 12:34 PM

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...troiters-think

Pretty passive aggressive:..

Toby Barlow, Detroit booster and executive vice president and chief creative officer at Dearborn-based Team Detroit, Ford Motor Co.'s ad agency: "I'm always happy to see positive stories about Detroit, and I think it's awesome that Eminem has made a point of taking a stand for this town. It was an attempt to be something noble and grand. We could use more of those kinds of gestures around here.

"That said, I wasn't quite sure how that was an ad for the car."

**Ray1936** · February-07-11, 12:35 PM

I wish there was some way that Lowell could print out all the comments in this thread and send 'em to Chrysler and their ad agency.

Even the Associated Press column in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal praised the ad as one of the best of the lot.

**jtf1972** · February-07-11, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideQT

Who in your opinion best represents Detroit?

I don't have a good answer for that. Which is why I understand why they used him for the commercial. So there is seemingly a complete void of positive representation of Detroit that they need to look at a suburban rapper who from the little that I know of him seems to have disrespected women and portrayed Detroit in as negative a light as possible. [[Maybe I'm wrong and he feeds homeless and invests heavily in restoring Detroit as a safe, clean and lovely city. If so, then more power to him.)

**fryar** · February-07-11, 12:42 PM

It's not a church, they just don't know Detroit.

To pick up on some the quibbles here, Chrysler is arguably hardly American, *despite* the taxpayer-funded bailout. So what do you do, if you're Chrysler? Make an ad that tries to brand you as American.

Addressing ruin porn could have been an after-thought entirely.

The ad not "performing" as well nationally as it did locally conforms to one of my 2 cents on issues like ruin porn and outside journalists or authors chronicling Detroit's ills: One can hardly say that everybody knows what's up in Detroit. Hardly everyone reads Time Magazine [[sorry, Time). Not everybody, certainly. In my opinion, the majority of Americans are "blissfully unaware."

Just as outsiders are unlikely to "get" any distinction between Auburn Hills and Detroit, they are unable to "get" the whole tough steel is forged in hot flames line, for example. Some of the meaning is a bit like an inside joke; outsiders just aren't going to get it.

Perhaps it's confusing. "My parents stopped buying Detroit-made cars 30 years ago, through a litany of safety and quality issues, they haven't looked back, and I drove a Camry in high school that served me fine...the Prius was great, there's progress for ya...and you give me Eminem, with a choir, in some weird theater [[hey, it is anachronistic). What's your pitch exactly?"

There's a whole frame of reference that many people don't have.

I still like GM's Howie Long commercials, in this light. It just addresses the actual perceptions in a straight-forward, confident manner.

Normal people don't know that you can live a block from GM's world headquarters and cruise past burnt out buildings and shells of homes on the way to the most proximate dry cleaner.

**iheartthed** · February-07-11, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by fryar

The ad not "performing" as well nationally as it did locally conforms to one of my 2 cents on issues like ruin porn and outside journalists or authors chronicling Detroit's ills: One can hardly say that everybody knows what's up in Detroit. Hardly everyone reads Time Magazine [[sorry, Time). Not everybody, certainly. In my opinion, the majority of Americans are "blissfully unaware."

I'm skimming so I may have missed it, but where did you see that the ad was not well-received nationally?

**Crystal** · February-07-11, 12:57 PM

A beautiful piece, I watched it four or five times this morning. FB friends from all over the country are praising it as well. Made me think of Brian Vander Ark's "This Time":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHSykHU4WmI

**Scottathew** · February-07-11, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm skimming so I may have missed it, but where did you see that the ad was not well-received nationally?

Some people are quoting a USA Today rating that was based off of a focus group in California. Not quite "national" in my opinion.

Front page on CNN, I'd call that doing well nationally.
In MSNBC's ad poll it's the highest rated ad.

**canuck** · February-07-11, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by artds

I wanted to like this commercial. I really did. I had heard about it ahead of time and was looking forward to seeing it air.

But I was disappointed. Seeing all the Detroit landmarks was neat, but I felt that the content was pretty random, it didn't flow very well, the way it was written didn't make a whole lot of sense sense [[church choir on stage in an empty Fox theater? Imported from Detroit???), and if anything, it served to reinforce my feeling that the Detroit automakers really *don't* know luxury like their European counterparts.

Sorry. This is just one man's opinion.

Think about what you just wrote and deconstruct it or rather analyze the images one by one the way creatives do and try to judge how they need to juggle the positive and negative images, the flow in editing these, the brightness and contrast, the music and the featured extras. It is a ballet intended to charm as well as shake the viewer, and it needs to pull at your heartstrings and not offend Detroit, nor the rest of USAland. From my perspective, I wonder if this ad was storyboarded in a straight and narrow, or whether a whole lot of shots were done and edited holding the client's hand. I think it was planned and edited over a long period. No snow; so before winter and there may have been a number of versions presented and advance screenings were done to determine if this would hit the expensive mark on D-Day. It is extremely well-written and I am touched by the fact that it could have been taken from an us versus those who dont get Detroit posts on this forum. Better than a slinky drive down San Francisco's Lombard street.

**p1acebo** · February-07-11, 01:03 PM

It was a pretty cool commercial, even if people want to deny it.

**iheartthed** · February-07-11, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by 48091

Some people are quoting a USA Today rating that was based off of a focus group in California. Not quite "national" in my opinion.

Front page on CNN, I'd call that doing well nationally.
In MSNBC's ad poll it's the highest rated ad.

Yeah, my Facebook feed is populated by a good amount of people who have never set foot in Metro Detroit and 99% of the comments about that spot were positive. Just thought I might have missed something...

Mr. Houdini · February-07-11, 01:12 PM

This ad was good for the people of the Metro Detroit Area. It cheered them up and made them feel good.

Other than that, the ad utterly failed at making a case for why one should buy a Chrysler 200 or any Detroit-made car for that matter. Ok, so Detroit folks are gritty and tough ... so what? That doesn't matter to Joe-Dildo in bum-fark middle America. How does Detroit attitude translate into convincing one to spend tens of thousands of dollars to purchase an 'import from Detroit'? I certainly won't. I cannot afford to pay for a car that is continually breaking down. Period.

I do like Eminem, however, and the Detroit scenery was nice, so that was cool.

**Lowell** · February-07-11, 01:12 PM

From ESPN. Huge coup for Chrysler. Got all of their $3 million's worth.

A two-minute ad for Chrysler starring Eminem and a Volkswagen ad featuring a mini-Darth Vader that went viral before it even aired were two of the most talked-about spots during advertising's big night, the Super Bowl, in which Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25.

Chrysler was one of nine automakers that took advantage of advertising's biggest and most expensive showcase, at $3 million for 30 seconds, to try to show they're back after two tough years for the industry.

The cinematic third-quarter Chrysler ad starred Eminem driving through Detroit and introduced a new car, the Chrysler 200 sedan, amid scenes of the city that shift from the gritty to the glamorous. A voiceover talks about how the city has survived going through "hell and back."

"This is the Motor City and this is what we do," Eminem says.

The Chrysler ad was "the big story of the night," according to NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Co. that tracks online buzz.

Consumers repeated the "imported from Detroit" slogan over and over in online buzz, the company said.

"It was a very risky commercial, but it scored very well with our panel" that rates the ads, said Tim Calkins, Clinical Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management.

Add to that, this is probably the hottest thread ever on DetroitYES!

**xD_Brklyn** · February-07-11, 01:13 PM

Impressive. As mentioned,

when I suddenly saw Marathon and the crane rental sign.

Yeah, with the first shots of this ad I was saying to myself "This is Detroit" then the commercial unfolded with more shots of Detroit and my disbelief just ascended as the commercial continued. The element of surprise played a big part in my take of this video. Social commentary in a Super Bowl ad? A travelogue of Detroit on Super Sunday? It was a stunning out-of-the-norm advertisement. Congrats to all involved.

**Scottathew** · February-07-11, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Houdini

Other than that, the ad utterly failed at making a case for why one should buy a Chrysler 200

#1 search on Google this morning was "Chrysler 200".

The cool thing about Twitter and Google is that you actually CAN measure the success of an ad.

CNN frontpage, large picture story - http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/07...umbles/?hpt=C1

"Chrysler 200" scored as the top search in Google on Monday morning due largely to a gritty commercial featuring Eminem and his hit "Lose Yourself."

**Lowell** · February-07-11, 01:18 PM

As for Eminem driving a 200, it is not out of line with his humble trailer park origin and the mystique built around that as seen the movie 8 Mile. And he too has been 'to hell and back' a couple of times.

**canuck** · February-07-11, 01:19 PM

fryar
Perhaps it's confusing. "My parents stopped buying Detroit-made cars 30 years ago, through a litany of safety and quality issues, they haven't looked back, and I drove a Camry in high school that served me fine...the Prius was great, there's progress for ya...and you give me Eminem, with a choir, in some weird theater [[hey, it is anachronistic). What's your pitch exactly?"

There's a whole frame of reference that many people don't have.

In the light of further competition from China and India plus the usual competitors, it makes a lot of sense to adopt this attitude in selling cars from the vantage of a wannabe rebounding city and national economy. Thre years ago, maybe not, but it does speak to a lot of people in the US and Canada.

As for some of the images, go over them one by one and try to figure out the empty theatre with a black only choir, faithful, attentive and a working-class issue white rapper; the blending of styles etc...
There is only one shot of a ruin not residential but rather an office bldg ruin, propped-up in a hopeful wait on rehab... Not a lot of folks, and often times above the head shots, [[camera tilted-up at chimneys). Hope...

**Gistok** · February-07-11, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by p1acebo

It was a pretty cool commercial, even if people want to deny it.

I agree p1acebo... but then we have a regular core group of "Negative Nellies" on this forum and you can easily spot them, because they ALWAYS have something bad to say... even about the best posts [[of which this is probably near the top). I was wondering how they were going to spin this one... and spin away they did!

As for some news writers mistaking the Fox Theatre for a Church.... I guess the huge words "FOX" lit up on the marquee as Eminem was entering the building... was too subtle a clue... LOL...

**bailey** · February-07-11, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

I agree p1acebo... but then we have a regular core group of "Negative Nellies" on this forum and you can easily spot them, because they ALWAYS have something bad to say... even about the best posts [[of which this is probably near the top). I was wondering how they were going to spin this one... and spin away they did!

As for some news writers mistaking the Fox Theatre for a Church.... I guess the huge words "FOX" lit up on the marquee as Eminem was entering the building... was too subtle a clue... LOL...

And one can always count on blind boosterism to shine through without the slightest of pause to note the irony. To expand on what someone posted above... it apparently takes a Portland, OR ad agency working for Italians to sell Detroit better than anyone in Detroit has.

**kahnman** · February-07-11, 01:42 PM

I had no heads up about this commercial airing and after it did, my wife and I sat in stunned silence and looked at each other with some pretty moist eyes. Then she said, "play that again." With the DVR, that wasn't a problem. We watched it three times in a row. Each time it hit us harder.

Being an ex-pat and now in the "Emerald City", I felt an immense pride for my home town and that one commercial put a lot of intangibles together for the whole world to get a glimpse of the greatness of Detroit.

Thank you, Chrysler.