Car commercials....why are US ones so lame compared to the Germans?

[Baz]

Here's the AUDI one being aired this morning during the 24 Hours race.....it's brilliant.....caters to the more intellectual and discriminating driver.....no special effects....just substance, creativity, and style......

[herr_oberst]

Americans demand cupholders and dvr's for every passenger. Europeans demand capable steering and suspensions along with good power delivery ...

[pavulon]

you already know the answer.

Originally Posted by Baz

caters to the more intellectual and discriminating driver.....no special effects....just substance, creativity, and style......

[Scuba Steve]

You could run that ad, but it would be too hard to see the car benhind all the "Do not try this at home"disclaimers everywhere.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Chevy is the worst. Lame cliches, '80s music, stupid themes. Toyota is up there with their pointless series of commercials featuring some sort of coach guy or that annoying desk clerk that looks like Flo. Ford is ok, I like the Dennis Leary truck commercials. At least Dodge seems to have burnouts in all of their commercials now.

[Rick V]

It follows suit that the country that actually builds cars that you can drive and enjoy for a long time would market them as such. The American car market relies on built in obsolescence and buyers who simply accept it as the way it is.

[MBAtarga]

The worst is the "it's the Buick - I'm in the Buick" series.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Also Chevy advertising the hell out of LTE wifi in their cars. IT'S NOT FREE! Funny how they don't mention that it's a monthly fee similar to a cell phone bill. Oh yeah, and I can create a wifi hotspot with my iPhone for no additional cost.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm glad I don't watch television. I see I'm (still) not missing anything.

[afterburn 549]

For one we have ?had ralph nader.
Next we have mothers against what ever.
after that most men in this country have been neutered .
Now, what car will they advertise as fun ?
There is none.
No one is allowed to "cruise", hot rod, or be a individual .
Going dwn the road and for fun once in awhile i say to my GF "show me a car out here that inspires me"!
They are so sexless . 99% of all of them,- boring

[KNS]

The dealer showrooms here are just as bad. Several months ago I was in an Audi showroom and saw a large "Ironman" cardboard cutout next to the cars. Lame and not the association I would want buying a car like an Audi.

I just recently went by an Audi dealer in London and there was an Audi Le Mans Prototype LMP1 car in the showroom. Yes! They get it.

[Tervuren]

"Imported from detroit"

yeash.

[sm70911]

I'm in the business. Lots of creatives write and come up with truly great scripts and ideas but when they present these ideas they run into an impossible two part problem

Firstly The client in the US is very different to the client in Europe.

I did a job for a Fiat compact in Europe, it took five weeks form beginning to end there were 5 people who reported to one guy and he had the say. Before becoming Fiat CMO he had worked for BMW and Lotus.

I did a job for a GM Compact and it was supposed to take eight weeks but actually took six months to complete because there were between sixteen and twenty four people CC'd on every email who weighed in with unimportant and frankly irrelevant minutiae. Unfortunately In our very large corporations decisions are made by these huge groups of people all of whom place their own interests (job preservation and promotion) far above the product / brand needs. And everyone's thoughts have to be considered.
The Fiat job involved the Fiat Rally team and was complex and beautiful, and is what led me to the GM job. The GM job involved a soccer mom picking her kids up. After many moons when we eventually reached presentation stage for GM and it was approved by seemingly every VP at the 'death star' for external testing we then we spent another two months making stupid changes before someone who had replaced someone else higher up decided it would be odd to run the Ad shot in the summer during the winter so it got cancelled.

The other problem is a huge reliance on testing. Should a good idea actually get made, the agency then have to run the idea through a series of client sponsored and attended 'focus groups'. Of course 99.9% of people who are full time employed and earning a significant wage don't attend focus groups because they are busy working so they can buy stuff. Those who do attend Focus groups tend to value deli platters and small remuneration. You can only begin to imagine some of the remark sheets I've seen.

America used to have some of the worlds most creative advertising, think of the 60's VW print work out of DDB astonishingly clever stuff. Sadly somewhere along the way that creativity got shafted and the net result is what you see on TV now. The sad thing is at the Cannes ad festival which starts tomorrow US agencies will get less than 5% of all the awards, and yet we have the biggest advertising business in the world.

As soon as clients stop pandering to the lowest common denominator the sooner we will have ads like they have in Europe.

[Bill Douglas]

Not saying this as a windup. But in the past the Germans used to be the overly sensible ones and the Americans a bit out there. Now the Germans are really funny, totally out there, and you guys are just plain old sensible.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sadly that's also how GM designs their cars. Hence the results....

[afterburn 549]

Name one 4 cars that give you a semi made in a the USA
After the GT40, a good vett (what ever those years are) and a Viper your done.
unless you go back and visit the old old muscle cars , I do not think there is anything.

[PorscheGAL]

I think there are some American car ads that are great. My 2 favorites:

[Rtrorkt]

Originally Posted by Baz

Here's the AUDI one being aired this morning during the 24 Hours race.....it's brilliant.....caters to the more intellectual and discriminating driver.....no special effects....just substance, creativity, and style......

they ran this exact ad during the 24 more than once

[Rtrorkt]

and let's not forget this one, all us Porsche folks. The T Shirts i saw today in the Porsche garage were priceless

[Baz]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

I think there are some American car ads that are great. My 2 favorites:

Sorry Steph but they just don't do it for me.

The first one is promoting an ugly car, for one.

The second one is full of special effects and except for some vintage race footage in the beginning is anything but intellectually stimulating.

Just my perspective....sorry!