The expected strategies range from no advertising and secrecy to creating ads from ideas generated by Twitter. Detroit’s two largest automakers -- General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. -- have essentially swapped positions from last year when it comes to advertising during the big game.
DETROIT, MI- The Detroit Three are taking different roads to advertising during this year’s Super Bowl.
The expected strategies range from no advertising and secrecy to creating ads from ideas generated by Twitter.
Detroit’s two largest automakers -- General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. -- have essentially swapped positions from last year when it comes to advertising during the big game.
Ford, which has recently not advertised during Super Bowls, will have two 30-second ads for its luxury Lincoln brand and the MKZ.
GM, following an increase in ad pricing and an onslaught of commercials in 2012, is not expected to have any ads when the San Francisco 49ers take on the Baltimore Ravens during Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3.
“We just felt that for ’13, with all the vehicle launches we had going on and the fact that the increase in the ads was going up dramatically, we didn’t want to spend all that money that early in the year,” said GM interim Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of U.S. Sales, Service and Global Marketing Alan Batey during an interview with MLive.com Jan. 15 at the 2013 North American International Auto Show.
Batey said advertising “just didn’t make sense” this year for the Detroit-based automaker, which is planning to launch about two-dozen new or significantly redesigned vehicles this year, including 13 for its Chevy brand.
In 2012, the Detroit-based automaker aired a hand full of commercials during the Super Bowl as part of a multimillion-dollar ad blitz.
Commercial time last year averaged about $3 million for 30 seconds. This year, it’s costing advertisers about $4 million for 30 seconds of air time. Money, according to some, well spent.
Ford, which originally planned a one-minute "#SteerTheScript" ad, will reportedly now air two 30-second commercials.
The Dearborn-based automaker asked comedian Jimmy Fallon to lead the first-ever Super Bowl commercial written entirely by social media, with consumers participating through Twitter.
When announcing the ad, the brand’s new ambassador, Emmitt Smith, said the ad should help continue the comeback for the brand.
”It’s an honor to join Lincoln Motor Company on its comeback journey and I’m excited that the MKZ will star in Lincoln’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial,” Smith said in a statement. “Enlisting the help of consumers to develop the spot is extremely clever. Throughout my career, I’ve been driven by the support of the fans and now they’ll have the chance to do the same for Lincoln.”
Consumers provided their best 140 character thoughts to a script, and Fallon led the curation of the best contributions to create the ads to run during the broadcast of the big game.
Lincoln, like many automakers now do, released a series of teaser videos for the ad, which appears to include a spaceship, motorcycle gang, tortoises (possibly turtles) and an alpaca farm.
Crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC is protecting its plans like Fort Knox.
The company has made Super Bowl advertising into an art the past two years, has not released any information regarding its plans for this year’s Super Bowl.
“We are not making any comments or announcements at all,” a Chrysler spokeswoman told MLive.com.
The Auburn Hills-based automaker said the same thing before the 2012 Super Bowl, and then aired its unintentionally controversial“It’s Halftime in America” ad.
The two-minute commercial featured actor Clint Eastwood in the role of the nation's coach, motivating the country by describing the resilience of the Detroit auto industry.
Bruce Vanden Bergh, a Michigan State University advertising, public relations and retailing professor, said Chrysler and ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, which created last year’s ad and the 2011 “Born on Fire” ad featuring Eminem, have a lot of pressure to deliver.
“They captured, for me and a lot of people, they captured the essence, the grit and the fortitude – just the music and everything of Detroit,” he told MLive.com. “They have to stay with that brand identity, with that whole tone or voice and feel, and then they’ve got to do it one notch better.
Vanden Bergh said he expects the Portland-based ad agency to deliver again this year.
However, Chrysler's CEO Sergio Marchionne told Detroit radio station WWJ 950 that the company is currently weighing its marketing options.
"I don’t know if we’ll be in the Super Bowl, at least not the way we have been in the past," Marchionne told WWJ's Jeff Gilbert, in story posted on the station's website during the 2013 Detroit auto show. "For Chrysler to keep repeating commercials that ultimately have that level of significance, you're already pushing your luck."
Two days after WWJ’s report, Marchionne did praise both ads Jan. 18 during Inforum’s 11th annual Auto Show Breakfast in Detroit.
Marchionne said the Super Bowl ads “have taken on a life of their own.”
If that "life" will continue is yet to be seen. We'll all have to wait and see what, if anything, Chrysler comes out with this year.
Super Bowl XLVII between the 49ers and Ravens starts at 6:30 p.m. Sunday from the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans. It will be broadcast on CBS.
Continue to check back to MLive.com for updates regarding this year’s Super Bowl advertising. Follow all of the news by clicking here.
Email Michael Wayland: MWayland@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MikeWayland