Hasta La Creative!

Apple is sticking with a good thing, continuing the rollout of its “Your Verse” campaign with two new stories about how people around the world are using iPads as tools to support their passions.

In one, Yaoband, a Beijing-based electro-pop ground, use their gadgets to sample sounds, communicate with fans, and perform live while they tour China. In the second, Jason Hall, a Detroit resident, uses his tablet to help organize Slow Roll, a weekly group bike ride through the city that draws thousands of cyclists, in an effort to help revitalize the city’s sense of community.

The 60-second TV ads for each, below, do get the ideas across, but they’re really just teasers—the deep dives over at Apple’s website make for less impressionistic and more powerful experiences.

Even those are fairly ambitious, and rely on a premise that may not be obvious to anyone who hasn’t been closely following the brand’s advertising of late. The “Your Verse” tagline launched early this year by paying homage to Walt Whitman as brilliantly recited by Robin Williams, may he rest in peace, in the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society. It has since been the foundation for some of the brand’s most persuasive ads in recent memory. But even to newcomers to the campaign, the takeaway should be clear enough, and feel consistent with expectations for good tech advertising: These are vignettes that illustrate how engineering can help enrich lives.

Plus, it’s nice to see Apple’s marketing keep reaching high while also staying grounded. Especially when that’s what people expect—or at least hope—to get from the brand. 

American exceptionalism is a strange concept to build a car commercial on. Even for Detroit.

It makes me think the Koch brothers are financing this new Cadillac ELR campaign, covertly of course. How else to account for the brazenness of the socio-political speech?

Cadillac and its agency, Rogue (a group culled from three IPG agencies—Hill Holliday, Lowe and Campbell Ewald) want to stand out and this work does stand out. The ad is effective and disturbing, at the same time.

I feel like the brief made it clear: “Let’s NOT be Prius.” The creative team at Rogue took that thinking and delivered the ultimate anti-Prius spot.

Cadillac is clearly not interested in courting white, well-educated liberals from the suburbs. They want the hard-driving set to get behind the wheel of its electric vehicles. The ELR is the anti-Prius and at $75,000, a slightly more affordable alternate to a Tesla.

Craig Bierley, Cadillac’s advertising director, spoke to Ad Age in hopes that he might clear up some questions that people have raised about the spot.

For instance, some people believe the spot is aimed at the richest 1%.

Not so, says Bierley. Rather than millionaires, the spot’s targeted at customers who make around $200,000 a year. They’re consumers with a “little bit of grit under their fingernails” who “pop in and out of luxury” when and how they see fit, he said. “These are people who haven’t been given anything. Every part of success they’ve achieved has been earned through hard work and hustle. . . . One of the ways they reward themselves for their hard work is through the purchase of a luxury car,” he said.

I appreciate this extra bit of clarification. If you inherited money, or got to where you are today through luck, connections, or a state-sponsored education, buy a Tesla.

The post Howard Roark Drives a Cadillac ELR—So Can You appeared first on AdPulp.

Detroit est une ville américaine qui a été gravement touchée par la crise. Avec cette série « Now and Then », Detroiturbex a repris des images du Cass Technical High School abandonné et délabré puis a incrusté de vieux clichés pris au même endroit pendant les années fastes de l’établissement aujourd’hui démoli.

Dans le même esprit : Dear Photograph

Best Week Ever

Late last week, Chrysler filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Omnicom’s BBDO Detroit was listed as the second-highest unsecured creditor, with some $58+ million in outstanding invoices. Most of the dollars are believed to be for spot TV buys placed when Chrysler opted to dump it’s national advertising to save money. The Chapter 11 filing gives the carmaker time to restructure under government protection from creditors. So, while Chrysler does NOT have to pay their creditors at the moment, they will still receive cash infusions from Uncle Sam. Now that is what I call the American Dream!
Like a spoiled child whose parents are too weak to say the word, “NO,” Chrysler now finds that they are in great shape: safe from creditors and still receiving their billion dollar allowance. Chrysler, of course, is not celebrating…or are they? The automobile company may not be dancing, but they are acting as if they’ve got America by the short hairs. Sadly, with backing from Obama, they do. Thus it’s no surprise that Chrysler is launching a national, prime-time TV, newspaper, and digital campaign set to hit the public on May 11th, 2009. The tagline for the campaign is, “We’re building a new car company. Come see what we’re building for you.” This move back to the national advertising arena must mean Chrysler does not need to worry about reducing expenses anymore. Whew!

What Do You Mean You Want The Money?

Well, no, that’s not the truth. The real story is that Chrysler does not intend to repay dollars borrowed from private interests prior 
to government intervention. The private “investors” are unlikely sources; the University of Kentucky, Kraft Foods’ retirement fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pension funds, and teachers’ credit unions. The Obama administration is not going to let that happen, and has even berated the companies that were willing to bet on a loser (Chrysler) as “a small group of speculators” who “endanger Chrysler’s future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else.” This, despite fact that the terms of the agreement state that lenders would be repaid first should bankruptcy became a reality.

The Final Straw

In a last “screw” you from the government and Chrysler, it is now being reported that taxpayers will never see a single dollar of the billions lent to Chrysler. From Monday’s bankruptcy hearings:

“They’re offering financing with a low likelihood of being repaid,” said Robert Manzo, an executive director for Capstone Advisory Group LLC, according to the Associated Press. As part of its Chapter 11 reorganization, Manzo wrote Chrysler expects the U.S. Treasury to forgive a $4 billion bridge loan the automaker received during the Bush administration, a $300 million fee on that loan, and the $3.2 billion in financing the Obama administration approved last week to help the company stay afloat while it is in bankruptcy.

CNN did confirm that the Obama Whitehouse stated that it did not expect Chrysler to repay the money. It’s interesting, but Bernie Madhoff went to prison for less than this.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312..Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Coordinator. His passion is writing, contributing to BMA as well as freelancing. He’d love to hear from you: linkedin.com/in/jefflouis or twitter.com/jlo0312.

Yesterday I began to blog about the auto industry, and how pissed off I was that these “Captains of Manufacturing” were upset that the White House was taking a tough stance on the industry. As GM’s head rolled, the other auto execs actually had the gall to be upset about it! Well boo-friggin-hoo. Chafed, I changed topics.

When I woke today, they were still there…painfully stuck in my throat like uncoated aspirin…slowly burning as they dissolved. A caustic memory lingered in my mouth.

These men are our best and brightest, leaders of America’s most famous (now infamous) industry! Sheperds of commerce. Corporate front-runners. Thus far, there’s been little action from them, other than begging.

So, when Ford’s promotional think-tank announced a plan to pay for your car in the event you’re canned, I thought; “Wow! You copied off of Hyundai. What a great plan!”

Their Pitch: The Ford Advantage Plan is different (ho hum). We’ll pay for a year’s worth of payments vs. Hyundai’s three months (yawn). We’ll offer zero percent financing (whoopee). And, we’ll pay your $700/month car payment (what Ford is worth that?). 

That’s when the smell hit me, reeking of mortgage industry…just in a different place, at a different time. A promise to the masses that the unaffordable can be affordable. For a while.