Going Bankrupt? Just Smile

From The New York Times: "We get a lot of, ‘You’re going out of business,’ ‘You guys are going bankrupt,’ ” said Shannon Melahn, part of the Chrysler presenting team. She shrugged and added, “We just smile.”

It must be a difficult time to be an automotive spokesmodel. I'm sure it is in New York City as they are in the midst of their annual show this week. The New York Times is reporting some of the tribulations models have incurred while trying to showcase new products at Chrysler and General Motors displays.

I attended the Detroit Auto Show last January, two public days and one supplier day, but heard no heckling from the Michigan crowds. Not that it didn't happen, but for some reason it doesn't surprise me in a climate of a new round of bailouts, rising unemployment, and an always opinionated New York population, GM and Chrysler are finding some strange outbursts from show visitors.

My personal favorite, "One G.M. presenter said a woman told her the company was responsible for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. The logic went like this: if G.M. made more fuel-efficient cars, the country would not need so much oil, and if the country did not need oil, United States troops would never have invaded." Yeah, I don't think people like this "woman" really understand the costs of electric vehicles, their unproven long-term durability, and the mass consumption of electric cars it would take to significantly reduce our dependance on foreign oil."

Oh well, I do feel sorry for the attractive women and men having to market the products at the show this year. Maybe GM should just have Bob Lutz be the spokesmodel, while Chrysler's Jim Press crouches behind a Fiat 500?

When Your "Best Side" Is Under the Hood... You're Ugly

There have been numerous debates about how to properly advertise a car. Some of the most infamous include Infiniti's debut campaign that never showed a vehicle or when Range Rover took a "risk" showing a vehicle caked with mud, at a time when every vehicle was always shown as if it just rolled off the showroom. But I have never seen an advertisement that shows only the engine cover as its beauty shot. Enter the Kia Sorento. While reading the NY Times this evening, I noticed a rather puzzling shot of an engine block cover to the right of the article. Having removed an engine cover or two in my past, I knew what it was. But I doubt most people do, since very few of us open the hood of our cars.

There is no call to action or no message surrounding the engine cover image. Instead, just a price and the vehicle's name. I wonder if many people would even know it was an advertisement for a car? On rollover, a message about the vehicle's horsepower is given. But is this for a car, truck, SUV, or crossover??? I doubt the click through rate on this ad is very high. It is being advertised in an upper funnel spot, outside of an automotive context, with an image that resembles the chest plate of some futuristic robot or some really expensive lawn mower.

When advertising outside of an in-market automotive context, it is best to engage and interest the consumer, but to do so in a way that communicates who you are or gets them interested in what you are saying. A stale image of an engine cover with no engaging copy is the worst thing you can do. Kia has a compelling, low-price 5 passenger SUV in the Sorento that could be much better communicated to a large audience. It's a value product in an financially conscious time, so sell it on it's merits as a good buy without giving anything up (like moving to a small car for example.) Performance is not the Sorento's segment advantage or the care of most 5-passenger SUV consumers: value, versatility, and roominess are. So promote it in a way that interests a larger audience.

Maybe when the Kia Soul gets released will Kia finally show a vehicle from outside its engine bay.