Chevy Ditches the Superbowl

[nissangirl74]

....and advertising on Facebook in order to advertise overseas. The signed a five year deal with Manchester United to promote soccer. The powers that be claim that it is "one part of a greater effort to reach the broadest customer base with the most effective use of advertising dollars". Kind of sounds to me like a slap in the face to the American taxpayers who bailed their asses out and kept them from going bankrupt. Granted, I know that advertising during the Superbowl is outrageous and no one has really proven the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook. However, am I right or wrong to think that they should have promoted their product more here rather than shift their focus overseas?


http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/10 ... ball-right

[Bubba1]

However, am I right or wrong to think that they should have promoted their product more here rather than shift their focus overseas?


IMHO? Wrong.
1. GM sells their vehicles globally, it seems you are focused on the local US market.
2. While the super Bowl is among the highest viewed single TV shows in the US every year, professional soccer reaches more car buyers world wide. And Manchester United is the NY Yankess of professional soccer, perennial winner/Huge fanbase.
3. The outrageous cost of SuperBowl ads. Not just the millions for airing them during prime times (curiously, when people are mostly likely away from the screen feeding their faces or whizzing) but the production costs. And they must be over the top good to be effective. As a company that just received a bailout, superbowl ads are a high cost/high risk, one time extravagance.
4. GM already invests a ridiculous amount of ad money in the US every year in many other ways. Heck, just look at NASCAR. GM not only sponsors teams, they sponsor races, race series, supply engines. And their exposure is not only during commercials, but their logos are splattered all over 1/4 of the cars in the races, so one of their products is usually on the screen for hours during those long tedious broadcasts. Talk about product placement. Plus NASCAR fans are far more loyal to a car brand than most other sports. Oh, don;t forget sponsorships for college football/basketball games/bowls, golf tournaments, other college sports, the Olympics, parades, US TV shows, Don't forget magazine ads, mailers, car show sponsorships, I could go on and on. If anything , GM should be cutting their advertising expenditures way back overall in the US because they are already saturated. To me, with so much advertising, GM still has yet to learn a snappy ad cannot replace a good product.
5. Facebook is indeed uncharted territory, but if they are tying to reach a younger crowd, for their entry level cars, that's certainly worth a gamble, as opposed to the Super Bowl, whose demographic trends much older.

[Jesda]

America is growing tired of GM. China can't get enough.

It's a weird world.

[Mr1der]

can we start adding text to commercials they display on their facebook page?

[MinisterofDOOM]

....and advertising on Facebook

GM just earned bonus points with me for this one.

There's no quicker way to lose my business than to ask me to "Like" your facebook page.