Cadillac Invents Ads for Internet, Considers Podcasts

By Herb Shuldiner

WardsAuto.com, Mar 1 2006

Cadillac’s marketing chief is searching for new ways to promote the brand.

NEW YORK – “If we can’t get you one way, we’ll get you another way,” Liz Vanzura, Cadillac’s global marketing director, vows.

Describing to the International Motor Press Assn. here the advertising challenges she faces, Vanzura says she is venturing more into Internet and other advertising venues to combat the Tivo digital recorder scourge.

“Tivo is killing us,” she says. TV sets with Tivo players enable viewers to skip commercials when replaying recorded programs. “We’re trying to find the right way to deal with it.”

One method she has discovered is to place commercials on TV programs that people want to watch live. “Nobody wants to watch the Super Bowl the next day,” she says.

Vanzura, a veteran automotive marketing executive, says she has to market by the moment to connect with customers. That is why she seeks to make an emotional connection with buyers already awash in vehicle ads. She says automotive advertising industry-wide totals $13 billion.

“I’ve done 150 TV campaigns in the last 10 years,” she says. Those include memorable brand ads for Volkswagen and Hummer.

“Sometimes, a great ad is a happy accident,” she admits. For instance, one Hummer ad didn’t have a real product in it. Yet it made an emotional connection with viewers. “It’s hard for every brand to reinvent (itself),” she says.

There are notable exceptions. “Cadillac’s product lines are speaking for themselves,” she says. “It’s a matter of getting the news out to people.”

Her job at Cadillac is made easier, she says, because it now has appealing products. “Most of the time, you don’t have the product (to promote).”

Vanzura also credits Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president-vehicle sales, service and marketing, for making sure the brands have the financial means to get the (marketing) job done.

“We can do it with the budget we have,” she says. “My challenge is to make marketing dollars stretch.”

To counter the Tivo impact, Vanzura is studying non-traditional marketing areas.

“We have sophisticated techniques to identify where our audiences are,” she says. “We’re using that research to pick the right places for us to be.”

For example, Cadillac currently is designing new ads for the Internet. “Some things you can’t run on TV, but you can run them on the Internet,” she says. Also under consideration is developing podcasts.

Vanzura says her overall goal is to convey Cadillac’s message of “luxury with an attitude.”

Link: http://wardsauto.com/ar/auto_cadillac_invents_ads/index.htm

i think another helpful feature would be to advertise in movies and what not... i remember the movie Island, had the Cien in it... wow... that was a good scene, now if they'd accually have real vehicles...

what they have to realise is that they need good ads. Yes. people have Tivo to skip over the ads. This is no different from the 80's when people first got remote controls and flipped the channel to skip ads, or in the 70's when people would use the ads as an opportunity to grab a cold one from the icebox. People can and will ignore ads if they aren't interesting enough to hold their attention or the product sucks. That's all there is. You can blame it on Tivo if you want: all the viral media and podcasts won't help; you can strap the viewer down and tape his eyes open like that scene in "Clockwork Orange" and the viewer will still tune out that DyTech ad. Get over it. It's about good ads and interesting product. Cadillac had one of the best with "Moments". Do more like that.

And what the hell are you going to podcast about? This seems like an marketing Department filled with desperate MBA's trying to sound relevent..

And what the hell are you going to podcast about?  This seems like an marketing Department filled with desperate MBA's trying to sound relevent..

no $h!.