In attempting to turn around its fortunes in the U.S. beginning with a new advertising campaign in The Oscars on Sunday night, Cadillac counted on a lilting score and gritty cinematography to grab viewers' attention, vignettes about five amazing over-achieving individuals to inspire them, and a glimpse of the never-before-seen newest Cadillac sedan to clinch their interest in a brand that luxury buyers have begun to ignore.
Cadillac unveiled its long-awaited new TV commercials during the ABC telecast of the 87th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday evening, elaborating on its new "Dare Greatly" positioning by highlighting the bold and even iconoclastic accomplishments of Richard Linklater, Steve Wozniak, Jason Wu, Anne Wojcicki and Njeri Rionge and associating their unapologetic successes with a Cadillac brand that stands in dire need of resuscitation.
The brand aired three new spots a total of four times. The first and most anthemic ad of the night for Cadillac, shown twice, was scored against Edith Piaf's iconic "Je Ne Regrette Rien" ("No Regrets"), was set against a backdrop of New York City scenes, and showcased the accomplishments of Linklater, the Hollywood director who was up for best picture, best director and best original screenplay Oscars for Boyhood; Wozniak, the
The first ad ended, "How dare a 112-year-old carmaker reinvent itself? Only those who dare ... drive the world forward," and with footage of the soon-to-be-revealed new Cadillac high-end sedan, CT6, prowling New York City. That is the first look the public ever got at the car, the initial model in a planned $12-billion flurry of new hardware for Cadillac over the next several years. It is to be officially unveiled at the New York International Auto Show in a few weeks.
The swelling music in the first ad -- which brings to mind Marion Cotillard's Oscar-winning portrayal of Piaf in La Vie en Rose -- "sets an emotional atmosphere," Uwe Ellinghaus, Cadillac's chief marketing officer, told me. "It's music that is big." And if the roster of individuals featured in the ads risks offending some traditional Caddy customers, "That's exactly what I want. I want people to say, 'Look how much Cadillac' has changed."
In that sense, it's difficult to overstate the importance of this moment for Cadillac, whose U.S. sales fell by more than 6 percent last year and whose marque has become indistinct and lackluster as German rivals, especially, have come to occupy the pole position in the minds of American luxury-auto consumers.
Cadillac executives desperately want to change that, especially among the new generation of premium customers who have crusty remembrances of Cadillac -- or who don't think of the brand at all.
"We wanted to break through the clutter with executions, not simple product shots, and play with the interactions between people and cars," Ellinghaus explained. "You can't imagine the German brands doing something like this, because [the Cadillac campaign] is more human-driven and ingenious and less technology-obsessed."
Speaking of humans, Ellinghaus said, in the ads "we did not simply want to feature people that were successful, but rather game-changers, who did not accept the status quo of their businesses and challenged conventions, just as we at Cadillac want to challenge the conventions in automotive luxury." The brand also sought to "challenge the perception that the focus of our communication are the stereotypical white males climbing up the social ladder that you find in automotive advertising all the time."
Cadillac CEO Johan de Nysschen backed up his CMO. "While product fascination provides substance for our ambitions, we must also embark on a philosophical shift to match these ambitions," de Nysschen said on his Facebook page. "To once again become the standard for excellence around the globe, we cannot follow any of the examples set by the luxury market 'establishment,' nor meekly succumb to preconceived notions about this great brand, or even perceptions about our rivals. We respect each and every one of our competitors, but Cadillac will chart its own course, and we will speak our own truth.
"Cadillac is on a mission to shatter the status quo."
