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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

GM Drops Super Bowl Ads Too

Story first appeared in USA Today.

First General Motors said this week it won't buy ads on Facebook, the big dog of new media, and today GM says it won't buy ads in the upcoming Super Bowl, the tentpole event in old media.

The reasoning was the same: Not worth the money.

GM states that they understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the significant increase in price, they simply can't justify the expense.

CBS is asking for $3.8 million per 30-second ad slot in the Super Bowl, up from NBC's $3.5 million for the last game, according to The  Wall Street Journal.

GM aired Chevy ads and a Cadillac ad in six ad slots in the game this year, plus ads in the pregame show, including ads for Chevy's Sonic and Silverado pickup and Cadillac's new ATS sedan. It also aired the winner of Chevy's Route 66 make-an-ad contest.

An analyst states that it feels premature for GM to make such a big decision regarding Super Bowl, especially since GM will be launching a new line of full-size pickup trucks and full-size SUVs around Super Bowl time. The Super Bowl audience is ideal for those vehicles, and the timing is right.

And results on a car-shopping site showed some bang for the Super Bowl ad bucks this year. In the week after this year's Super Bowl, consideration on Edmunds.com for the Sonic climbed 107%, the third largest shift among vehicles advertised during the big game, behind the Lexus GS350 and the Kia Optima.

Chrysler has advertised in the Super Bowl for the last three years and in the past two used it for big-budget, spots featuring rapper Eminem and actor Clint Eastwood.

The "Imported from Detroit" commercial in 2011 with Eminem is credited with helping to change the image of the Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker. The company's commercial in this year's Super Bowl with Clint Eastwood, while politically controversial, also drew attention to the company's progress.

Ford has not advertised in the last couple of Super Bowls, but has bought time in the pregame show. Ford, however, has aggressively shifted its focus to social media.

GM said earlier this week it stop using paid ads on Facebook, but would continue a major presence with its free pages on the social-network site. Along with its other recent high-profile decision to cut paid advertising on Facebook, GM's new global ad agency Commonwealth is sending the message that there is a new advertising sheriff in town.

Some might even read into this move as a way for GM to cut more costs, boost its share price and make it appealing for the U.S. government to sell its stake in the automaker to allow it to shed its 'Government Motors' moniker".


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