Chrysler Launches New Ad Campaign

With Chrysler LLC in bankruptcy proceedings as we speak and the future of the company hinging on a relationship with Fiat, the company has saw now as the time to launch a new international advertising campaign. Where they get the money for it? That's besides the point I guess.

The new campaign aims to cast a better image of the company as it goes through this painful process and hopefully keep the floor from further dropping out under sales as well. Let's take a look!   

The new campaign is called "We Build" and continues on the new Chrysler's tagline introduced on May 3rd, " "We're building a new car company. Come see what we're building for you". Chrysler is intending to use the campaign to allay fears about a bankruptcy and trys to paint the process as a way for them to build better cars and a better company for consumers.

Not surprisingly, the bankruptcy word is never actually used in the advertisements. They just speak to what everyone already knows. The Fiat partnership is mentioned by name though. Fiat has gotten so much press out of the Chrysler deal, it's crazy!

The advertisement shown has gone up in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today. Interestingly, the first one features future vehicles or concept vehicles like the  Grand Cherokee, 200C and Circuit EV. It's makes sense because these are some of the most promising future vehicles from the company.

The campaign seems quite effective and well done; I would have suggested the same thing to the company as it undergoes this bankruptcy process (er, sorry....."restructuring"). Curiously though, as Autoblog pointed out, the campaign doesn't seem to be going online, which I view as a serious mistake. Online advertising is cheaper and can be very effective.

Other then print, the first ads debut on network primetime television on May 11th, and the Chrysler has issued a press release detailing the content of some of the ones set to air. The "We Build" theme is going global, with all work being done by BBDO Detroit, the advertising agency for all three of Chrysler's brands.

There will be 2 corporate spots as well as product spots under the theme. The product spots will feature individual models and dealers can tag along a 5-second retail message to each of those. I applaud Chrysler for doing something about the situation and I really like the contents of this new theme. Hopefully everything works out well!