"We will build your car." Chrysler + Bob Dylan team up for a Superbowl ad

I wanted to contribute to the discussion on your ad examples and some of your questions.

Personally, I love the ads. Period.

My first port of call on a great journey across the US was Los Angeles. If Michigan is the creator of cars, S. California is perhaps still the greatest concentration of car consumption the world has seen. But I always had a fascination with the great old cities of America, which are mostly East Coast and Mid West. (I’m currently in Boston, which is a joy for any Brit interested in history). Movies like The Deer Hunter featuring Pittsburgh, Rocky in Philly, Ferris Bueller’s Day off in Chicago, Taxi Driver in New York City. They instilled in me a desire to see these cities and to experience the soul of what makes them great.

The movie Gran Torino speaks to me about the values held by many deeply patriotic Motown workers who’ve toiled their whole lives to make the beautiful, gleaming shaped steel objects that roll off the assembly lines of Detroit.

The ads speak to me, not in a patriotic way because my heart is with Britain, but in a way that makes me appreciate over 100 years of blood, sweat, tears and passion. The great struggle that is captured in Blues music as it wound its way northward up the Mississippi and infiltrated the big northern industrial cities is the story written into the American car.

That works for me and the message must be strong for every patriotic American. And I love that.

But does it make me want to buy a Chrysler?

Well, here’s the thing. I think a Chrysler is as well made as any car on this planet. The modern, highly automated manufacturing process virtually guarantees that, so quality (as defined by # defects per 1000) is pretty much a level playing field worldwide.

So its down to “Content Strategy”.

Here’s where it gets interesting. If you ask me which car I would spend my money on today I will say BMW or Audi.

Why?

If Detroit can answer that question, they’re back in business as number 1. If not, then I think they should specialize into many niches.

N.B. There are many superb auto manufacturers throughout the world. Whichever car you choose today, you can feel that you have made a good choice. Most cars have similar quality. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the great automotive icons like Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, Louis Chevrolet , John & Horace Dodge, David Buick, Ransom Olds, Henry & Clement Studebaker, James Packard, Alec Issigonis (Mini), Herbert Austin, William Morris, Charles Rolls, Henry Royce, W. O. Bentley,  Ettore Bugatti, Armand Peugeot, Louis Renault, Ferdinand Porsche, Adam Opel, Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, Enzo Ferrari, Ferruccio Lamborghini, Vincenzo Lancia, Gustav Larson, Assar Gabrielsson, Sakichi Toyoda, Soichiro Honda, Michio Suzuki, Chung Ju-yung,  and many others.