Cadillac: $8 Million For Super Bowl Spots

DETROIT January 23, 2003; An AP story reported that Cadillac has a treat in store for viewers whose interest in the Super Bowl centers on the commercials.

The General Motors Corp. division will air a 90-second spot during the third quarter of Sunday's game between the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The last automaker to run a Super Bowl commercial of that length was Cadillac in 1992, advertising director Kim Kosak said.

Cadillac will spend about $6 million to show the ad, which was created by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles agency of Troy, The Detroit News reported Wednesday.

Cadillac also will show the first postgame commercial and has bought the title sponsorships to both the two-minute warning and postgame show. The division's entire Super Bowl investment is estimated to exceed $8 million, nearly 7 percent of its annual advertising budget.

"We're launching three new vehicles, and the Super Bowl is the biggest advertising platform in the world," Kosak said.

The three new vehicles, featured in the 90-second spot, are the Cadillac ESV, a bigger version of the Escalade sport utility vehicle; the SRX, a mid-sized sedan-SUV crossover; and the XLR, a two-seat roadster. It also touts the CTS sports sedan.

Cadillac sales increased 16 percent last year, Kosak said.

Almost half of Super Bowl viewers tune in just to see the ads, according to a recent survey by Insight Express, an online market research firm. More than 120 million people are expected to watch Sunday's game on ABC.