MERCEDES-BENZ USA to Debut its Largest Ever Advertising Program
13 September 1999
New Effort in Support of Model Year 2000
MONTVALE, N.J., Sept. 13 / -- In support of the model year 2000 Mercedes-Benz
product line, Mercedes-Benz USA, Inc. (MBUSA) will launch its largest marketing
effort ever beginning on Monday, September 13. The new campaign which features
10 broadcast spots and complementing print executions is the first full-scale
national advertising campaign created by MBUSA's new advertising agency Merkley
Newman Harty (MNH), New York.
According to Joe Eberhardt, vice president of marketing for MBUSA, "The
new campaign is not only a natural extension of our phenomenally successful
brand campaign but also takes it to the next level in terms of illustrating
the totality of the Mercedes-Benz brand and its value to our clients. The new
campaign is designed to illustrate not only the product but also the people
and the processes behind them. It's what we call The Mercedes Experience, an
experience as unique and pleasurable as the vehicles themselves."
The first ad to debut -- and the "anthem" for the campaign -- "Magic"
(:60, :30) features several well-known icons, each with an unexpected twist.
For example, one frame within the ad demonstrates how uninspiring Rhett
Butler's famous parting words to Scarlett might have been if just one word
would have been different. The spot ends with the words, "Change one thing
and it's just not the same. But when every part is just right ...,"
accompanied by a shot of Mercedes-Benz employees and the word "Magic."
Two other humorous executions also focus attention on the people behind
the product: "Chorus" (:60, :30) and "Performance" (:60, :30). "Chorus"
illustrates the multitude of ways that the people at Mercedes stand behind
their products -- from "if you're in an accident and your airbags deploy,
we'll send for help" to "if your watchamacallit needs a thingamajig, we'll get
you one" -- with one notable caveat at the end. In "Performance,"
business-attired professionals do laps on a test track, run a slalom course,
undergo durability testing and even crash-testing. A voiceover at the end
says, "The qualities you expect from our cars, you can expect from our
people."
Other spots, as with prior campaigns, illustrate the "values" of the
Mercedes-Benz brand. "Babe Ruth" (:30) is a crisp, minimalist spot,
consisting only of delicate piano music and images of such icons as Babe Ruth,
the first computer and the state of Alaska with the cost to acquire them
superimposed. The shot ends with a title card that states, "It isn't always
what you pay," followed by a slow reveal of the Mercedes product line and
then, "It's what you get in return." The word "Value" closes the spot.
The fact that nothing is more important than safety to Mercedes-Benz is
the message in "They Invented" (:60, :30). The commercial depicts moments in
time from the 1930's to the present using actual historical Mercedes test
footage as well as recreations, to highlight the key safety innovations
brought to the market by Mercedes.
The performance attributes of the brand are revved up in "Gang" (:60, :30)
in which a tough-looking biker couple are intimidated by a gang of 10 of
Mercedes new sporty CLK430s. The scene ends with the word "Badness."
"Slingshot" (:60/:30) is another tongue-in-cheek demonstration of
performance featuring Mercedes new super sport utility vehicle, the ML55 --
"the fastest SUV on Earth." The spot intersperses a group of men struggling
to launch themselves in a giant slingshot and the same men racing down a
highway in the ML55 with the tag: "Never before have 5 people gone from 0-60
so quickly." The spot ends on the word "Speed."
The first ad to air will be "Magic" during the week of September 13 on
such cable programs as ESPN's "Sportscenter," "Major League Baseball," "Evans
& Novak," "CNN & Time," "E!Entertainment Primetime" as well as on "ER," "The
Practice" and "Law & Order" in selected markets.
Other spots will begin rotation later in September and October on
additional programming which will include "Biography" on A&E, "Director's
Showcase" on AMC, "The Edge" on CNBC and College Football on ESPN,
"Discovery," "The Learning Channel," and "Bravo." In addition, in selected
markets spots will air in primetime shows such as "Monday Night Football,"
"Dharma & Greg," "X-Files," "Sports Night," "Frasier," "NYPD Blue," "Chicago
Hope" and "Ally McBeal."
Three additional TV spots will debut later in the fall.
Print advertising will debut in October beginning with "Magic" (which
complements the "Magic" broadcast execution) in an array of newspapers and
magazines including Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., Time, The Wall
Street Journal, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Barron's and Asian Wall
Street Journal. A total of 14 print executions are planned and will include
additional publications such as The New Yorker, Car & Driver, Fast Company,
Architectural Digest, and Food & Wine.
Marketing initiatives for the model year 2000 Mercedes-Benz line will also
include brochures, relationship marketing components and retail-level
materials. An Internet component is planned as well.
The Mercedes-Benz model line for 2000 consists of the C-Class sports
sedans, E-Class sedans and wagons, sporty SLK roadsters, stylish CLK coupes
and cabriolets, the M-Class sport utility vehicles, the legendary SL
coupe/roadsters, and the all-new flagship S-Class sedans and top-of-the-line
CL coupes. Mercedes-Benz USA, Inc. sold 170,245 vehicles in the U.S. during
1998, a 39 percent increase over the previous year, setting the highest sales
volume ever in its history. Currently nine percent ahead of last year on a
year-to-date basis, the company expects to set a new sales record in 1999.
Mercedes-Benz USA, a DaimlerChrysler company, is headquartered in Montvale,
New Jersey and employs approximately 1,500 people in 20 locations across the
U.S.