In the ad, a twenty-something decides not to sign on the dotted line and sell his soul to the devil -- despite the prospect of hanging out with Kate Upton and Usher -- when he sees the completion of a billboard telling him he can get the stylish new Benz for that astonishingly low price.
Mercedes-Benz is hammering the starting price point for CLA Class because the car gives the brand its most credible chance ever to score some serious market share among American Millennials. That's particularly the case, Bernie Glaser believes, because of how some competitors are approaching this hoped-for low end of the luxury market -- such as BMW, with a version of the 3 Series for which it cut the horsepower as well as the price.
"That's counterproductive if you ask me," the CMO of Mercedes-Benz USA told me. "This group wants the perfect combination in a car. And with our new style language and price point and performance package we offer, we think we have a winner."
And so with all of that activated and headed straight for the hearts of Generation Y viewers on Sunday, now Mercedes-Benz can just sit back and watch the returns roll in for its Big Game presence -- right?
Not by a long shot. Mercedes-Benz executives, dealers and others are busy this week attempting to take maximum advantage of the other significant part of their brand-building opportunity connected to the Super Bowl: having their name on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome that will be hosting the game on Sunday.
From the start of this Super Bowl XLVII season, Mercedes-Benz has embraced an association with the Big Easy that began in earnest with a naming-rights deal that led to the placing of its iconic star emblem all over the Superdome in 2011 in full knowledge that the 2013 Super Bowl would be played there. For the game on Sunday, Mercedes-Benz signage will be more apparent than ever.
"And every time the game commentators on TV are going back to the game, they're going to be saying, 'Let's get back to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome,'" Glaser said.
Mercedes-Benz has left no camera angle to chance in its attempt to ensure saturation coverage of its sponsorship of the Super Dome and its embrace of the Big Easy that has included using the city as the location for the Super Bowl ad for the CLA Class. This weekend, the new car also will be prominently displayed at an ESPN party in the host city, Glaser said, as well as at a GQ party in the French Quarter. And there's a Mercedes-Benz "tailgate" party on Sunday and a brand display with the car that will host NFL Network's "Shop Talk" show on game day.
Glaser promised that the stadium's main entrance, Gate C, will be "fully equipped with larger-than-life pictures of the CLA Class" and other aspects of the Mercedes-Benz brand. "Everyone going into the Superdome through Gate C will see our car." He also expects TV coverage leading up to the game of the outside of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome that will include plenty of shots of brand signage.
Between its clear "ownership" of New Orleans on Super Bowl weekend, the much-discussed TV ad during the game, and the brand's plans to repeat the 60-second commercial during the Oscars telecast on February 24, Glaser expects messaging about the brand and the new car to keep resonating right up until the CLA Class's late-summer launch.
Online efforts will help as well. "We want to maximize the interest and take the interest from watching the game to the digital platform and keep the momentum going right up until September," Glaser said.
showing that very reaDEvsomethingm a aklaa. adMercede
