Is that a Buick?

My favorite thing to watch on TV is car commercials. I will literally skip through the actual TV shows to watch the car commercials. They make me really happy. Everything is right in the world in the 30 second clip and often times Santa Claus is giving out free cars. Of course I realize that these are not entirely realistic, but I like to escape for the time that it lasts. It is sort of unusual, yes, because I am not the target audience for buying cars, but I think they acknowledge that everyone has a desire for a non chaotic,simple life where Santa Claus gives out free Bentleys.

One car commercial that stands out to me is Buick commercial. They are all centered around the new looking Buick. Every single person in the commercial is with a friends that are impressed by their car selection. This shows the audience that if they have a Buick, they will have friends and they will stand out. The main message Buick is trying to relay is that the new Buick will stand out to people so they will be more likely to like you. The new look of the Buick leave the past behind and focuses on the magic ingredient of the future. Buicks have always been a little ahead of their time and this is just reinforcing that idea. It comes with the idea that if you have the old Buick, you blend in with the crowd. This is best expressed when the valet guy is running up and down the parking lot trying to find the old Buick because he expects it to blend in. The new Buick is different and stands out with autonomy.

This is a really important idea for Buick to enforce because over the last decade they have not been doing so swell. The cars have gotten a reputation for driving old people and not being the best quality.

I also noticed they use very dark, sophisticated lighting in the commercial. This goes more for a sophisticated audience. Also, the scenarios that the commercial expresses target an upper middle class family. They show people at crowded night clubs, in expensive neighborhoods, and at places with valets. This targets an audience who likes to go out a lot and see people. It sticks out in places where everybody is trying to show that they are the best. In the Buick commercial featuring Kelly Frye, she is featured as a young woman looking for her friend in a Buick. When she gets in the old version of the Buick with a bad looking young man eating a sandwich, the audience compares them and sees her as better. After the better person, Kelly Frye, gets in the new Buick, they associate the new Buick with being cooler. Also, by using a famous actor in their show, they are using the testimonial technique to show that if Kelly Frye likes this car, you must too.

Buick also uses the same song in their recent ad campaign Its Alright by Matt and Kim. This song is very upbeat and slightly techno. This is a newer music category showing that Buick really wants to focus on being modern and leaving the old model behind. The audience really doesn't want to feel old so they will want to buy this new, young car.

Because of this the Buick overall message is that if you buy a Buick you will be unique with lots of friends. Your Buick will stand out in a sea of old Buick and your friends and others will notice and pay more attention to you because that is what you want- attention.