Ads Gone Wrong - Episode 1

Chevy Malibu: The New Mobile Device

In sales, one of the first things you learn is to "never talk past the close." Make your points, get the "yes," and move on. In ads, it should work the same way. Not so in this otherwise brilliant spot.

The new Chevy Malibu spot's punchline/payoff is as follows: The driver steps on the gas so his new Chevy Malibu "with an available 259-horsepower, turbocharged engine" pushes his co-workers into their seats and shocks them out of their mobile worlds. The guy in the back, oblivious to what the driver has just said, asks the same question:  "So, where should we go for lunch?" Nice. I get it.

But then, instead of pounding home the point by letting the roar of the engine muffle anyone else's responses, we're forced to listen to, "No, don't say 'salad'"... "Salad's delicious and healthy." ... "No, it's not. Hotdogs!"

Somewhere, creative drifted off into "Shrek" dialogue land. Well done, by the way, but not only is this talking past the close, it's even worse:  It's showing us that the co-workers weren't really impressed or affected by the new Chevy Malibu's power! And wasn't that supposed to be the point? We're selling the horsepower here, people.

Years ago, some obscure marketing research must have suggested that adding some "humor" to the end of an ad would make it approximately 2.74 percent more memorable. Marketers of the world, don't fall for this. Use humor when it is integral to the point you're making in your ad, or at least when it supports the main point. But never throw in humor as some sort of necessary afterthought. It can diminish the results from your ad, and that's not funny.

About the Blogger:  Eric Moody is President of World Power Marketing. One of the services WPM offers:  instant reviews of ads and all types of marketing materials.