Cadillac - It's All in the Delivery

There's a marvelous new commercial on TV right now for Cadillac. A very attractive woman is listing all of the cool things built into a Cadillac as she drives through the night. She finishes with a truly great ad line: "The question is, when you turn on your car, does it return the favor?"

What's so good about this line is, first of all, the incredibly sultry way in which she delivers it. But secondly, it lets the viewer decide what "turn on" means. If you want to think sex, fine. But it can also be a wonderful euphemism for "excite" or "energize." Lines that let the listeners or viewers define them in their minds instead of shoving something down their throats are by far the most effective.

However, delivery DOES count. As I said, part of what makes this work in the TV commercial is the way in which the actress says the words. She injects an incredible pause. But just today I heard a radio commercial for a local Cadillac dealer who obviously wanted to pick up on this new ad theme, but like many car dealers, feels he has the vocal skills to actually read and deliver advertising copy.

Imaging someone saying this very quickly, and pretty much without any inflection:

TriCity Cadillac wants to know if your car turns you on when you turn it on and if you want to save a LOT of money on a brand new Cadillac today!

Embarrassingly lame, but I'm sure he thinks he's doing his part to promote the national campaign. Of course when nobody comes into his dealership because he's a moron, I'm sure it will be the fault of Cadillac's advertising and not his pathetic attempt at being a commercial spokesperson.

The automotive industry has always had a huge problem. It spends a huge amount of money making some amazingly stunning national television commercials that are totally undone by all the local dealers who know absolutely nothing conveying a meaningful message to potential customers.