The new Dieter Ads

Lotsa talk about the newly running ads out there; here’s my 2 pennies.

In short, the worst part was the ‘german and american’ engineering, which they’ve reversed. The best part was the mustache joke with the little girl. That was cute.

Digging a little deeper, the pragmatic part of me says:
I’m not apopletic about the ads like DeLorenzo is (of course now that Vines slapped him back DCX & especially Chrysler won’t be doing anything right for some time, so we might as well get used to it). Their focus isn’t really on the vehicles themselves, it’s on establishing the relationship between Chrysler and Mercedes in the public’s eye using the vehicles as examples.

It’s probably a good idea to do that now, as it’s true, and it sets them apart from Ford & GM. Given the news and the fact that most people get their only information from the news, that’s not a bad thing. We sometimes have to sit back and realize John Q. Carbuyer doesn’t look at Chrysler, DCX, or the takeover like we do.

Ideally, DCX will best succeed with a true mixing of MB and CG, where and when appropriate, and since it’s been awhile since the takeover, people have moved on and any general ill will has possibly been replaced by ‘well, they make Mercedes too, so….’ Might as well run that up the marketing flagpole and see if it salutes.

The ads themselves? Frankly I think they’ll prove unmemorable. They’re cute and kind of ‘haha’ funny, but they’re not really hilarous or particularly attention getting. I get the feeling they seemed a whole lot better on the drawing board. This is, however, a step up from some of the dreck they’ve served up in the past, so…

There’s been talk about the ‘It’s a German thing, you wouldn’t understand’ in reference to Lederhosen…Hmm. I kinda thought it was just a toss away line. I didn’t think it was a tag line, and didn’t find it particularly offensive either. I also didn’t associate it with the “It’s a Jeep thing” line either, though as often happens after it was pointed out it suddenly seemed fairly obvious.

Of course, the other side of the scales contains the still-smoldering ire that the whole takeover thing happened in the first place, and tucked away there in a corner is the hope that one day Chrysler will stand on its own again. But the two dartboard-fodder execs that forged this organization are thankfully gone, and it’s probably much better to spend more time in the ‘now’ than in the ‘then’.

Although…I still can’t help but wonder…What If….what if Iacocca handed the reigns to Lutz instead? Maybe he did in some parallel universe….