Back in February 2021, Ford chose to forgo creating any advertisements for the Super Bowl, instead opting to release a more regional-focused campaign. That same year, the automaker poked fun at its cross-town rival – General Motors – and its EV-focused Super Bowl ad, and back in June 2022, CEO Jim Farley said that Super Bowl ads, in general, simply aren’t worth the investment, noting that the automaker plans to instead focus on improving the post-purchase experience. Interestingly, shortly after Farley made those comments, former GM Global Chief Marketing Officer, Deborah Wahl, said that Ford’s decision to cut back on advertising “just doesn’t make sense,” but now, that same automaker has followed FoMoCo’s lead – at least as it pertains to Super Bowl ads, according to GM Authority.
For the past four years, GM has purchased time slots to air advertisements during the Super Bowl, but that won’t be the case this year, it seems. “We continually evaluate our media strategies to ensure they align with our business priorities,” a GM spokesperson told Ad Age, confirming the automaker’s decision to sit this one out.
This decision comes as GM has undergone a number of changes in terms of its marketing leadership recently, replacing Wahl – who departed the company back in March – with former CVS CMO Norm de Greve as its chief marketing officer. During Wahl’s tenure, General Motors ran a number of ads during the Super Bowl featuring notable stars including LeBron James and Will Ferrell.
It is worth noting that many of those commercials revolved around the company’s future all-electric vehicles, which the automaker is investing heavily in. However, a recent dip in consumer demand for EVs has many automakers – including Ford and GM – scaling back investments in those types of models, which could have also played a role in GM’s decision to sit out this year’s Super Bowl.
We’ll have more on everything Ford’s competition is up to soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
At last some signs of common sense. Perhaps it’s still too soon to tell if FORD will curb their obsession with sports and entertainment figures and just concentrate on building vehicles as well as improving quality.
Moving forward, I think many companies including mass market transportation companies, will be questioning the $$$ spend on something like this, as opposed to a more targeted approach, meeting their intended audiences where they are. This type of approach requires more time relative to the “shotgun” approach of old, but results fortify the targeted approach method almost every time.
Not to mention the NFL and other major league sports have turned off a portion of their former core audience with their political positions the last several years. Plus “traditional” network television viewing in general is rapidly declining.
One way around it would just watch the sporting event with the sound off. You can see what’s going on so why do you need announcers telling you? Of course if you would listen on radio, you would have no choice.
While I think the NFL has departed from sports and gotten into entertainment, to its detriment, I have a feeling this is UAW-driven entirely. And here comes massive decontenting at all 3 so look out below. Wanna bet prices don’t drop?
Few if any really have any interest in seeing corporate America’s “woke” themed adds and their touting of EVs’ as well. Focus on quality and building what consumers want not what idealist CEO’s and board members want.
Think about this!
During the Super Bowl, or ANY other sporting event or even a TV show, what do most people do during a commercial???????? Get Something to eat or drink, take a WIZ, or fast forward thru the commercial????? So Really what percent of the watchers are paying attention to the commercial message anyway??????? There are to many commercials on TV as it is, last count was at least 10 during a commercial break. Cut back on the commercials and maybe you will get a few people to actually watch a few……….NOT!
The NFL is particularly bad. It’s like watching commercials and every once in a while, there’s a break and a few downs get played.
Ads are what pays the bills so I cringe when people complain excessively about them. I could care less about spectator diversions but if a company wants to by time to promote their product on a sports broadcast all the more power to them. In FORD’s case, unless they fix their endless quality problems, it won’t help long term.
Offer the RedZone as a substitute for a commericalized Super Bowl. I’d more than happy to drop $ 25.00 or so on that one time option. Then, we can start working on a RedZone for college football – Big Ten, SEC, ACC etc, set up for 1;00, 4:00, 7:00 PM for selected game times. Again, give us the option to watch commerical free sports and we will pay the freight cost. !!
Now if all companies would stop buying these overpriced time slots.
There are far too many commercials and I mute them!