American Football star Peyton Manning is back for another commercial for the 2013 Buick Verano. In his second Buick ad titled Blindsided, Manning relates the Verano’s safety story by drawing parallels between the sedan’s various safety features and football game.
“As a quarterback, I know how it feels to be blindsided. But with the available safety systems in this Buick Verano, like Side Blind Zone alert and, now that’s fast protection”, and Rear Cross Traffic Alert… I feel like the whole team is protecting me in here”, says Manning in the ad, which concludes with the now-familiar “If you don’t’ know the innovative Verano, then you don’t know Buick” message:
“We’re talking about the new Verano but using important football lingo”, said Manning in a press release, adding that the ad follows up last year’s audibles commercial. “No one wants to be blindsided, especially a quarterback. Usually you have one guy protecting the blindside but these features are so good, it’s really like having 11 guys blocking your blindside”, said Manning of the ad that launched during this weekend’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.
The Verano features a standard Rear Vision Camera and offers a safety package that includes Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. The two technologies share a set of radar sensors in the corners of the rear bumper to assist drivers in avoiding crashes when changing lanes or backing.
Buick Verano Rear Cross Traffic Alert
Rear Cross Traffic Alert senses cross traffic up to 65 feet away that may not be visible to the driver when backing out of a parking space or driveway. The driver is alerted with a red directional arrow displayed on the Rear Vision Camera screen along with three directional beeps. Side Blind Zone Alert detects when another car is in the driver’s blind spot, and activates an orange light located inside the side wing mirror.
Buick Verano Side Blind Zone Alert
Manning’s Blindsided ad follows his first Audibles spot, joining Shaq’s Oh Effect and Expected for the larger LaCrosse. The highly-successful Experience Buick leasing program is mentioned in Blindsided, as well.
“Peyton Manning is approachable, and that’s synonymous with what Buick is – an approachable, down-to-earth luxury brand,” said vice president of Buick Marketing Tony DiSalle. “And while he’s certainly elevated and premium in terms of his position in the NFL, he’s easy to relate to and likeable.”
The GM Authority Take
It’s DiSalle’s last line in the quote above, the one comparing Buick to Manning, that defines the Tri Shield brand and its position in the luxury market: the brand is “premium” yet still “likeable” and “approachable”. Good stuff, Buick.
Comments
Good stuff Buick. The car, the ad, and the deal. I’m still impressed.
Perfect….again….go Buick!!!!!!
This guy is one of the most annoying people on TV. Is the Buick buyer really this guy? A football jock? A football jock is “approachable”? That’s the Buick image? Why does GM blow money like this? Lexus & BMW don’t, Lincoln does- guess who is doing A LOT better.
Advertisers normally put an “idealized version” of the buyer in the ads to relate to them, this guy doesn’t drive a Buick he paid for. “Celebrities” are polarizing figures, I’d like to see the data that shows this sellls Buicks. How did the Tiger Woods thing work out for Buick? I think he’s available.
Tiger did great as a Buick spokesmen. Every where he went people “approached” him and he was the friendliest guy you could ever meet. Talking with him was easy and he seemed like one of us.
Now he made an “error” so he is no longer the best for Buick, but to be honest before that even happened he was getting too expensive for Buick.
Maybe I’m different because my background is in engineering, but I’m not going to buy a car because Peyton Manning is comparing it to football. A car is not football.
I want to know about the car, tell me about the car. Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, whoever, to me they are all distractions from the product. I’d much rather they put an engineer up there who can actually explain how it works. Whenever I see a “celebrity” hawking a product, especially a product I’m pretty sure they don’t use themselves, I feel it’s a distraction from the product itself. Does Peyton Manning drive a Buick Verano in real life?
Buick is doing better than before. I would say this is because they have better products than before, not because they have better “celebrity” spokespeople.
GM using a “celebrity” (like this smug guy) smacks of desperation. Kim Kardasian is way more popular than this guy- why don’t they get her to add to the Buick brand image? They probably thought of it but couldn’t afford her. Meanwhile, BMW outsells Cadillac in the US market without a celebrity- I wonder how they do it? (end of sarcasm)