Cadillac advertising and marketing has been a hot topic in the past few years. The brand promised a surge when it rolled out its “Dare Greatly” tagline, though the campaign quickly came under fire as ads often failed to depict the cars themselves. That began to change with a new round of ads for the 2018 Academy Awards, and it’s on full display in the new 2019 Cadillac XT4 ad spots.
Cadillac promised more positive and enthusiastic work was coming to replace the dramatic New York City visuals and branding storylines and the 2019 Cadillac XT4 ads are practically the antitheses of what we’ve seen before. The two main ad spots posted to YouTube are titled “Joy” and “Wonder,” which already evoke more positive thoughts. Both ads, importantly, showcase the XT4 with an enthusiastic female driver and passengers.
Even the music is a far cry from the orchestral sounds of previous Cadillac ads—the ad’s song is “Bang Bang,” featuring Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. And we’re treated to one of the song’s opening lines, “She got a booty like a Cadillac.”
Most importantly, dealers are reportedly happy with the advertising direction, which is something they couldn’t say under the direction of former chief marketing officer, Uwe Ellinghaus. Deborah Wahl took the CMO position earlier this year, formerly of McDonald’s, but before her tenure, the team had already begun spunkier advertising.
Viewers may notice one thing missing from both ads: “Dare Greatly” is missing in action. Instead, the two ads end with either “Once again, driving is joyful” or “Driving is wonderful,” to coincide with their titles.
Is Cadillac on to something with its new direction? The XT4 need to be a smash hit for the brand, and we think this is a good start to get the word out for Cadillac’s first new vehicle in years.
Comments
Those Taglines are worse than Dare Greatly
Nothing is worse than Dare Greatly
I like this add and the direction…especially for the XT4. This is a car for Millennials with good jobs and young, active lifestyles and I would bet that as many of 2/3rds of the buyers will be women. Great job on the add!
I like the ads but those Tag lines hopefully will not be the new one for the Cadillac Brand. Sounds like a 10 year old came up with them.
It sold my wife on it llol Took delivery last weekend
Kind of dumb to advertise the base price and then say, “but this one is over $20,000 more.”
I’m still worried about where that coffee cup landed.
I think the coffee cup was a CG model, therefore it still hasn’t landed.
It would have been nice to see a complimenting commercial featuring guys. I’m a millennial guy who likes it too, but, don’t entirely want to purchase something that’s being branded as a chick vehicle.
You’re missing the point of this approach. It’s stealing a trick Apple uses.
The other luxury car companies are manning up, if you will. They’re selling establishment patriarchy. Their cars and ads aim directly at men. Those brands have already won the testosterone silver haired fox game.
And so Cadillac, under Barra, isn’t even going there. Years ago Apple realized half of all potential customers are women. HALF. If they can get a tenth of that market THAT’S A LOT OF MACS.
Cadillac is changing the subject. From luxury and manhood to youth and sexy. EXACTLY what they did with the initial “That’s a Buick?” ads. They’re playing the other side of the street… where there’s ZERO message competition.
Remember the Buick ad with the young leggy women doubling back to get the right cake? Those glitzy young successful women were NOT the people who ended up buying the Encores. INSTEAD it made older people (Hello!) feel like they were doing something ‘young’ and ‘sexy’ when buying a Buick.
THIS IS WHAT THIS CADILLAC AD is doing. They’re telling some 60 year old tramp they’re still crazy ‘young’ and ‘sexy’.
And 60 year old men don’t hear the tagline slogan. They see the young babes and hear ‘BANG BANG’ — and you don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to put that together.
It seems like a cheap attempt to capitalize on Me Too and reject it at the same time.
I like it! hey its more fresh – wish it had men in it – this isn’t a girls vehicle only
Ok. But …
Doesn’t really feel ‘top of the line’ now, does it?
Fun, perky, running footage with running ladies.
Feels like a Westin commercial promoting a bachelorette weekend.
I’d guess they’ll sell really well, regardless.
Still, a marque in search of the right point of view.
I may be retired, but I say, “bring it.” Remember, the marketing campaign is just starting and I get it. Crossovers and SUVs are perceived as designed for the 35 and up age demographic, practical, and very bland. The ads from other automakers for their CUVs and SUVs all leave that impression. Now, Cadillac designs its first compact CUV that it knows it has to really stand out and counter that perception and you design a marketing strategy to do just that. I expect that the marketing strategy will unfold in the coming days that will show and appeal to every demographic and men and women. I wouldn’t be surprised if the videos on the XT4 web site of the design and engineering teams are also put on YouTube and print media soon. The LA Auto Show starts on Nov. 30 so I expect more ads to time with that.
In one of the videos it shows a movie theater in the background with the words “Escala” on it. Maybe hinting at production of the escala?
“Driving is wonderful” ?????
The Wonder commercial look like a Happy Meal commercial, sigh. Do people actually fall for this? At least its better than the Cupholders Escalade commercial.
The other commercial (the long one) is decent though.
It’s unfortunate that Cadillac chose this racy song to represent their brand. The song is all about sex and the lyrics even mention sex in the back of a car. Cadillac used to be an exclusive brand but it’s now using a booty call jingle for increased sales.
This is the worst commercial ever, the song sucks, it’s highly irritating. Does it need to be in every commercial break? I change the channel every time it’s on. I will never buy just because of this ad.
AMEN, Mike! I wholeheartedly agree with you. The song, with the lead singer’s cloyingly annoying voice is EXTREMELY nauseating!!!
The fact that Cadillac uses that disgusting song for their commercial seriously dumbs down their brand. Classless trash!
Hear, hear, Karen!
The song definitely sucks and it’s obvious that Cadillac is going for the millennial women market. But they’re not the only ones. Saab is doing the same thing and so are other car companies that are aggressively marketing these crossover ve