Question Of The Day: What If You Created Your Very Own… Car Commercial?

Steven Lang
by Steven Lang

Back in my college days, it seemed like every single Chrysler commercial featured a car that would morph from the old model into the new model.

Minivan morph. Neon morph. Intrepid morph. The technological transitions were quite well done, and I always enjoyed a commercial that reminded me of the movie “Terminator 2.”

But then I had a few ideas of my own…

While trapped in a long boring 300+ person lecture class, I began crafting my own Chrysler commercial using a variety of doodles and ramblings.

“Why not use the opening theme to the Asia song, “Only Time Will Tell? I always liked that song!” said the 20 year old me.

Start with a nice five second aerial zoom-in on Chrysler’s new Auburn Hills R&D facility. Then when they get the cowbell going on at second six, start taking close-ups of angles on the new vehicles with alternating shots in color and black and white.

Right around second eight, you get five or six new vehicles doing a turn-in on a race track with the waterspin effect that was all the rage for that time.

Finally, you would have a single car drive towards the camera and morph into all the new Chrysler models that were coming out. The difficulty of morphing a Viper GTS into a minivan didn’t quite register with me at that point.

After all, I was fantasizing away my time in the lecture hall. Nothing more than playing the bored version of a Monday morning quarterback.

Enthusiasts are a love it or hate it group. Zen inspired waterfalls are not our thing. Humor can be a bit touchy for those with passion, and few things receive more contention than a car commercial that doesn’t tell us about the car.

Or maybe not? Advertising is often times about the power of nuance. A seduction by a multitude of clever manipulations within a thirty second time period. Come to think of it, an auto auctioneer in my B2B wholesale auction world, and the advertising executive of the modern day, have far more in common than I would ever comfortably admit to.

The power to create the urgency to buy is a rare gift. So tell me about yours! Is there a commercial you had crafted up in your mind in between watching talking hamsters and truck happy dogs? If not, any favorites?

Friday is still a long day at this point. So feel free to expound on all things commercial.


Steven Lang
Steven Lang

More by Steven Lang

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 19 comments
  • Dave M. IMO this was the last of the solidly built MBs. Yes, they had the environmentally friendly disintegrating wiring harness, but besides that the mechanicals are pretty solid. I just bought my "forever" car (last new daily driver that'll ease me into retirement), but a 2015-16 E Class sedan is on my bucket list for future purchase. Beautiful design....
  • Rochester After years of self-driving being in the news, I still don't understand the psychology behind it. Not only don't I want this, but I find the idea absurd.
  • Douglas This timeframe of Mercedes has the self-disintegrating engine wiring harness. Not just the W124, but all of them from the early 90's. Only way to properly fix it is to replace it, which I understand to be difficult to find a new one/do it/pay for. Maybe others have actual experience with doing so and can give better hope. On top of that, it's a NH car with "a little bit of rust", which means to about anyone else in the USA it is probably the rustiest W124 they have ever seen. This is probably a $3000 car on a good day.
  • Formula m How many Hyundai and Kia’s do not have the original engine block it left the factory with 10yrs prior?
  • 1995 SC I will say that year 29 has been a little spendy on my car (Motor Mounts, Injectors and a Supercharger Service since it had to come off for the injectors, ABS Pump and the tool to cycle the valves to bleed the system, Front Calipers, rear pinion seal, transmission service with a new pan that has a drain, a gaggle of capacitors to fix the ride control module and a replacement amplifier for the stereo. Still needs an exhaust manifold gasket. The front end got serviced in year 28. On the plus side blank cassettes are increasingly easy to find so I have a solid collection of 90 minute playlists.
Next