Uh-Oh - Like Chevrolet, Mazda's New Commercials Also Have Real People

They’ve haunted you in your sleep. “The lines down here are seamless, like classic German design,” a British fellow says about the new Chevrolet Malibu.

You overhear them during the morning news breaks as you walk to your gate at the airport. “Business in the front, party in the back,” a young woman says, describing the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback.

“I am surprised that it’s Chevy,” a woman responds after being asked what she thinks about Bowtie victories in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study. You vomit a little in your mouth.

But in the eyes of General Motors, Chevrolet’s Real People, Not Actors campaign is working. And it appears Mazda thinks quite highly of the formula as well.

“From where I sit two years in, there’s no sign that it’s losing steam,” Chevrolet vice president of marketing, Paul Edwards told Automotive News in May. “In fact, every month, like I said, it continues to pick up in terms of our ability to break through and drive opinion.”

GM likes what it sees, and wants to keep seeing more of the same. “For the foreseeable future, we don’t have a change in mind,” Edwards said.

Mazda’s new Driver’s Choice ads will by no means be outright copies of the Chevrolet marketing scheme, just as Chevrolet’s willingness to essentially highlight its own quality reputation — why do people find it so hard to believe Chevrolet builds quality cars? — was different from Buick’s means of denigrating its image.

Mazda’s focus is on displaying “luxury vehicle owners who unknowingly choose a Mazda vehicle over premium brands after a blind test drive.”

Yes, premium.

Maybe even

For Mazda’s blind test, vehicles were disguised with camo to hide not just badges but the distinctive shape of the vehicle. “The participants were then asked to give their honest feedback after test driving the vehicles and evaluating their features,” Mazda says.

Lo and behold, Mazda also filmed the blind test, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. “This was a risky, but fun way for us to gain insight into what our customers experience when they visit a dealership,” Mazda North America’s marketing vice president Russell Wager says, as if Mazda would have ever allowed the clips to go to air even if the participants preferred the Germans.

Mazda says its real people weren’t just owners of premium vehicles but individuals who are also “premium experts because of their professions.” That includes an architect, designer, and an engineer.

Automotive journalist? Pfft.

Incidentally, Mazda’s Driver’s Choice advertising spot includes in the not-so-fine print some very familiar text: “Real people. Not actors.”

Mazda’s premium push is nothing new. Mazda doesn’t intend to be an Audi rival overnight. Indeed, Mazda doesn’t believe premium positioning against premium brands is the goal at all. Rather, Mazda wants a premium slice of the mainstream market. While the Driver’s Choice ad counterintuitively clarifies that Mazda isn’t a premium brand, it also serves to bolster Mazda’s justifiable claim that a modern Mazda interior can offer a cut-above experience, at least in comparison with similarly priced competitors.

If Mazda lets itself down on the premium front in the Driver’s Choice commercial, which will run from July 1, 2017 through the Labor Day weekend to September 4, 2017, it does so by returning to the age-old incentive-propelled advertising for the final one-third of the ad.

Mazda seemingly can’t resist, noting interest-free financing for 60 months on 2017 Mazda 3s and Mazda 6s with a $1,000 discount and a three-month payment deferral.

If you’re going to sell cars based on a premium position, you must at times allow the premium aspect of the car to speak for itself. If the cars are so great, why does Mazda feel it necessary to advertise the fact that people aren’t willing to even pay the modest, non-premium asking price?

Also, Mazda showcases a five-model lineup at the end of the Driver’s Choice clip: CX-9, CX-5, MX-5, 3, and 6. Whither the CX-3 — is it insufficiently premium?

[Image: Mazda/YouTube]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.