Reliving The Best (And Worst) Carmaker Ads Of 2011

Volkswagen of America, Inc. announced on December 19 it will advertise during the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year. Following the success of last year's two 30-second spots, Volkswagen will premiere one 60-second spot at the beginning of the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVI.

The spot will feature the all-new Beetle, which arrived in dealerships in September. The 2012 Beetle was teased as a silhouette in last year's advertisement, but the redesign is now ready for its Super Bowl close-up.

Volkswagen enjoyed unprecedented success after last year's Super Bowl spots, "The Force" and "Black Beetle." "The Force," which featured the 2012 Passat and mini Darth Vader, quickly became a viewer favorite. The spot for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, which appeared during Super Bowl XLV, combined a child dressed as the dark lord, some "Star Wars" music, and a witty sight gag to produce a delightful commercial that has generated more than forty-five million views on YouTube and been widely deemed the best of 2011.

The overwhelming attention from the commercial piqued interest in the 2012 Passat months before it hit the market. This ensured that the car entered the market with momentum, with more sales in its first two months than the last Passat model sold in all of 2010.

"Black Beetle" teased the all-new Beetle's muscular shape, generating strong interest for the newly redesigned car months before it hit dealerships. More details about the 2012 Volkswagen Super Bowl ad will follow, but expect a fully integrated digital, social media, and grassroots campaign to accompany the spot that will run during one of TV's most-watched events.

Many of the best advertisements of 2011 had something in common: celebrities, whether in front of the camera or behind it. Unfortunately for Madison Avenue, not to mention put-upon consumers, that was also true for many of the worst advertisements.

Is it really so hard to figure out how to effectively use a star to sell a soap, soup, or soft drink? Well, a look at marketer misfires this year would find enough famous faces to fill all the boxes on a revival of "The Hollywood Squares" — and then some.

Of course, not all the bad ads included celebrities; ditto for the good ones. But borrowing star power was a popular tactic during a year in which economic uncertainty made advertisers try especially hard to woo customers.

Chevrolet: Opinions have been sharply divided over a new campaign for the Chevrolet division of General Motors, which carries the theme "Chevy runs deep." But one of the best ads in the campaign revived the brand’s vintage jingle, "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet."

The commercial, which ran during a special episode of "Glee," featured the "Glee" cast in an elaborate production number, channeling (and paying tribute to) the jingle’s original singer, Dinah Shore, and her long-running variety series sponsored by Chevy.

Chrysler: Most Super Bowl sponsors offer sneak peeks of their spots, the better to garner additional attention in social media like Facebook and YouTube. Not so the Chrysler Group, which surprised and delighted viewers with a two-minute commercial during Super Bowl XLV that made a heartfelt plea not only for the Chrysler 200 but also the embattled American automotive industry. The power of the "Imported From Detroit" pitch was amplified immeasurably by the participation of the Detroit rapper Eminem.

Fiat: Win some, lose some. As awesome as the spot for the Chrysler 200 was, that is how awful two commercials were for the Fiat 500, being introduced in the United States by the Chrysler parent, Fiat. Both featured Jennifer Lopez in what could be the worst pairing of a star and a car since Celine Dion’s disastrous Chrysler endorsement deal a decade ago.

The first Lopez spot, made without an agency, was a mash-up of a music video and a commercial. The second spot, by the Doner agency, was mocked mercilessly after a blogger disclosed that a body double, not Ms. Lopez, was used in scenes filmed in her old Bronx neighborhood.

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