Cruze Control: Chevy Calls Out Civic, Corolla

Teleflora may be lawsuit-mad about Marks & Spencer using its name to directly compete on Google, but a similar scenario is playing out with Chevrolet's new Cruze model and Honda's Civic. Except this version is "IRL." That's "in real life" to all the old-timers out there.

It started last month when it emerged that Chevrolet was asking 3,000 of its dealerships to purchase a Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. The reason was that Chevy wanted the dealers to have these competitive models on-site for potential buyers to compare to the automaker's new Cruze.

The big challenge though is getting Civic- and Corolla-minded buyers to the Chevrolet dealerships to make the comparison. To do this, Chevy is rolling out Cruze commercials (voiced by new pitchman Tim Allen) specifically addressing these models' drivers. The ads, at top and below, pull no punches.

It's an all-the-cards-on-the-table move on Chevy's part, and the dare alone speaks to the confidence the brand has in its Cruze. It's ingenious messaging. Gusty, but ingenious.

Getting back to the Teleflora kerfuffle, one place where the Chevy bowtie is coming undone is with Google search. Currently, searches for "Honda Civic" and "Toyota Corolla" turn up no Chevy Cruze adwords buys that would drive those searchers toward the Cruze. For such a smart and ballsy campaign, this seems like a huge miss.