Super Bowl Ad Tracker: Audi, GM, Hyundai Game Plans Tip Their Strategies

One of the fascinating things about Super Bowl advertising is that the decisions around it offer a microcosmic look at big-picture branding strategies.

That's certainly the case in the auto industry, where like other brands, the "regulars" seem to keep coming back year after year. General Motors, Hyundai and Audi, for instance, certainly approach the Big Game strategically. And their decisions for Super Bowl XLVI provide interesting insights into their overall thinking behind brand strategy these days.

General Motors will have Chevrolet dominating its Super Bowl advertising, as usual, this time with a total of seven Chevy spots before, during and after the game, including a spot by aspiring commercial director Zack Borst resulting from the brand's Route 66 contest.

GM will run at least two ads for the Sonic subcompact, which so far has only been advertised on the web and via a clever social-media campaign, while Volt will take advantage of its current high standing in the political zeitgeist with an ad too. Much of GM's effort will be focused on generating Millennials' interest in Sonic, in part by putting together for TV a lot of the video for the car that it's only show so far on the web.

But more interestingly, GM also will give one spot during the Super Bowl to Cadillac and its new ATS sedan. Caddy hasn't been seen in-game since 2007, so this must be important — and it is. 

ATS, launched just a few weeks ago, is the brand's crucial German-import fighter in the huge and important compact segment of the luxury market, where Cadillac hasn't been competitive for decades, leaving the way open for BMW's 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4 to dominate as it has grown. Not only does Caddy hope its ad resonates on Super Bowl Sunday when the only German brand will be Audi but, to put a fine point on it, Cadillac filmed its ad for ATS at thefamed Nurburgring racetrack — known as the Green Hell — in Germany.

Hyundai has certainly used its Super Bowl advertising over the last three years in a highly strategic sense, putting the brand, its quality and styling, and bold ideas like the Assurance incentive program, before the American public on the biggest stage. And after its meteoric rise in the U.S. market of late, the brand plans to keep the pedal to the metal with a performance message, using humor, during two spots in Super Bowl XLVI.

Hyundai Motor of America President and CEO John Krafcik told brandchannel that Super Bowl ads "have had tremendous return on investment and really helped lift our brand. It's part of our 'Big Voices in Big Places' strategy. With everyone hearing the same message at the same time, you get more resonance for a brand like us. It's important in social circles that Hyundai is validated. So places like [the Super Bowl] and the Grammys and [New York] Times Square billboards really deliver for us in that way."

And Krafcik promised that Hyundai's Super Bowl spots this time around "will deliver warm feelings for the brand." They're "meant to demonstrate the Hyundai spirit." (Update: click here to watch Hyundai's spots).

Audi has made a "runaway success story" out of advertising in the Super Bowl, Scott Keogh, CMO of Audi of America, told brandchannel. "This is where we show the Audi brand isn't afraid to take informed risks in challenging the status quo." Something to bear in mind as you watch its Vampire Party Super Bowl XLVI spot, at top.

When the brand returned to the Big Game in 2008 after about 20 years away, only three auto ads appeared. "Now there are more than two dozen," Keogh said, "and Audi is seen as a leader. Add to that an audience of more than 111 million viewers who are paying attention to commercials as much as the game and you see a huge opportunity to share the creative spark and progressive products that distinguish Audi."