Company: General Motors
Brand: Buick
Medium: TV
Ad Agency: Leo Burnett
Product: Regal Turbo
Campaign: Regal Turbo/NCAA
What we like: "Turbo." "Buick." What else do you need? Like an English haiku, this latest ad from the most dynamic of General Motors' brands is simple and elegant, showing Buick's first turbocharged Regal holding the pavement like a pallet of Fixodent.
With its stump-pulling 220-hp turbo and slick front-wheel-drive automatic transmission, our love for the new Buicks has opened like a cherry blossom that will last many a spring. Running these ads by the esteemed Leo Burnett agency during the NCAA basketball tourney only makes us dream even harder of making our fast break in a Regal for a Duke game with Dick Vitale in the passenger's seat for the color commentary. Slam jam turbo fan, baby!
What we don't like:There's an old trope about how Native American weavers would carefully insert a flaw into every blanket so that the Great Spirit would never claim their lives for attempting perfection. Buick had no such concerns.
Strategy: Like the Blue Devils, Buick's been on a winning streak lately, and this two-word approach to commercials could become a Buick hallmark; "luxury" "people" for the Enclave, "fun" "efficiency" for the Verano and "Grandpa" "breathe!" for the LaCrosse. Zing! Sorry Buick — we're just joshing. We kid because we love.
Grade: A