Cadillac 'Dare' Campaign Uses Oscars Ceremony To Redefine/Relaunch Its Brand

Cadillac continued its recent brand refresh with a major Oscars partnership that was led by three major new commercials debuting during the ABC awards ceremony telecast.

The lead spot was released online in the days leading up to the Academy Awards while the other two were revealed for the first time in-show.

At the same time of the initial ad’s pre-release, Cadillac also re-set its social channels by turning them all white in order to try and build intrigue among consumers about what was to follow on Oscar night.

During the telecast the newly redesigned website and social platforms were revealed.

Indeed, on the Wednesday before Oscars Sunday the brand posted a message for fans on its Facebook page from Cadillac president Johan de Nysschen about the company ‘embarking upon a bold new journey’.

During the awards, Caldwell says viewers should expect social media “posts that feature photos, quotes, and links related to the content that appears within the TV spots.”

The initial 90-second spearhead spot, called ‘The Arena: Dare Greatly’ was so focused on tonality that interestingly no branded vehicles were included in the creative.

The commercial’s voiceover is taken from President Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘Citizenship in a Republic’ speech of 1910 and it is an ode to all those who strive valiantly (whilst the imagery is dominated by highly stylised slow-motion shots of New York City streets.

(Cadillac is, controversially, moving its global headquarters from Detroit to New York City.)

The creative direction provides a car’s-eye perspective.

The female voiceover even includes a anti-criticism line:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” the voiceover says.

Of the two other Cadillac spots aired during the Oscars, one actually shows a car.

The ABC telecast commercials were supported in-show across the brand’s refreshed social media platforms such as Twitter

Congratulations to the cast and crew of @SelmaMovie on your win. Glad we could celebrate with you! #Oscars2015 pic.twitter.com/pF84MMbaP6

— Cadillac (@Cadillac) February 23, 2015

Online there was alos a set of matching mini-documentary style set of short films under the ‘Daring’ theme.

These all feature a group of ‘daring’ brand ambassadors who each drove the world forward in some way or other and include: Jason Wu, Anne Wojcicki, Njeri Rionge, Richard Linklater, and Steve Wozniak.

There is a collective spot,

as well as a set of individual web films, such as Wozniaki’s

(and a behind-the-scenes films too),

and Jason Wu’s

(again with a behind-the-scenes version).

Comment

These are amoung the first pieces of creative since the car brand moved into the Publicis stable and certainly represents and distinctive strategic shift from last year.

Particularly it’s controversial and somewhat arrogant ‘Poolside’ spot, by IPG’s ‘Rogue’, from the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The aim, according to General Motors communications manager David Caldwell, is to ‘clearly restate and define Cadillac’s core values’ and creatively ‘Dare Greatly’ is a stylistic departure for the brand.

The commercials are certainly fairly hypnotic and arresting.

Part of Cadillac’s strategic approach is for its reinvigoration effort to be in stark contrast to what other brands do during mass-market televised events.

Certainly, with all the noise and clutter around the Oscars and the huge focus on style, beauty and fashion, any non-beauty category brand looking to revamp or relaunch needs to make sure it is unique and powerful if it is going to have an impact.

Links

Cadillac YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/cadillac

Cadillac Google +

https://plus.google.com/+Cadillac/posts

Cadillac Website

http://www.cadillac.com/

Cadillac Twitter

https://twitter.com/cadillac

The Oscars Website:

http://oscar.go.com/

The Oscars YouTube: