I am not posing as a marketing expert, although I have always loved learning about marketing and advertisting, and I took every class on the subject when I was in college, and I've read so many books on this topic that my wife wonders when I will write one.
Having said that, as a consumer who has watched entirely too much TV in my lifetime, I do feel uniquely qualified to analyze commercials. Yesterday, I saw the ad below several times while watching NFL football. It's a 30-second spot for the 2014 Nissan Sentra. It features a group of 20-something friends headed to Vegas. They get so caught up in singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, they end up missing their exit and have to re-navigate.
While I applaud Nissan for using a classic tune for this ad, it did make me wonder if that song has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity, or if they actually used it to appeal to the parents of the kids driving in the car. The song is nearly 32 years old, which by my estimate means that NONE of the people in the car were even born when it was released. That's fine, because I like plenty of music that was released before I was around, but I don't remember ever singing it at full volume with a group of male and female friends. They are having an absolute blast, and it did make me long for this experience, although I am in my 40's now and I don't know who would be willing to do this with me, other than my wife, or my kids, both of whom are a captive audience, literally.
To give a quick example, if we assume that the people in the car are an average of 27 years of age, then this would equate to a group of my friends blasting "Wooly Bully" or "Help Me, Rhonda" at full volume (both were released 5 years before I was born). Both are fun songs, but they are anachronistic for my generation. I can imagine singing to either one, I guess, but not with such abandon and not with friends around, frankly. There was another tune released in 1965 that I do actually remember singing with my friends: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers. However, I did that because the song played a prominent role in "Top Gun" and featured a group of men singing it to a beautiful woman in a bar. I was 16 that year. Just giving a bit of perspective.
Overall, I really like the ad. It features true joy and youthful fun, and it showcases the car well. I still think it's funny to imagine this particular vignette actually happening, though.
1983 was a great year for music, including "Billie Jean" AND "Beat It", along with "Every Breath You Take", "Down Under" by Men at Work, and "Maneater". However, it was also filled with some, well, less appropriate songs for group singing. Here are some other tunes they could have chosen from the same year (try to imagine ANY of these in the commercial - it might make you laugh, too):
"Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth
"Truly" by Lionel Richie
"Baby Come to Me" by Patti Austin & James Ingram
I welcome your input below. Have a great day!
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