Advertisers Once Again Reach for the Stars After Space Program Successes
There has been a lingering black hole in the advertising world--outer space.
The use of space as a backdrop for commercials was unofficially zapped after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January, 1986. Within days, Ford Motor Co. killed costly commercials that not only showed the shuttle, but even compared its shape to that of Ford’s Aerostar minivan. Ford officials figured that it was senseless--if not tasteless--to risk reminding Americans of the nation’s worst space disaster.
Well, almost three years and two successful shuttle launches later, the use of outer space in advertising is making a rapid re-entry. Faster than you can say Luke Skywalker, auto advertising is back in the cosmos. This time, however, Ford has company from Oldsmobile and Hyundai, which are also reaching for the stars.
“It is no coincidence that auto advertisers are attracted to space,” said Joel Steckel, associate professor of marketing at Columbia University in New York. “Automobiles are the best way for people to tell other people who they are. Commercials that are set in space tell car buyers that their cars can make them a part of the future.”
The advertising opportunity is a natural. Not only are the aerodynamic exteriors of cars continuing to look more like spaceships, but interiors, too, often look like cockpits. “The reason it works so well,” Steckel said, “is that everyone wants to think they have an edge on the future.”
For years, advertisers of all kinds eagerly associated themselves with the space program. Most notably, the powdery fruit drink Tang bragged endlessly about its use by astronauts. But the Challenger explosion reminded advertisers that using space can be almost as risky as using provocative celebrities in promoting products.
Besides auto advertisers, others are climbing into space suits. On Jan. 2, RJR Nabisco plans to air a two-minute spot for its Nabisco brands that mimics the spaceship landing from the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” And the makers of Glad trash bags recently began airing an ad that shows two astronauts collecting floating debris left behind by space explorers.
But auto advertisers seem to be returning to space in the greatest numbers. Hyundai, the South Korean compact car maker, has gone intergalactic in introducing its new Sonata, a roomier mid-sized car. To get across the message, Hyundai will begin airing a series of TV ads next week that are a play on the word “space.” The ads, created by the New York ad agency Backer Spielvogel Bates, discuss all the “space” in the car.
One of the TV ads--called “Close Encounters”--shows a young couple in an eerie moonscape setting coming upon a Sonata. “A space vehicle has landed,” the announcer says. “It has been identified as a new Sonata.”
In the other ad, called “Floating Family,” a family of five floats from space into the car as an announcer says: “Space--the last frontier. It has been conquered by the Sonata.”
“We didn’t set out to do a campaign about space,” said Joe Corey, national advertising manager at Hyundai’s U.S. distribution arm based in Garden Grove. “But now that we’ve had a couple of successful shuttle missions, space is a positive thing again.”
Likewise, Oldsmobile is running an aggressive ad campaign that features two commercials with space themes. One of the ads features “Star Trek” hero William Shatner and his daughter, Melanie, comparing the ride in a Cutlass Supreme to that of a spaceship. And in another commercial, astronaut Scott Carpenter and his son, Jay, discover that riding in a Cutlass is a lot easier than riding in a spaceship.
“The strategy called for advertising that looked technically advanced,” said Dave Colwell, creative director and vice president at the Chicago ad firm Leo Burnett, which creates Oldsmobile commercials. “We even talked about trying to get John Glenn or Neil Armstrong, but neither of them were available.”
Even the name of Ford’s newest model--Probe--was pulled right out of the U.S. space program, company officials say. And the commercial for it features actress Lindsay Wagner apparently walking through a Ford Probe like a “Star Trek” character walking through the walls of a spaceship.
“We figured a futuristic car should have a futuristic setting,” said Philip Joanou, chairman of the Los Angeles ad firm Dailey & Associates, which created the ad for the Ford Dealers Advertising Assn. of Southern California. “There’s a mystery about space, I guess.”
Rose Parade Accepts Sponsors--Sort Of
Some companies have waited for years just to roll $250,000 floats down Colorado Boulevard in the Tournament of Roses Parade. But for 100 years, none have ever been permitted to call themselves “official sponsors” of Pasadena’s annual New Year’s Day bash.
Parade officials have long-feared that such a commercial move could turn off some of the estimated 300 million viewers worldwide. Well, now comes word that during the centennial year of the parade, corporate sponsors have been allowed in the back door.
This year, the parade organizers formed an ad hoc commission--America’s New Year Celebration: Tournament of Roses Centennial--which has accepted major corporate sponsorships from Chrysler, Burger King and Pepsi. Altogether, the three companies are expected to spend more than $6 million in parade-related promotions. And all three will have pumped plenty more than floats into the parade.
Pepsi is handing out--at no charge--240,000 plastic seat cushions to those attending the parade and Rose Bowl game. Chrysler, besides supplying 100 vehicles for parade officials, has also spent more than $500,000 to build a marble courtyard area at the Rose Bowl that will be a sort of miniature museum of past Rose Bowl games. And Burger King is sponsoring a national essay contest at elementary schools on the Tournament of Roses parade.
“There seems to be a mushrooming of marketing opportunities,” said Bill Flinn, the parade’s assistant executive director of marketing. “It’s a fine line, and we’re still testing it. It’s a matter of trying to find out how far is too far.”
Coming Soon: ‘Real Story’ on SI Swimsuits
If you hate Sports Illustrated’s annual February swimsuit issue--the one that shows high-paid models in low-cut swimsuits--you’ll really hate the marketing scheme the publication has on tap for its 1989 edition.
The Home Box Office pay television network has paid the magazine an estimated $1 million for the rights to film, show and sell a 60-minute video documentary titled, “Sports Illustrated: The Making of the Swimsuit Issue.” The station plans to air the film on Feb. 9, then offer the $19.95 video for sale the following day.
“I suppose you could consider it a one-hour commercial for Sports Illustrated,” said Joe Berlinger, director of marketing at New York-based Maysles Films, which is filming the documentary.
Ironically, the film company is best-known for documentaries of a far more serious nature. It recently filmed a documentary on concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz. And its 1970 effort about the Rolling Stones’ U.S. tour, “Gimme Shelter,” included one scene of a Hell’s Angels member killing a spectator at a Rolling Stones concert.
There will be lots more than skin shots in the swimsuit documentary, Berlinger promised. “We’re lending the project some dignity,” he said, “and we’re going to show the real story behind the swimsuit issue.”
