How consumers are reacting to GMC’s hyperdramatic Hummer EV teaser commercials: Datacenter Weekly

Welcome to Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, our data-obsessed newsletter for marketing and media professionals. Reading this online? Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox here. As the cookie continues to crumble... The nature of targeted marketing in the cookie-less future is coming into focus: “Verizon Media has reached a deal to bring individual shopper card data from Catalina into programmatic digital ad buys for packaged-goods marketers,” Ad Age’s Jack Neff reports, “giving it the first demand-side platform powered by offline and online sales data from Catalina’s 236 million shopper cards. The move comes as marketers prepare for the loss of cookies and other individual identifiers within Google’s Chrome browser.” Essential context: “Purchase data like Catalina’s is also crucial in targeting so-called ‘moveable middle’ consumers—persuadable folks who fall between loyalists and those who never buy a brand’s products,” Neff notes. Keep reading here. See also: “Google’s Ad Changes Prompt Big Brands to Revamp Data Strategies,” from The Wall Street Journal. Some good news for the advertising industry “Employment in advertising, public relations and related services rose by 2,200 jobs in March,” Ad Age Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports. “The job gains came as U.S. employers last month added 916,000 jobs, the biggest monthly increase since August, according to the monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Drilling down: “Digital media continued to be the ad industry’s bright spot, with internet media staffing breaking a new record,” Johnson notes. Keep reading here. Essential context: “How the top five agency holding companies cut more than 22,000 jobs in 2020,” also from Datacenter’s Johnson. Hummer hype GMC has been hyping its upcoming Hummer EV pickup since the fall, and over the past week the brand has been airing a new series of hyperdramatic teaser TV commercials leading up to the official reveal, slated for Saturday, of the Hummer EV SUV. The cinematic-style spots show scenes of everyday people taking pause—in their homes, in a coffee shop, outside—as they sense something dramatic is about to happen. We also get shots of rolling storm clouds and a meteor plunging toward Earth, underscored by a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” by Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. “THE NEXT ALL-ELECTRIC SUPERTRUCK IS COMING” appears in all-caps on screen at one point, and an announcer notes that you can “reserve yours April 3rd.” You can see one 30-second version of the teaser campaign here. How’s this approach working? According to data from Ace Metrix shared exclusively with Datacenter Weekly, it’s working pretty well so far. Ace, the analytics company recently acquired by iSpot.tv, conducts in-depth consumer opinion surveys surrounding most major ad campaigns that get national TV exposure. The company says the installment of the Hummer EV campaign linked above is one of its top 10 “Breakthrough” ads for March 25-April 1, meaning it broke through the clutter for survey respondents—most notably performing above auto-industry norms in terms of attention and likeability. Among the verbatim responses submitted by those surveyed: “Tone and scene capture attention and keep me anticipating what it is, making me want to know more. Gives you just enough info to get intrigued and do your own research.” —a female in the 21-35 age group “The ad definitely grabbed my attention, first with the music, and then with the vivid visual scenes, similar to an alien invasion or something tremendously important impending.” —a male 50+ “The ad starts off really ambiguous, which caught my attention. The music is very intense.” —a male 21-35 “I liked the clever usage of a storm to show how powerful the electric car is. It was fun to watch and very memorable.” —a female 21-35 “It gets your attention visually right away. ... It keeps your attention till the end.” —a female 36-49 “I loved the music video look of the ad. I’m glad electric trucks are being sold as ‘cool.’” —a female 50+ See also: “No more gas stations? This electric vehicle charging provider is ramping up ad sales in anticipation of a fuel-less economy,” from Ad Age. ICYMI “Worldwide ad spending for 23 travel companies analyzed by Ad Age Datacenter tumbled 60.2% in 2020,” Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports. “The drop in ad spending tracked closely with revenue, which sank 61.5%.” Johnson goes on to offer a deep dive into ad spending by a range of travel-related sectors, including airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines and casinos. Keep reading here. A key takeaway: “There are hopeful signs for travel this year, including an increase in airline traffic and rising bookings at major theme parks,” Johnson adds. “Stocks have rebounded as investors bet on a recovery in travel.” This just in: “Fully vaccinated against COVID-19? CDC says it’s OK to resume travel,” per USA Today this morning. Just briefly • Data-driven: “Bloomberg Media readies first-party data play,” from Ad Age. • Apple cored: “Apple rejecting apps that collect data for ‘device fingerprinting,’” Apple Insider reports. • Data deal: “National Football League agrees to data rights deal with Genius Sports,” per CNBC. • It just works: “CDC Data Suggests Vaccinated Don’t Carry, Can’t Spread Virus,” New York Magazine reports. • ICYMI: “Small Agency Awards entries are now open,” from Ad Age. The newsletter is brought to you by Ad Age Datacenter, the industry’s most authoritative source of competitive intel and home to the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers, the Ad Age Agency Report: World’s Biggest Agency Companies and other exclusive data-driven reports. Access or subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter at AdAge.com/Datacenter. Ad Age Datacenter is Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Catherine Wolf. This week’s newsletter was compiled and written by Simon Dumenco.

How consumers are reacting to GMC’s hyperdramatic Hummer EV teaser commercials: Datacenter Weekly

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