Mercedes-Benz USA has a late-game commercial introducing a car aimed at bringing them thousands of new, younger customers.The big game,
The advertisement will unveil the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA, a sporty compact sedan due to go on sale next fall priced from around $30,000.
"The 2014 CLA will be aimed at buyers in their 30s who can step up to higher-end Mercedes models as they grow older and more affluent", said Stephen Cannon, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, in an interview.
The four-door CLA, which is due to make its public debut in March at the Geneva auto show, features a sloping coupe-like roof line similar to that on the larger, more expensive CLS. A preview of the CLA, called Concept Style Coupe, was staged last April at the Beijing Auto Show.
"This isn't going to be a kid's vehicle," Cannon said. The CLA will be priced "significantly below the C-class," which is Mercedes' current entry point. The CLA does not target a first-time car buyer, "but it's going to lower the entry age," he said, from the current 52 years.
General Motors Co's Cadillac brand earlier this year introduced the 2013 ATS compact sedan that starts at about $34,000, and Ford Motor Co will show a concept version of the 2014 Lincoln MKC compact crossover at the Detroit auto show in January.
Cannon said the Super Bowl commercial and a promotional campaign built around it represent the largest single marketing investment the company will make in the US market next year. The 60-second ad features singer Usher as a high-styled man about town with swimsuit super model Kate Upton as the object of his desire."If you're going to step into the Super Bowl, you've got to step up your game," Cannon said.
Cannon declined to reveal the amount of the company's 2013 ad budget. Mercedes spent more than $516 million on US advertising in 2011 and that was up 1.6 per cent through the first half of 2012, according to ad-tracking firm Kantar Media. Mercedes already had ties to New Orleans through businessman Tom Benson, who owns a local Mercedes dealership and also owns the New Orleans Saints football team. Benson helped attract charitable contributions from the automaker after Hurricane Katrina struck the city in 2005. He later worked with Mercedes on a deal to buy naming rights to the Louisiana Superdome.
Mercedes stamped its name on the football stadium in October 2011 after signing a 10-year deal for an undisclosed price that some reports placed above $100 million. Cannon, who said he "quarterbacked" the decision to buy the naming rights, was at that point already deep into a long-term strategy for dealing with the aging population of Mercedes car buyers. Mercedes last year held just over 17 per cent of the US luxury car market that encompasses nearly two dozen makes, according to industry research firm LMC Automotive. This year, it leads the segment with 245,910 sales through November.
Cannon said that while Mercedes customers are loyal to the brand and buy increasingly expensive models over time, indicators are that fewer entry-level buyers will be waiting in the wings in coming years.
Super Bowl 2013
will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in NewOrleans on Feb 3,2013.The advertisement will unveil the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA, a sporty compact sedan due to go on sale next fall priced from around $30,000.
"The 2014 CLA will be aimed at buyers in their 30s who can step up to higher-end Mercedes models as they grow older and more affluent", said Stephen Cannon, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, in an interview.
The four-door CLA, which is due to make its public debut in March at the Geneva auto show, features a sloping coupe-like roof line similar to that on the larger, more expensive CLS. A preview of the CLA, called Concept Style Coupe, was staged last April at the Beijing Auto Show.
"This isn't going to be a kid's vehicle," Cannon said. The CLA will be priced "significantly below the C-class," which is Mercedes' current entry point. The CLA does not target a first-time car buyer, "but it's going to lower the entry age," he said, from the current 52 years.
General Motors Co's Cadillac brand earlier this year introduced the 2013 ATS compact sedan that starts at about $34,000, and Ford Motor Co will show a concept version of the 2014 Lincoln MKC compact crossover at the Detroit auto show in January.
Cannon said the Super Bowl commercial and a promotional campaign built around it represent the largest single marketing investment the company will make in the US market next year. The 60-second ad features singer Usher as a high-styled man about town with swimsuit super model Kate Upton as the object of his desire."If you're going to step into the Super Bowl, you've got to step up your game," Cannon said.
Cannon declined to reveal the amount of the company's 2013 ad budget. Mercedes spent more than $516 million on US advertising in 2011 and that was up 1.6 per cent through the first half of 2012, according to ad-tracking firm Kantar Media. Mercedes already had ties to New Orleans through businessman Tom Benson, who owns a local Mercedes dealership and also owns the New Orleans Saints football team. Benson helped attract charitable contributions from the automaker after Hurricane Katrina struck the city in 2005. He later worked with Mercedes on a deal to buy naming rights to the Louisiana Superdome.
Mercedes stamped its name on the football stadium in October 2011 after signing a 10-year deal for an undisclosed price that some reports placed above $100 million. Cannon, who said he "quarterbacked" the decision to buy the naming rights, was at that point already deep into a long-term strategy for dealing with the aging population of Mercedes car buyers. Mercedes last year held just over 17 per cent of the US luxury car market that encompasses nearly two dozen makes, according to industry research firm LMC Automotive. This year, it leads the segment with 245,910 sales through November.
Cannon said that while Mercedes customers are loyal to the brand and buy increasingly expensive models over time, indicators are that fewer entry-level buyers will be waiting in the wings in coming years.
