Ad Spotlight: Chevrolet

Now airing during the Olympics.

Ad Spotlight: Chevy Volt

This Pride ad from Chevrolet is going viral. Really nice work. 

The Top Vehicles LGBT People Buy

Read more here. 

General Motors: It Gets Better

Lesbian-Themed Car TV Ad Banned in Italy

This car TV ad depicting what appears to be two lesbians meeting at a party has been banned in Italy. Italian TV chiefs are refusing to broadcast the 30-second advertisement made by Publicis for the new Renault Twingo, The Daily Mail reports. But perhaps even more surprisingly, some Italian gay groups have slammed the advertisement, saying it is offensive to lesbians. 

Publicis spokesperson Daniele Tranchini said the commercial was meant to be enjoyable but not vulgar: "We wanted to create an advert that was original, enjoyable and at the same time not vulgar and I believe we have achieved that," she said. 

I have to agree with her–I can't find anything offensive about it, and it certainly does a nice job of breaking through a cluttered category by captivating viewers attention through an engaging story. I wish US car advertising was this good. 

New LGBT automotive site launches

Gaywheels.com is the first automotive web site in the United States specifically targeted to the LGBT market. The site provides an LGBT-friendly way to research and buy a car or truck and related services. Users of the site will be able to investigate which automakers and other automotive companies offer domestic partner benefits to their employees, thus qualifying them as "gay-friendly." With that information at hand, they can make an educated choice when beginning the car-buying process.

"Approximately 71 percent of GLBT consumers have said that they want to spend their money with companies that have progressive policies toward their GLBT employees, but don't want to spend a lot of time tracking down the information to help make that choice," said Gaywheels.com founder Joe LaMuraglia. "We gather the information on their behalf, and make it available to them at no charge."

Gaywheels.com is launching publicly with a stint at this year’s L.A. Gay Pride Parade, where it is being sponsored by Scion, a Toyota brand which continues its support of GLBT marketing.

Once the Gaywheels.com site user finds the "gay-friendly factor" for a brand, he or she can send in a lead to a dealer, get a free online insurance quote and apply for a loan - all with business partners that are gay-friendly.

"It is our corporate policy to only work with progressive companies," says LaMuraglia. "We won't partner with or accept advertising from any company that doesn't offer domestic partner benefits for their GLBT employees."

The Human Rights Campaign’s 2010 Corporate Equality Index also rates leading automakers on their LGBT policies. Most earned a perfect 100 including Chrysler, Ford, G.M., Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen. Stay away from Nissan (who also makes Infiniti), as it only scored a lousy 50. 

Hyundai Goes Gay in Canada

This ad ran during the Olympics, but only to Canadian audiences. It’s part of a series of lifestyle scenarios called Smart is in, created by agency Bensimon Byrne.

Subaru's Turbocharged Sales Secret

(CNN Money)

by Peter Valdes-Dapena

Subaru, the car brand of choice for quirky, all-wheel-drive loving Northeasterners and trendy turbo freaks, is on something of a tear. Considering Subaru's record breaking sales at a time when others are struggling to unload cars, the number four Japanese brand in America is doing downright great. Most of the credit goes to recent upgrades made to three of Subaru's five model lines. Those upgrades reflect a renewed focus on America.

Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries of Japan, has mandated a tight focus on the needs of its single most important market, the United States. Executives in Japan instructed Subaru of America to pass along more customer feedback so Subaru designers and engineers could better hone in on what Americans want.

"When your chairman in Japan tells you to listen, you listen," said Subaru spokesman Michael McHale.

Subaru's Kabuki dance: But while they're changing their products to better suit the mainstream market, Subaru executives know they can't turn their backs on the customers who got them here, the ones who expect Subaru to be different. The result is a balancing act. The products can go more mainstream, but shouldn't give up its left-of-center identity.

Besides winning its second Motor Trend SUV of the Year in a row and five Insurance Institute Top Safety Picks -- it won a corporate responsibility award from GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, an award that recognized Subaru's role as the first automaker in America to run ad campaigns specifically targeting gays. (Tagline: "It's not a choice, it's the way we're built.") Plus, Subaru's fall sales promotion involved, not rebates to customers or an offer to take the car back if you change your mind, but a donation to charity with each car purchased.

"We're a good company," said Subaru chief operating officer Tom Doll.

Product shift: While big surprises are coming from Subaru thanks to a new partnership with Toyota, for now, the main step of broadening its product appeal is a fairly simple one. Subarus are growing. The Legacy mid-sized sedan and the Outback, the technically a SUV station wagon, are both a little larger than the versions they replace.

"The new Outback has 8 more cubic feet of passenger space in the rear seat, which was always a bit of a customer complaint," said Doll.

Up-sizing may seem an odd strategy in a market where all the buzz is around small cars. But Subaru is listening to the reality, not the buzz, said Jake Fisher, senior automotive engineer for Consumer Reports, which has given high marks to the recent Subaru models.

"Everyone is saying 'smaller, smaller, smaller," he said, "But no one's buying smaller, smaller, smaller."

The Forester crossover SUV also gained interior space in a redesign that launched last year. When it comes to performance, the newer Subarus are powerful but feel more languid and less responsive than earlier versions, said Fisher.

"When I first drove the new Legacy, I kind of missed the old one," said Fisher, "but I think a lot more people are going to like the new one."

The new Legacy now has a simpler, more elegant appearance, although it still retains a few of the extraneous bulges Subaru is known for. The new Forester has curving body lines and more a traditional crossover SUV look in place of the straight-edged, shoe box on its side look of its predecessor. Next up for a makeover will be the Tribeca -- Subaru's big three-row crossover --said Jeff Schuster, an analyst with J.D. Power and Associates. Subaru has shown it's listening to customer demands, Schuster said. The new Tribeca will be a test of whether Subaru can keep it going. As for those upcoming surprises, Toyota Motor Co. (TM) now owns 16.5% of Subaru and two carmakers are working jointly on some new products.

A sports car, which might be Subaru's first two-wheel-drive car since the 1990s, is expected in 2011. Subaru is also working on a new hybrid car using Toyota technology, which would Subaru's first hybrid. The brand stretching won't go too far, though, Doll promises.

"We're still the smart boy in the class," he said

Why didn't anyone think of this here?

With fuel prices at an all-time high and an emerging financial crisis, Suzuki wanted to get people to understand how much money they could save on fuel if they replaced their old car with a more fuel-efficient Suzuki. To demonstrate how cheap it is to drive one of its cars, Suzuki transformed a regular fuel station into a branded Suzuki gas station, where fuel was sold at a 30% discount, which is how much longer these Suzuki models drive per liter compared with the average car in Denmark. Suzuki's market share increased by 27% between August and the end of September 2008.

Mercedes goes gay with valley girl headlines

Wouldn't you agree?