Plymouth Runs Deep.

By: Rick Stanton, Creative Director / President, Stanton & Everybody Advertising + Design

In reading Lisa Dahlby’s recent blog about the failure of the new Chevy ad campaign, I was struck on 9/11 by one of the TV ads from that effort. Watching football Sunday and all the suffocating tribute ads that abounded, a Chevy ad came on that to me, said what was really important to remember about the date: family. Maybe it was because my wife was on an airplane headed for New York and I was worried sick, or maybe it was because earlier I was looking at family pictures but the spot linked below really hit me. It is story telling at it’s best. Simple, with a clear message that in our disposable lifestyles of today, there is value in heritage. There’s integrity in things that sometimes can’t be explained, but are just felt. I talk to clients a lot about creating emotional bridges to understanding. Maybe the Chevy runs deep campaign isn’t working because the only people who get it are my age. Maybe it’s because their cars are poorly designed pieces of plastic. But when it comes to this ad, if you’ve ever inherited an old Chevy, or an old Ford or in my case a 1957 Plymouth with “three on the tree”, there came a time when you realized that car wasn’t just a car. It’s a connection to something more important. That's why this ad stood out. It captures something so lost in so many advertising efforts. The truth told well.