[Salizar]

The Maserati Ghibli's Super Bowl ad is entitled Strike, and it is a good one. While Jaguar was boasting about their first Super Bowl ad buy, Maserati bought the spot and didn't tell anyone. They just waited to "strike". The one thing this ad doesn't tell you is the price.

Its a little bit of a strange commercial since its really an Italian car through and through.

What do you guys think?

 

[Nova]

I don't really like it.

People who are buying the Ghibli, even if is the least expensive Maserati, are successful people. These are not the meek and conservative people "waiting in the shadows for their chance to strike". I just don't identify with that mentality.

Think about it. The Ghibli is not going to be a likely candidate as the first luxury car that someone buys. Most of its buyers are people who have already owned a few luxury cars and are bored with the safe selections from the German brands. These people have been successful for a while now and have not been holding anything back.

So then the ad is about Maserati, rather than identifying with its intended customer base. I think at best this results in a "so what" reaction. At worse, potential buyers don't want to be seen as the underdog just now getting ready for the big times.

 

[JamesMay]

I took the ad as Maserati waiting in the shadows for its chance to strike (against the giants of BMW, Merc, Audi).

 

[Nova]

I took the ad as Maserati waiting in the shadows for its chance to strike (against the giants of BMW, Merc, Audi).

Sure, so it's an ad about Maserati's struggle against the established German brands, which is kind of pointless in terms of marketing if this same sense of struggle isn't shared by the customer. The purpose of an ad is to convince buyers that the product is a good match for their wants/needs. This ad is essentially a glorified internal work force motivational video. It does not help attract new customers. It's the approach, really. No one successful likes to think of themselves as small, weak or hiding in the shadows. A more positive set of attributes such as "daring", "different", "exciting" would have been a lot more effective.

 

[JamesMay]

A more positive set of attributes such as "daring", "different", "exciting" would have been a lot more effective.

I agree. Did you see Jaguar's ad? That was a lot better.

 

[rsm]

Same here. As Nova points out I'm sure the ad had a positive effect on all the Fiat/Maserati execs all the way down to the line worker. But as far as helping Maserati's bottom line? No.

In any case Maserati seems to be selling Ghiblis at a reasonable pace, probably near capacity. So why the ad? My guess is they pulled the trigger on this ad a long time ago, before they sold a single Ghibli.