In Chrysler’s now-famous 2012 Super Bowl ad, Clint Eastwood says, “It’s halftime, America, and our second half is about to begin.” According to the latest sales numbers, Chrysler is taking that to heart and winning big in its “second half.”
Comparing May 2011 to May 2012, Chrysler had a 30 percent sales jump, leading to the best sales numbers for Chrysler in five years. In that month alone, Chrysler sold 150,000 models and blew away their domestic and international competition. General Motors had an 11 percent sales increase, and Ford had a 13 percent increase. While Toyota also posted an enormous sales increase of 87 percent, that is expected considering that their production was affected by the earthquake in Japan.
Chrysler should be proud of the sales they have earned so far this year. To see these numbers so early on in the year is fantastic, and the Dodge Dart, their big car of 2012, hasn’t even been released yet. They might have broken their five-year sales record in May, but I don’t think it will be too long before that record is broken again.
2012 is still young, and Chrysler is already speeding past the competition with its first quarterly earnings.
Closing out the month of April, Chrysler announced that it had a net revenue of $16.4 billion in the first quarter, coming out to a net income of $473 million. During that time, they sold 523,000 vehicles and shipped 607,000 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 33 percent and 25 percent respectively from the first quarter of 2011. To put it plainly, Chrysler is continuing to shatter records and surpass industry insiders’ expectations.
It seems that Chrysler is on track to meet or surpass its 2012 net income goal of $1.5 billion, all thanks to a stellar line-up and brilliant marketing from the Clint Eastwood “Halftime in America” Superbowl ad to the unveiling of the new 2013 Ram 1500 and 2013 SRT Viper at the New York International Auto Show. If anyone worries that excitement will cool off as the year goes on, keep in mind that there is still plenty of buzz for the 2013 Dodge Dart which will be available later this year, and Chrysler is expecting that the Dodge Dart will perform very well with young car buyers.
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Over the weekend, Forbes published an article titled “Chrysler Is Proving Right To Ditch ‘Imported From Detroit’” which made the argument that Chrysler’s series of commercials with Clint Eastwood were a misfire. The article was positive about the 2011 Chrysler Super Bowl ad with Eminem which kicked off the “Imported From Detroit” campaign, but writer Dale Buss claims the campaign “jumped the shark” with the 2012 Super Bowl ad.
Here is the original ad and the transcript of Eastwood’s speech.
It’s halftime. Both teams are in the locker room discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half. It’s halftime in America, too. People are out of work and hurting and they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback, and we’re all scared because this isn’t a game. The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything, but we all pulled together. Now Motor City is fighting again. I’ve seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of downturns in my life, times when we didn’t understand each other. It seems that we’ve lost our heart at times. The fog of division, discord, and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one because that’s what we do. We find a way through tough times, and if we can’t find a way, then we make one. All that matters now is what’s ahead. How do we come from behind? How do we come together, and how do we win? Detroit is showing us it can be done, and what’s true about them is true about all of us. This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again, and when we do, the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah, it’s halftime, America, and our second half is about to begin.
According to Buss, the “Halftime in America” ad doesn’t work because Chrysler was not a “credible underdog” since Chrysler sales improved in 2011. Besides that, he claims that “the object of [Eastwood’s] anger wasn’t clear” and pointed to 30 Rock‘s recent spoof of the ad as proof that the campaign was laughably bad.
Here is why Buss is wrong.
2011 was a great year for Chrysler. No one is denying that. Everyone at Chrysler is thrilled, but they know that their work is not done. The point of “Halftime in America” is not to paint Chrysler as the perpetual underdog. To continue the sports analogy, Chrysler is not an automotive Charlie Brown trying to kick a football that keeps getting pulled away at the last minute. They scored touchdown after touchdown in 2011, but in 2012, they are going to face new challenges. Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal highlighted the Japanese auto industry’s recovery from last year’s natural disasters and predicted that this year is going to be highly competitive between U.S., German, South Korean, and Japanese auto makers.
“Halftime in America” is an ad with a two main messages. First, the ad was meant to inspire Americans who are still struggling. Eastwood speech was meant for people who are out of work and can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. Americans can look at the comeback that Chrysler made in 2011 and be inspired by that. Some people wrongly interpreted this part of the ad as Chrysler and Eastwood endorsing President Obama. I’m still baffled as to where people got this idea, but for the record, Eastwood is very openly conservative and claims the only time he voted Democrat was for Gray Davis in the California governor race. He didn’t see the ad as politically motivated but as a “message about job growth and the spirit of America.”
Secondly, the ad sends the message that Chrysler isn’t getting lazy or complacent just because they had a good year. As Eastwood says in the ad, “Motor City is fighting again.” The game isn’t over; it’s just begun. Eastwood’s monologue is meant to be fighting words, but they aren’t out of anger at Chrysler’s competitors. Instead, they are meant to convey a message to Chrysler’s loyal customers, saying, “We are back, and we aren’t going anywhere.”
It is too bad that Buss has such a jaded view towards “Halftime in America” and towards Chrysler. His whole attitude can be summed up in this assessment of Chrysler: “…a hoary automotive brand from Flyover Country.” People like Buss will scoff at Chrysler as cars from Flyover Country, and in the same breath, they will say Chrysler is “no longer a credible underdog.”
This is exactly why Chrysler keeps working and fighting. The second half has begun. Chrysler sees the challenges ahead, and to the people like Buss who remain unconvinced, Chrysler is ready to prove them wrong.
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In Chrysler’s now-famous 2012 Super Bowl ad, Clint Eastwood says, “It’s halftime, America, and our second half is about to begin.” According to the latest sales numbers, Chrysler is taking that to heart and winning big in its “second half.”
