General Motors takes Cadillac F1 debut to Super Bowl
General Motors is hoping to turn a fourth-quarter Super Bowl commercial into the equivalent of a moon launch for the automaker’s debut in Formula 1 racing.
A 30-second ad offers a first look at the paint scheme, or vehicle body, that sits at the center of Cadillac Formula 1’s new car entry. But it also gives the unveiling a sense of history, drawing on President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1962 speech about sending a spacecraft to the moon: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Viewers will also hear actual dialogue between Mission Control and astronauts from the Apollo mission.
“We want to plant the flag that we are America’s new home team,” said Cadillac F1 Chief Marketing Officer Ahmed Iqbal during a recent interview. The spot aims to provide “a value proposition that you can offer to the fan, whether you’ve been a die-hard F1 fan for 70 years, or whether you’re a brand new fan who’s just seen the F1 film and you’re still trying to figure out whether you like it or not,” he says. “You will join us on a journey and discover exactly what it takes to build a team.”
Backed by General Motors and TWG Motorsports, Cadillac Formula 1 is the first new team to enter the sport since 2016. The F1 spot was created with Translation, the independent marketing agency led by entrepreneur Steven Stoute.
Executives believe the spot will stand out from the pack, even in a fourth quarter that, if it follows recent Super Bowl dynamics, could feature a down-to-earth matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Viewers “can identify with ambition, can identify with taking on a challenge and doing it without any promise of success,” says Mina Mikhael, an executive creative director at Translation. The Super Bowl offers “a lot of cool celebrity spots, a lot of fun spots, a lot of genuine spots. That’s what sets you apart.”
The ad shows the new Cadillac Formula 1 vehicle being formed from parts, each seen individually above a desert landscape. The spot was indeed filmed in Death Valley National Park and “we hung car parts on wires” and used special effects to show how the paint scheme was assembled, says Steve Horn, an executive creative director at Translation. Such a scene was crucial, he says, “especially when the hero of our place is the machine.”
GM worked to build anticipation for the commercial over the weekend, with an exhibit in Times Square. The new car was hidden in a glass box with frosted windows that allowed passersby to see the silhouette of the mechanics who spent the weekend putting the car together.
But the ad will serve as the real test of interest in Cadillac’s new issue. GM will no doubt be watching to see who decides to cheer on the new Formula 1 team as it revs the promotional engines.
