Cadillac to Launch New "Work Hard, Be Lucky" Advertising Campaign

The Cadillac brand has long been billed as “The Standard of the World” but with that elite status comes the idea to many that the Cadillac vehicles are simply too expensive for some consumers. I have personally met Cadillac owners who didn’t consider General Motors’ luxury branch when shopping for their new car because they thought that nothing would be in their price range but when they finally did stop in to their local Caddy dealership – they found that they were able to put a new GM luxury sedan or SUV in their garage. That misconception is likely one of the reasons why Cadillac’s new advertising firm Rogue is leaning away from “The Standard of the World” in favor of the marketing theme “Work Hard, Be Lucky”.

The goal of this new Cadillac advertising theme is to push the fact that you don’t need to be rich to buy a new Cadillac – you just need to work hard and have Lady Luck smile upon you from time to time. Rogue is essentially playing on the American Dream that with enough hard work and determination, anyone can own a car that has previously been known as The Standard of the World. This could prove to be a risky move as it may drive away those buyers who prefer to buy a car from a brand that paints itself as being strictly for elitists but with the Cadillac lineup looking so strong right now, those deep pocketed buyers should be attracted by the quality of vehicles alone. It is those prospective buyers who do not think that they can afford a new Cadillac that General Motors wants to pull into dealerships and an ad campaign portraying the brand as more of an affordable car for the hard working man or woman may have the desired impact.

AdAge, who initially reported the “Work Hard, Be Lucky” advertising theme for Cadillac, didn’t offer any idea as to what we can expect from the new campaign but we could see a departure from the recent norm in terms of the types of commercials and the types of people in those commercials. Current and recent Cadillac advertisements on TV have typically shown super sexy women and men who are obviously incredibly wealthy. While this approach may inspire some consumers to want to reach that type of social status, it may also alienate possible buyers. This new campaign is more likely to show “normal people” enjoying the super hot new Cadillac lineup including the new CTS, the ATS, the XTS and the upcoming ELR electric coupe. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still some sexy women but these new Work Hard, Be Lucky ads are far less likely to portray the Cadillac brand as one for hardcore, super wealthy elitists – instead focusing on the middle management types who are more likely to be persuaded into buying a new Caddy after believing that they are out of his or her price range.

On paper “Work Hard, Be Lucky” certainly doesn’t have the ring that some other successful marketing campaigns have had and without having seen any new examples of the Cadillac advertising theme in action, this new slogan seems to rank up there (or down there) with “Chevy Runs Deep”. With this being the first big test for the new advertising firm Rogue, it is fairly important that General Motors sees the results that they expect from this campaign. Luckily for Rogue and this campaign is the fact that the current and upcoming Cadillac brand is jam packed with great cars that should sell themselves to a great many consumers – Rogue just needs to draw in those prospective buyers who are on the fence about whether or not a new Cadillac is for them.
The initial examples of the new Cadillac “Work Hard, Be Lucky” marketing campaign is expected to begin hitting the airwaves in the next few weeks but the full scale onslaught of this new approach should hit sometime in November.

Source: AdAge