Did Chrysler's Super Bowl Spot Do Well for Detroit?

Did Chrysler's Super Bowl ad do well for the city of Detroit? On the surface, it seems like it did. But I wonder whether the message of the spot is aligned appropriately with Detroit's rebuilding effort.




I love Detroit. I spent almost 12-years in Metro-Detroit. I represent a minority of people that actually think the city is pretty great. For me, it was the first major city I had lived in. It was the first time I was settled in a city that had professional sports, good theater options, diverse cultures, top-notch music concerts, terrific festivals, etc. Having grown up in Columbus - which has evolved to become quite a phenomenal city in-and-of itself - we just didn't have the kinds of options that bigger cities had. Of-course, that's all changed for Columbus, but during the 70s and 80s, Columbus was a small town trying to find its niche.


While Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" spot grabbed at the emotional strings within me and millions of others, from what I know about Detroit and how it's dealing with today's economic turmoil, I believe the spot was mis-aligned with the message that the city is trying to project. Sure, the filming was great, and it shined a positive light on a city that has been more-often-than-not exposed as a city of blight. But I wonder whether people noticed the lack of consistency between what Chrysler expressed in its spot, and what the goals of the city are.


Detroit doesn't want to be the Motor City. It wants the automobile to be a part of its personality, but it doesn't want to be defined as the Motor City anymore. As the spot begins, the city has been "through hell and back", and that's largely due to its reliance on the automotive industry. Today, Detroit is trying to position itself as something else - the alternative energy capital of America, a creative hotbed, Midwest's cultural center, Hockeytown...the list goes on.


So while Chrysler should be appreciated for its positive depiction of the city, I argue that the company didn't do its homework in aligning it's business goals - to sell cars - with the community's goals - to shed its legacy of being the automotive manufacturing center.


Did Chrysler sit down with the city's economic development staff to understand their vision for the city? Did it meet with the city's chamber of commerce? Did they sit down with the Dan Gilberts and Peter Karmanoses of Detroit to talk about why they felt it was so important to relocate their companies' headquarters in the heart of the city? Did they meet with the ex-automotive suppliers who have now transformed their businesses to make parts for wind turbines instead of cars?


I don't know the answer to this, of-course, but my guess would be "no". Had they done their due diligence, they may have created a spot that was less about manufacturing (check out the shots of workers on the assembly lines) and more about how the the city is striving to be relevant in the 21st Century. The city is looking forward - beyond its automotive legacy. Chrysler would have done well for itself, and the city, had it aligned its message with the goals of the community. Chrysler should certainly position itself as a part of the solution for a town that needs one. It just needs to recognize the goals of the town, and determine how Chrysler fits in with these goals before producing a beautiful commercial.