Cadillac plans ad blitzes for XTS, ATS
 | Cadillac marketing boss Don Butler: “We find sports properties work really well for us.” |
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NEW YORK -- Cadillac will kick off an advertising campaign for the new XTS sedan with commercials during TV coverage of the Kentucky Derby on May 5. The commercials mark the start of a marketing surge as General Motors' luxury brand prepares to introduce two new models.
Commercials featuring the XTS large sedan, which will arrive in showrooms by early June, will be followed by more spots during the U.S. Open golf tournament that month, Don Butler, Cadillac vice president of marketing, said at the auto show here last week.
A bigger media blitz is planned for the ATS compact sedan, which GM plans to roll out by late summer. Those commercials will debut during the Summer Olympics, which start in late July.
"We find sports properties work really well for us," Butler said.
Cadillac will spend about 80 percent of its U.S. advertising budget on the two new cars, Butler said.
The ATS will get a bigger share of those dollars because Cadillac needs to make a name for itself in the compact luxury market, long dominated by German stalwarts such as the BMW 3 series.
"The ATS will be our highest-volume vehicle, which should really become the face of the franchise and bring in that new buyer who hasn't necessarily come into our showrooms before," Butler said. "So we'll be spending more on that."
Commercials for the ATS will show the car in high-profile settings around the world. Butler said the spots won't directly reference BMW's car, as a spot that ran during the Super Bowl did.
You can reach Mike Colias at mcolias@crain.com.
