From Hummer to Hyundai, plenty of Super Bowl metal

The Super Bowl wasn't light on metal this year.

After a relatively dull showing in 2019, automakers returned to the field with a slate of key products to pitch that broke new ground for several companies — including spots from brands that were either new to the Super Bowl stage or haven't been there often.

For the 2020 broadcast, eight auto brands ran spots, compared with five last year.

Porsche came back to the game's roster of advertisers after 23 years to showcase its first battery-electric car, the Taycan, hoping to connect the EV with the brand's performance heritage. Audi, a Super Bowl staple, continued its electric evolution by pushing the e-tron Sportback crossover.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, with its legacy of using iconic celebrities in its Super Bowl ads, this year turned to Bill Murray in a re-creation of the movie Groundhog Day, as the game this year took place on Groundhog Day. Film crews were shooting the ad in recent weeks near Chicago in Woodstock, Ill., where the original film was shot.

Genesis advertised during the Super Bowl for the first time to spotlight the upcoming GV80 crossover, a critical product for a fledgling luxury brand that has been getting by with a lineup of sedans.

Kia introduced the world to another new crossover this year in the Seltos, following last year's spot for the three-row Telluride. Korean affiliate Hyundai highlighted the new Sonata's smart parking feature with a celebrity-filled cast that included actor Chris Evans and retired Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz.

Super Bowl viewers also saw the resurrection of the Hummer — this time as a nameplate — under the GMC brand, with an assist from NBA star LeBron James.

Fox is charged $5.6 million for 30 seconds of ad time during the game, according to Ad Age, an affiliate of Automotive News.

The 2019 Super Bowl telecast of the game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams attracted 98.2 million viewers, the smallest audience since the 2008 contest between the Patriots and the New York Giants.

Audi touted the all-new e-tron Sportback this year. The 60-second ad stars "Game of Thrones" actress and environmental activist Maisie Williams, who gets behind the wheel of the Sportback and sings "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.

In the spot, Audi says she "finds herself stuck at an intersection, which represents a crossroads of today's preconceptions and old notions of consumption, success and status. Williams chooses to reverse course and leave it all behind, breaking into the familiar lyrics of 'Let It Go' as she drives towards a more sustainable future."

Audi said it plans to introduce about 30 electrified vehicles globally by 2025, "and that is only the starting point of a reinvention that will touch many brand-relevant topics that go beyond the car itself."

Genesis' quest to establish itself as a true luxury competitor has been hampered by its nonexistent crossover portfolio. But reinforcements are on the way as the brand prepares to release its first utility vehicle, the svelte GV80. Genesis hawked its "Young Luxury" slogan with the help of a celebrity couple in its 60-second spot: singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen.

Bob Rayburn, executive creative director for Hyundai's Innocean ad agency, summed up the goal of the new marketing strategy this way: "We were kind of going after old luxury, and old luxury has always kept people on the other side of the velvet ropes. They're about exclusivity, but that means excluding people. And one of the great things about John and Chrissy is they keep it real, they tell it like it is, and they let us all feel like we're kind of in on the joke."

Like James, the GMC Hummer EV has an impressive stat sheet. The powerful yet quiet vehicle will generate 1,000 hp and 11,500 pound-feet of torque. The spot, the brand says, "juxtaposes the staggering anticipated performance metrics of GMC's first all-electric truck with the remarkable quietness inherent in the operation of an electric vehicle."

The 30-second spot aired during the second quarter.

James "lets his work on the court speak for itself," a GMC spokesman told Automotive News. "That was the connection we wanted to explore with Hummer."

Hyundai turned to humor with its spot that stars Boston celebrities Evans, Ortiz, actress Rachel Dratch and actor John Krasinski. The spot makes light of the distinctive Boston accent as Krasinski, driving a Sonata, squeezes into a tight parking spot while Dratch, Evans and Ortiz look on. Krasinski uses the smart park technology, or "Smaht Pahk," as everyone doubts whether the car will fit. "Using the Boston accent as our creative hook was something that quickly became a favorite during the creative development process," Angela Zepeda, chief marketing officer of Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement.

"Remote Smart Parking Assist was difficult to say and remember, but a truncated 'Smaht Pahk' caught on when one of our creatives said it in a Boston accent."

FCA gave the Jeep Gladiator a Super Bowl push in its "Groundhog Day" spot, which was shared publicly Sunday at 6 a.m. ET -- the same time that Murray's alarm clock goes off in the movie. 

“When we learned that Groundhog Day fell on Super Bowl Sunday for the second time in 54 years, we couldn’t help but take that chance," FCA marketing chief Olivier Francois said in a statement. "The stars magically aligned. Bill agreed to ... relive his role as Phil Connors for our Jeep Gladiator. But this time, in our spot, the hero makes a different choice by choosing a different pickup truck – the Jeep Gladiator – and it changes everything for him.” 

The Seltos starred in Kia's 60-second ad alongside Oakland Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, who shares an inspirational story about what he'd tell his younger self about life. For every yard gained during the Super Bowl, Kia said its "Yards Against Homelessness" initiative will donate $1,000 to three charity partners dedicated to ending the issue of youth homelessness.

The Seltos will slot between the boxy Soul and the Sportage.

"We're going to deliver a car that just looks great, has quality, and we're going to price it exactly right and very aggressively to begin with so they don't have to incentivize it very much," James Morrell, chairman of the Kia Dealer Advisory Council, told Automotive News. "And you're going to go after customers that have switched from sedans, probably midsize sedans, but they don't want to go too big."

Porsche took a lighthearted approach to the electric Taycan speedster. The Taycan leads a wild chase scene in the 60-second spot after apparently being stolen. If viewers don’t pay attention to the sound the Taycan makes, they may not know it’s an EV until the end, when the ad closes with this message: “Finally, an electric car that steals you.”

Toyota's 60-second spot by Saatchi & Saatchi was the launching pad for a new campaign for the Highlander crossover.

The automaker made last-minute edits to its ad to remove a scene that could be perceived as insensitive in the wake of Kobe Bryant's death in a helicopter crash last week, Ad Age, a sister publication of Automotive News, reported.