Chemistri Backs Cadillac SRX Intro

NEW YORK Cadillac is launching TV ads for its SRX sports wagon, touting the $38,000 vehicle, which went on sale this month, as a cross between a traditional station wagon and a sports sedan. The effort from Publicis Groupe's Chemistri in Troy, Mich., includes two 30-second spots that will break Sept. 29.

Print ads that have been running for several weeks in auto enthusiast books will expand into consumer lifestyle magazines in November.

Campaign spend was not divulged, but the company spent more than $220 million on ads last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus and TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. Through July of this year, Cadillac spent more than $100 million on measured media.

One new SRX spot opens on a star-strewn sky, with the view often sweeping across the heavens to different perspectives. We ultimately see that the view is through the car's extra-large moon-roof. Another spot shows the car cutting through an alpine landscape in the day, moon-roof open, with the driver and his female companion dangling their hands out the windows. The voiceover is spare: "Spread your wings. The Cadillac SRX: performance utility."

Print focuses on features, such as the car's moon-roof and its traction technology. The print buy will expand to 30 lifestyle and sports titles. Cadillac has also launched a new section on its Web site, cadillac.com, that has an interactive lecture on SRX and the XLR roadster presented by vehicle designers and engineers.

"As we compete with BMW and Lexus, how we design and build vehicles is important," said Bill Waldman, Cadillac marketing manager. "So those ads are about technology and innovation, which we haven't talked about before. We needed to tell that story."