Two decades or thereabout since it left the U.S. market with the tail between its legs, Alfa Romeo returned to North America with the 4C in 2014. Three years since, the Italian brand is increasingly serious about its presence in this part of the globe.
Case in point: Super Bowl LI. Nevermind the Patriots defeated the Falcons, 32 - 28, in the first big game to go into an overtime period. Alfa Romeo aired not one, not two, but three ads during this year’s game. The three commercials (Riding Dragons, Dear Predictable, and Mozzafiato) total 120 seconds, which works out to at least $20 million in airing costs alone. Was it worth it for Alfa Romeo, though? Let’s find out by looking over those ads with a critical eye.
“Riding Dragons” is wrong from the get-go, as the name implies. According to Urban Dictionary’s infinite wisdom, riding the dragon is defined as, “to achieve a drug induced high through the use of heroin, usually for the first time.” Now picture this: a 10-year-old kid asking his mom or daddy what riding the dragon is all about.
The strength of “Dear Predictable,” the second ad in this series of three, features a monolog about escaping from monotony. The narrative abruptly switches to the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, which is a fabulous driving machine that certainly is different from the super four-door sedans from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-AMG.
“Mozzafiato” is Italian for breathtaking and, for what it’s worth, this ad embodies everything that’s wrong with Alfa Romeo in the 21st century. Just cut the Italian jibber-jabber and come with a better argument for choosing the Giulia over other sedans in the same segment. The second misstep of this commercial can be identified at the 13-second mark, where a pair of legs are struggling to get themselves out of the Giulia’s rear passenger compartment.
On an ending note, think for a second what $20 million means in this context: Alfa Romeo managed to sell only 529 vehicles in the United States in 2016. Suppose the Italian automaker hits the 600 mark in 2017, now get out your calculators. The cold truth is that this works out at $33,333 per car, which is in no way sustainable in the long run.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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