Cadillac

[Scotty]

With air of cool, Cadillac becomes one hot product

Mon Mar 21, 6:45 AM ET

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

Cadillac is cool again.

The joke used to be that Cadillac's owners ranged in age from "65 to dead." But the Escalade luxury sport-utility vehicle is making General Motors' luxury nameplate a brand of choice for youthful Hollywood celebrities, jocks and rappers.

Shaquille O'Neal, Calista Flockhart and Adam Sandler own Escalades - nicknamed "The Slade" in the hip-hop world. Rapper Snoop Dogg has talked about launching his own line of $80,000 "Snoop DeVilles," featuring mink-covered seats, TV sets and DVD players. Jennifer Lopez doesn't sing about Lexus in Love Don't Cost a Thing- her new lover rolls up in an Escalade.

The buzz around Cadillac shows how a hot product, smart marketing and a dash of luck can give an old-school brand new life with a new generation.

Decades before Lexus or Acura, Cadillac was the gold standard for American presidents, movie stars and titans of industry. But the 102-year-old brand fell on hard times in the 1980s and 1990s. The rollout of the Escalade three years ago enabled it to make a stylish splash in the world of $50,000-plus luxury SUVs.

Ads by Chemistri in Troy, Mich., use Led Zeppelin to give a rock 'n' roll edge to the brand. But it was the unexpected embrace of Cadillac by pop culture icons that gave it the kind of buzz money can't buy.

"They have done a great job muscling up their cars - and giving them a harder edge," says Tom Julian, trends analyst for Fallon Worldwide. "When I'm in Los Angeles, I see the young sexy women, the athletes and the yuppie power agents all getting out of their Escalades."

But what pop culture gives, it can also take away. Cadillac's worst mistake would be to clumsily exploit its newfound chic with the beautiful people, Julian warns.

Auto ads typically score below average with consumers in Ad Track, USA TODAY's weekly poll. Of those familiar with the ads, 17% like them "a lot," vs. the Ad Track survey average of 21%. And 17% "dislike" the ads, above the survey average of 13%.

But a deeper dive turns up better numbers for Cadillac. The ads score best in likability, at 24%, with consumers in the income bracket of $75,000-plus. And 31% of 18-24 year olds and 25% of 30-39 year olds like the ads "a lot."

That's good news for Cadillac's effort to attract younger affluent buyers, says Jay Spenchian, chief marketing officer. The luxury brand traditionally targets consumers ages 35 to 55, with a household income of $125,000 or more. Since 2000, the average buyer's age has dropped from 64 to 57.

"Younger consumers see the brand as it is today. They don't carry the baggage of the 1970s and 1980s," Spenchian says.

As they say in Detroit, Caddy is "moving the iron." Sales rose 8% to 234,217 in 2004, its third growth year in a row. It's sold 30,494 in 2005 through February.

Is Cadillac's new rep as a king of bling-bling turning off longtime customers? Spenchian says he hears the opposite from owners. "They want us to be contemporary, they want us to lead the pack."

Cadillac is being careful with movie placements - including supporting roles in The Matrix Reloaded and John Travolta's Be Cool- so as not to overexpose itself. Notes Spenchian: "Cool just kind of happens. The best thing you can do is just try to ride the wave. As soon as you try to be cool, it goes away."

[stsjoe]

Snoop Deville, well it does sound catchy!

[Regis]

Cadillac has always been cool. It just takes some people longer to realize that. Nice to see articles like that Scotty.

[ted tcb]

Articles like this are terrible for us, the converted.

If Caddy's become flavour of the month again, then the depreciated

values may slow down. Rats!

But seriously, its nice to see the general populace appreciating

the amazing technological advances and overall value built into

each Cadillac .... might this bring up the resale value of used

Cimmaron's?

[cadillacjeff7777]

I would just like to say that I still love the old school Caddys. I am 26 so I guess that I don't meet the age fitting the cad slur...but I have always loved the BIG, MONSTOROUS, cadillacs!

[Scotty]

Here is my monstrous 74 Eldorado in 1988!

[ted tcb]

Scotty, wish you'd kept the Eldorado?

Was it a decent car, nice to drive?

[Scotty]

Yes and No. It was a specticle and attracted way too much attention with the top down. Terrific PARADE car! I can remember driving on the New Jersey Turnpike with the top down turning heads, it was a very bright color also. It sucked gas, and that was even after I pulled the heads and had them redone, rebuilt the carb and eliminated the EGR (we did that back then). I did a lot of work to that car and actually drove it to Florida with my 2 year old son..and had to replace a hub bearing when I got there! I had a shimmy that I could not get rid of and suspect it was the wheels. Everything was big. When I would jack up the front end the space at the door would close The front end was unusual as it had torsion bars and I was not familiar with them. I actually gave it away to a friend of mine who always loved it and he did a lot of work to it. The 74 was too much like an ocean liner. One of my most proud moments with the 74 was when I parallel parked that air craft carrier in chinatown on a narrow street on one try, the hardest thing was avoiding the car ACROSS THE STREET!

The car I wish I had was my 68 chocolate brown coupe deville convertible, now that was an outstanding car, I loved its look with the vertical headlights and rear lights.

[ted tcb]

Mike, here's my dinosaur .... its a 71 Cutlass Supreme, restored in 95 with low miles, 350 rocket power ..... hope it posts.

[ted tcb]

Here's my red 95 STS ..... my 97 pearl white is nicer in every way mechanically, but I sure like the red paint, deep tint, and chrome rims with the fairly rare black interior.

[Scotty]

Mike, here's my dinosaur .... its a 71 Cutlass Supreme, restored in 95 with low miles, 350 rocket power ..... hope it posts.

Ah a convertible, I love them! Great color.... Rocket V8, they were great engines! Very nice!

[ted tcb]

Here's the white twin to the 95 red STS .... gas is nearing a buck a litre, I gotta get me an Echo for a spare.

[Bob D]

Rapper Snoop Dogg has talked about launching his own line of $80,000 "Snoop DeVilles," featuring mink-covered seats, TV sets and DVD players.

Oh yeah buddy,....a "Snoop Deville"..that'd go over real well up here in the cattle country...

[ted tcb]

Scotty, maybe Cadillac wasn't so cool from the eighties and onward, but nothing was more cool than Caddy's and R&R from, say, 1956 through to the sixties.

Check out this link re Cadillac and celebrities.

http://members.tripod.com/~cool59/elvis.htm

[ted tcb]

Here's another link along the same lines ... http://members.tripod.com/~cool59/elvis2.htm