GM appears to be paving the way for the US to challenge Norway’s lead in electric vehicle adoption with a new Super Bowl ad featuring Will Ferrell.
In recent years, several major automakers have used Super Bowl ads to promote their electric vehicles and electrification plans.
Last year, GM used its Super Bowl ad to announce its electric Hummer.
Now GM is revisiting its plans to start promoting electric in its Super Bowl ad, but it seems to be taking a different and funny approach.
The carmaker hasn’t revealed the ad yet, but it has released a series of teasers that mainly only Will Ferrell hate about Norway:
GM also released a brief statement regarding the upcoming ad debuting on Sunday:
Why is actor and EV enthusiast Will Ferrell so obsessed with Norway, with all the Olafs, skiing, and sweater weather all year round? The answer to the question posed in these big game teasers is coming soon, but it has something to do with Ferrell – and General Motors – wanting Everybody In on electric vehicles. Maybe someone should tell him that GM will have 30 EV models by 2025.
The automaker hasn’t elaborated any further, but we have a theory about what the ad is about.
Electrek’s Take
It looks like GM is going to be pulling on Americans’ patriotic chords, which isn’t a bad idea for a Super Bowl ad, and is using Ferrell to jokingly view Norway as the “enemy” in the competition for the race of EV adoption.
If that’s the idea, I really like it.
It is clearly a race with a demonstrably insurmountable lead for Norway.
In Norway, more than 60% of new passenger car sales are already electric – about 20 times more market share than in the US.
But if you want to achieve higher EV adoption, you need to aim for the best and Norway is the best.
Even if the ad campaign only mentions the Norwegian EV adoption rate, that’s a big win as I don’t think most people know about that or think that’s even a possibility at this point.
It would reinforce the idea that electric vehicles are the future.
If GM can get the US’s competitive juices flowing on electric vehicles, it could also be very exciting because while Norway has a huge lead, they don’t produce electric vehicles. The US is doing that and GM plans to be a part of it.
I don’t know about campaign execution, that’s often what’s missing from ads, but so far I think it’s a good idea. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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