Contextual Analysis Of “Chase”

German car company, Audi, is a perennial competitor with other German cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus. Audi remains to their slogans; truth in engineering, truth in innovation, and truth in luxury. Despite Audi’s competitive nature with other top-brand car companies, they strive to gain the prestige of being the “the world’s best-selling luxury car” in the United States. In order to gain such stature, Audi consistently releases a diverse collection of commercials to appeal to its current and potential consumers. Their commercials seek to display their cars in a dominant fashion, as many times Audi commercials features Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus counterparts trailing or underperforming their modeled car. Audi portrays their brand as innovative, sleek, reliable, and progressive. They wish to instill these same beliefs in the consumer through persuasive advertising. With the help of the rhetorical power of English actor Jason Statham and timely representation of their product to the world, Audi uses the ideas “truth in engineering, innovation, and luxury” to gain standing against leading German car companies.
Audi, in their 2009 commercial called “Chase” capitalized upon the fact that none of their competitors aired a Super Bowl commercial. Their commercial gave BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus no room to respond, and restricted the amount of viewers the respective brands could reach. The Super Bowl gives companies the opportunity to air their product when the most viewers are tuned in, thus creating kairos, a perfect window of opportunity. Super Bowl commercials are top priority for many companies as more viewers usually translate into more people being familiar with the represented brand. In 2009, main competitors Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus all released new models equivalent to the 2009 Audi A6. Mercedes-Benz released the E-Class, BMW with their 5-series and Lexus with their GS series sedan. Mercedes-Benz and BMW which lead Audi in sales, continually remain deadlocked for the number one spot, while Audi remains third. Audi recognized that this 2009 Super Bowl commercial was crucial to their potential increase in car sales, and surpassing BMW and Mercedes. Their Super Bowl commercial depicts the aforementioned brands as irrelevant, frivolous, and dull. With the use of their competitor’s cars in their commercial, Audi attempts to take credibility and desirability away from each company. The advertisement skillfully depicts each of the competitors in the worst light, and shows the Audi as the only car suitable and appropriate to get behind the wheel of. After drawing the audience in with the negative view of the competitor’s respective models, the advertisement proceeds to boast what their car can do. Emphasis then turns to the 2009 Audi A6 sedan, as the car swiftly maneuvers and evades traffic with ease while still looking elegant and classy. The ending part of the commercial demonstrates the dynamic nature and drivability aspect of the Audi, and sheds light on what the competitors are not doing. The advertisement’s timing and content thus functions to persuade viewers into avoiding the competitor’s car and only opting to purchasing an Audi.
The advertisement was perfectly timed, as it came when Audi had just released that their December 2008 sales numbers were negative 9.1 percent for the month, and overall negative 6.1 in sales for the year. Additionally, Audi’s sales in January of 2009, a month before this Super Bowl commercial aired, slumped 26.4 percent. Not only does this commercial show the urgency of Audi’s quest to become America’s upmarket alpha, it also shows the dismal economy working against automakers, especially those of German origin. Late 2008 featured dismal numbers in auto sales as a whole, not only for Audi, but competitors across the line felt the impact of the recession ridden economy. In 2008, the United States saw an 18 percent drop in car sales from 2007, and capping off the year the month December 2008 showed a bleak negative 35.5 percent sales drop. This offered little hope that sales would pick up anytime soon, and sure enough January 2009’s overall auto sales followed the same downward trend. Simply put, in a suspect economy consumer interest in purchasing a new car waned, as the economic environment remained challenging. Automakers, especially Audi faced horrific sales in 2008, and surely wished to avoid any repetition of it in 2009. The first attempt to reach as many viewers as possible comes with the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl offered a time to potentially bolster sales past from their seemingly rock bottom numbers. This 60 second commercial was essential, in the sense that it had to leave an impact on the viewer, persuade pocket-pinching consumers to spend their money, and get more consumers behind the wheel of an Audi. This commercial had to be flawless. Including an established actor and rhetorical figure was means of heightening the level of the desired message and persuasive impact of the commercial.
Jason Statham played directly into the company’s hands. His established acting resume and rhetorical stature automatically instills the idea of trust in a particular brand. Jason Statham, known to be in numerous car chase scenes, fight clips, and dangerous stunts embodies the idea and fits the description of this commercial. A year prior to starring in the 2009 Audi commercial “Chase”, Statham had a breakout year, as he had just appeared in the most films of his career. He appeared in The Bank Job, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Death Race, and Transporter 3. He consistently gained acclaim for those movies he appeared in. In fact, the British crime thriller The Bank Job was a box office success and film critic Armond White hailed Statham as the leading international action film star. Additionally in Death Race, White again advocated Statham as having the "best track record of any contemporary movie star." In this light, Statham is portrayed as credible and relevant because consumers and viewers have seen him make various appearances in movies previous to his presence in the early 2009 Audi commercial. Audi effectively acts on the kairos Jason Statham creates for them. He reinforces the idea of driving an Audi and appeals to the consumer that their car is the best to purchase and drive even in times of economic struggle.
Overall, car companies have many similarities in their advertising and commercial schemes. The importance of successfully selling their brand is paramount and the difficulty in finding willing consumers to purchase their product in times of recession and hardship remains to be a challenge. In response to such adversity, Audi puts a particular emphasis on their car outperforming and looking better than the Mercedes-Benz, the BMW, and the Lexus. This Super Bowl commercial carries a special presence in that they feed on the previously implanted idea that their brand embodies truth in engineering, innovation, and luxury. The advertisers at Audi knew exactly what they were doing when they created this “Chase” commercial. They knew which actor was currently trending, the economic time in which this commercial aired, and that this was the opportune moment to gain a lead over their competitors who did not fetch a Super Bowl commercial time slot. Essentially, Audi shows itself as a perennial car company, one that can appeal to its audience even in times of hardship.

Works Cited

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