Mercedes-Benz has a commercial out now for the ML SUV, which claims it knows most of its buyers won't need an ML to climb a steep hill, navigate a treacherous road during a blizzard, or rely on the hundreds and thousands of strengthened welds to keep the ML held tightly together. M-B runs the commercial just in case ML SUV owners decide to do something like that -- on purpose or accidentally – and need to know their vehicle will be able to handle it and protect the driver.
The sympathetic, yet confident voiceover runs while dramatic images light up across the screen, each implying there's a huge story connected to the image (snow storm, traffic accident, desert race), showing how thankful and alive the owners of an M-B product can be. The entire commercial is about how the ML is overbuilt, overengineered, and overprotects its owners. What could be smarter? It's as if M-B is saying, "We've done more for you than you'll ever need, because we care about you and the people you care enough about to drive in our vehicles." Hmm. It's actually tried to emphasize the strengths, assets, and benefits of an SUV and wrapped it in the package of safety.
How simple.
Why is it a German SUV maker seems to have discovered, without a single apology, how to market an SUV to people who are interested in those "just in case" benefits? That's what real SUVs offer. Whether intentional or accidental, this ad agency has stumbled onto something that could reap sales benefits for the ML. For those who still need an SUV, large or small, this seems the type of ad that doesn't try to pretend these big, functional, job-specific vehicles need to be sold under a blanket of politically correct apologies. Sure, the market is shrinking because those fringe buyers who could go either way (sedan or SUV) have begun to tip away from the lifestyle choices and toward more practical (and financially frugal) options of cars or crossovers, but isn't that always the case when times get tough?
There'll always be a market for buyers who must carry bigger families and enjoy their family outings (at the lake, the desert, the mountains) together, and sometimes with a big trailer. For those folks, there'll always need to be midsize and large SUVs. And those vehicles will be required to offer more safety and capability than the buyer ever hopes to use.
That will keep this segment alive. And those fringe buyers will go to whatever shiny and new segment pops up that calls itself "the next big thing." For now, we hope at least some of the ad agencies, and the manufacturer's themselves, keep focused on the real reasons why many families and certain buyers will always need real SUV choices, regardless of what's politically correct.
Click here to view the "Some People" Mercedes-Benz ML-class commercial.