Does Teddy Roosevelt represent the New American Dream?

Back in the 70’s my grandfather had a big brown Cadillac. My cousins and I would pile into it and drive up to Olana, Frederich Church’s home overlooking the Hudson. We’d roll a joint and get high while Billy Joel’s working class anthem Movin Out played on repeat on the 8-track tape. Joel sang, “He traded in his Chevy for a Cadillacacac, you ought to know by now. If you can’t drive with a broken back, at least you can polish the fenders.”

Then, the seventies ended, our grandparents died and along came a new era. Everything was shiny and new in the eighties – and noone would be caught dead in a Cadillac. It was all about the European car – especially the Mercedes. Sheila E captured the age best with her song Glamorous life. She sang, “She’s got big thoughts, big dreams and a big brown Mercedes Sedan.” Somewhere along the way, we sold out the American Dream to other countries – Germany, China, Japan, Iraq.

So, maybe it’s time for a new American Dream. But, who could embody this new vision? Enter Teddy Roosevelt and Cadillac. They’ve teamed up to revitalize that vision. Cadillac launched their Dare Greatly campaign during Sunday night’s Oscars show. From a branding and marketing standing point this campaign is great. Cadillac not only dotted their i’s, they crossed their t’s too. Everything about this campaign is amazing, including featuring fashion designer Jason Wu.

In a WSJ interview Chief Marketing Officer Uwe Ellinghaus said, “Luxury brands don’t sell products, they sell dreams.” – and they chose TR and his Man in the Arena speech to communicate that vision. I think Cadillac has bigger ambitions than just selling a few cars.  They’ve set their sites on the fashion world and moved their headquarters to NYC. They recently chauffeured fashion luminaries around town for NY fashion week. Just check out Nick Wooster’s Instagram feed for a peek at his Cadillac week. Then there’s that rumor that Mercedes has backed out of NYFW. So, the fashion world is in need of a new sponsor. Will it be Cadillac Fashion Week, come fall?  Oh, and of course there’s talk of Apple building electric cars. Maybe it is time to buy American…

In the mean time, let’s just ponder a great tag line, “Only those who dare drive the world forward.”

Here’s what others are saying about Cadillac’s Dare Greatly campaign.

Forbes

Style.com

WSJ

And here’s the Man in the Arena commercial.

http://youtu.be/it6W-PcNTr8