The Great and Abiding Mystery of the SuperAmerica and Marathon Commercials

I avoid criticizing commercials because I create advertising myself.  When I get the urge to throw stones, I notice the glass walls all around.

Still, I kept wanting to note here how much I hated Marathon’s rip off of SuperAmerica commercials.  But a web search revealed that Marathon and SuperAmerica are owned by the same company. So I’m more baffled than anything.

The SuperAmerica commercials feature actual managers and customers; everybody grins goofily for the camera; a customer gives the formula for his “special coffee mix.”  The ads suggest that a SuperAmerica is a clean, well-lighted place and a less fancy alternative to a Starbucks. Within reason, I’ve found this to be true. (My standard for honesty in ads: a commercial is a company’s equivalent of a first date or job interview.)    

The people in the Marathon ads are as false as the SuperAmerica people are real.  They are actual owners, but they have been made-up, posed, and coached until they resemble actors. There is a montage of faces those of us in the business cynically call “soft ethnics” and a mix of men and women. They use words like “folks” and  when a woman says, “it might seem . . .  simple . . . but” she pronounces the ellipses.

I don't know what followed the ellipses. I'm sure it was as corporate folksy as a cup of warm apple pie on an autumn morning in Vermont but I own a remote.

Comments

[Stix]

Do you think that the ads were ordered by the same executives (corporate heads), or different (branch heads)? If the same, could it be that they are looking to see which version sells better?

[K]

Good question. My guess is different executives, because the difference seem more stylistic than strategic. If it's the same executive, it would be interesting to find out what is being tested.

[K]

The SA commercials also appear to have a specific marketing objective; to get people to want to go in the store, now that pay at the pump has removed the need to go in the store.

It's interesting to see gas stations advertise. Gasoline purchases seem so driven by price and location that companies don't advertise much anymore. I believe this is also why the same gas station is often on opposite corners. It is cheaper to build a second station than to try to convince people to cross the street.