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The Car Connection reports that Mitsubishi Motors North America is embarking on a new ad campaign intended to drive home the brand’s warranty protection and three-year free maintenance offering as its chief come-on to prospective buyers. Themed “Best Backed Cars in the World,” the campaign will run at least through March 2005.


The report adds that the campaign is an attempt to put more creative juice and media spending into the warranty protection, launched by MMNA CEO Finbarr O’Neill last fall, and pivot away from the very youth-oriented mood ads that have run the last three years concurrent to deal-of-the-week ads that had pumped Mitsubishi’s sales until financial troubles beset the company in 2003 due to writing to many risky loans.


Created by Deutsch Advertising, the campaign includes 30-second and 60-second ads featuring a long line of Mitsubishi technicians standing shoulder to shoulder wearing red coveralls alongside the road as a Mitsubishi drives by. The ads are set to the song, “Draggin’ The Line,” by 1960s band Tommy James and the Shondells. As the car comes to a stop, a technician steps out to tighten the valve cap on a tire. The image is meant to convey that Mitsubishi stands ready to assist a customer in any event and for longer than the competition.


The Car Connection report adds that Mitsubishi is not abandoning its “Wake Up and Drive” theme, which it will still use for more product related ads.