• Ad Age, Monday, December 6, 2010 10:27 AM

At least eight automakers have purchased air time so far for the 2011 Super Bowl and many of them are buying more actual time, raising the Big Game bar with two or three spots dotting the broadcast. They and their agencies will have to create commercials unique enough to break through the clutter.

So many car ads look the same, the chance of their being recalled is low. Plus, car makers have grown more conservative, trading humor and emotion for retail-oriented messages. Steve Wilhite, who spent 20 years at VW of America and was the client behind Arnold's famous "Drivers Wanted" campaign, describes car advertising these days as "absolute dreck," "mind-numbing" and "uninspiring."

Experts say carmakers will now have to work doubly hard to avoid familiar tropes or themes. "You must have a key, new, innovative, value-laden message to put out there," said George Cook, executive professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business.

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