If you tuned in to the Super Bowl this year, then you probably saw the ads that aired during the broadcast to show off electric vehicles like the Cadillac Lyriq SUV or the Ram 1500 REV pickup truck.

But if you didn’t happen to put a deposit on the REV right away, you may find yourself out of luck. After just five days, the automaker, which didn’t disclose how many slots were available, said reservations were sold out; the vehicle itself won’t be delivered until late 2024. As for the Lyriq, 2023 models sold out hours after going on sale last year, while 2024 models won’t go into production until later this month.

• Despite the limited inventory, though, automakers are advertising electric vehicles at a frantic pace. In 2022, marketing for EVs and hybrid vehicles accounted for nearly a quarter of estimated national TV ad spend among automakers, according to estimates from iSpot.

“They’ve been advertising things that don’t necessarily exist yet, don’t exist at scale, or are very difficult to get,” Kevin Tynan, senior automotive analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, explained. “They can talk about it. They can make Super Bowl commercials. But when it comes down to it, if you go to the showroom, you can’t buy it.”

Why the discrepancy? Experts said the message from automakers is more about brand building and building hype around electrification. After all, automakers are still relying on the continued profitable sales of gas-powered vehicles for the bulk of their revenues.

“It’s very important to advertise EVs because they are in many ways a halo for the brand, and they tell the story of the innovation of the brand,” Marty Shelata, the SVP of auto partnerships at the TV advertising company Ampersand, said. “But the fact is, it costs a lot to market vehicles where there isn’t much volume.”

Read the full story here.—KS

After major media agencies recommended clients pause advertising on Twitter following Musk’s takeover in October, it seems as though many brands are still staying away from the platform; over half of its top advertisers in September weren’t spending on the platform in January, per data from marketing analysis firm Pathmatics by Sensor Tower.

But some major brands have been spending on Twitter ads as of late; ahead of the Super Bowl, Ad Age pointed out that Doritos, Pepsi, Bud Light, and a slew of other companies paid to promote tweets before the game. And last week, WPP CEO Mark Read said he thinks “clients want to start to look about how they can come back onto Twitter.”

Earlier this week, we asked if you think advertisers are returning to the platform. Out of nearly 500 responses, 43% of you said you don’t think brands are going back to Twitter quite yet, though about a quarter said it seems like they are. The rest said it’s hard to tell.

If your brand or clients have recently decided to start spending on Twitter, we’d love to know how it’s going—hit Reply and let us know.

This week’s poll: Do you think marketers will spend more on Reddit advertising this year?

🟢 Yes
No
Not sure

I told you a few weeks ago to relax—ChatGPT hasn’t made social media managers obsolete just yet. That said, I’ve been curious to experiment with AI’s application as a creative aid. Considering many of these tools are free, they’re worth adding to your arsenal at every phase of the brand creative process. Think of ChatGPT as a second brain or the headcount you didn’t have in the budget.

I figured asking ChatGPT to build a brand from scratch would be the best test. Can the program come up with a brand name? Taglines? Social media post concepts? Maybe even caption copy?

Because of who I am, I also wanted the fictional product to be totally ridiculous. Glanced up from my computer at my dirty apartment…and noticed I left my boots out…and a chess board. So. Uh. Let’s make a company that creates boots out of old chess pieces. That sounds like an Instagram Stories ad waiting to happen, right? Keep reading here.—JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Uno reverse: Here are the things to unlearn about B2C content marketing.

Influence: Want to be a content creator? Here are five tips to get started.

Relationship management: The seven best CRM apps, according to Hootsuite.

Level up: Struggling to create a way to track all those KPIs your boss asked you to track? The Excel Dictionary Bundle can make you a spreadsheet magician—making your KPI tracking a breeze. Grab yours now.

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Rhode Skin posts ‘Kill ‘Em with Kindness’ lyrics amid Hailey Bieber-Selena Gomez feud
2. Grannies go wild, Jackass-style, as Liquid Death intros iced tea
3. United names Oscar the Grouch as first Chief Trash Officer
4. Hard Mtn Dew hosts ‘Definitely Over 21’ bash at retirement community

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Tax tips for influencers are everywhere. We spoke with a CPA about what to know
• Advertisers can use their own first-party data to target podcast ad campaigns, but are they?
• Congress is considering bills that could regulate how advertisers interact with children