ASK DR. Z? WHY?

Only two car companies have ever gotten it right using their own executives as their on-camera TV spokespeople: Chrysler and Nissan. And we mean the old Chrysler, not the new-fangled German corporation called "DaimlerChrysler" (DCX). That all-American company called Chrysler did it first with their 'intrepid' leader, Lee Iacocca. At the time Lido (true first name) did the TV spots, he was already well on his way to becoming an industry and American icon. In those days, he had a book running for months at #1 position on every Best-Seller list, he was head of the commission raising funds to refurbish the Statue of Liberty and there was a serious movement to draft him to run for either the Democratic Senator from Michigan, or, if that didn't work, President of the United States of America. Nissan had a great spokesperson, too. Only thing was, as opposed to Lido, he didn't say anything.

Let's start with "Dr. Z".

"Dr. Z's" real name is Dieter Zetsche and he is on the "Board of Management" of DaimlerChrysler and also is President and CEO of that company's American division, The Chrysler Group. By the way, anyone who is anyone in Germany is at minimum "Dr". Or "Doctor Professor". They are addressed as "Herr Doctor Professor" ... I am not kidding. Most any automotive engineer you meet goes by that title. (Would you buy a new car from this man? "Dr. Z", above and below).

He is responsible for the worldwide operations of Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge, as well as Mercedes-Benz USA, Canada and Mexico. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, and raised and educated in Frankfurt, Germany, he received his master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in 1976 and was awarded his doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Paderborn Technical University in 1982.

Now he is starring in all the DCX ads on American TV. The problem? He has a TV presence which is exactly the opposite of Lee Iaccoca's, which we will get into below. You can call him "UN-TV", if that makes sense. He seems to have little of an outgoing personality; he comes across as cold, impersonal and even unfriendly. The spot he does with the little school kids is almost frightening! You're thinking one of the kids, at least, is going to call the cops any minute if this strange old guy doesn't leave them alone ...

He has little if any charisma, at least as far as the TV camera is concerned. This guy is probably a genius engineer and one of the most capable people in the world of automotive manufacturing, marketing and product planning; but none of that comes across your TV screen. He is very uninteresting and I find myself 'clicking' the remote as fast as possible when he comes on, now that I have seen his "act".

With "Dr. Z", there's nothing to "hang around" for; no reason to see if the latest spot is something new and interesting. Based on what we have all seen so far, we can't expect anything which might capture our attention and/or imagination.

And let's face it: With his stoic, Teutonic appearance and especially that accent (the reason more love songs are not written in German), dress him in a black leather coat, put a monocle over one eye and place him in a train car in a B-movie, and the next thing out of his mouth could easily be, "Ze papers, please? You have ze papers?"

Soon after Daimler bought Chrysler, a good friend of mine who worked "near the top" at Chrysler, said, "Let me tell about these Germans. Chrysler has been a pretty loose and fun company the past 20 years; that's how we've come up with all the great, new products! The Germans are different. To them, for example, in the company cafeteria on "Informal Friday", the German executives take note of the special day by sitting down to lunch and removing their sport coats. No Hawaiian shirts, no sandals, no fun, definitely no "no tie", nothing special ... 'Sans' sport coat is as "casual" as they can get!"

Now, "Mr. K" was Nissan's silent spokesperson (played by actor Dale Ishimoto, shown below, who was usually decked-out in a baseball cap and a small dog as an accessory). Those in-the-know understood that "Mr. K" was fashioned after Yutaka Katayama, the man who essentially started Nissan in the USA and put together the basis for their entire dealer network, starting in the 1950s. Katayama became more of an American than Japanese-style executive during his years away from Japan (which did not always sit well with his bosses in Tokyo).

In fact, Katayama became so American-ized, that after his tenure, most Japanese car companies insisted their executives would not stay in the US any more than 3-5 years, and their kids would attend special Japanese schools. Many of them live near each other on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a luxury area overlooking the Pacific, in company-owned homes, not far from their company headquarters buildings in what is called the "South Bay" area of Los Angeles. No Beverly Hills or Hollywood for these guys (and their families!).

"Mr. K", as he was respectfully and lovingly known by his USA staff, fought the top Datsun/Nissan executives in Tokyo and won the fight; not only to bring the "Z" car to the USA in the early '70s, but also to change its name from what is was known as in its home market: "Fair Lady Z". Why "Fair Lady"? It was explained to me once in Japan by a top Datsun/Nissan executive: "One of our big bosses is an Audrey Hepburn fan". That actress starred in the popular movie "My Fair Lady" ... Interestingly, I once got the same answer when I asked a vice-president of Daihatsu why they named a car "Charade" ... So much for paying outside marketing firms millions of dollars to develop new names for cars, trucks and motorcycles ...

The "Mr. K" in the TV commercials would appear in a variety of situations, dressed sometimes like a baseball umpire (?), working at times in his "Dream Garage" (the name of the initial 2-minute long TV spot featuring the character) and never spoke a word. He was there, apparently, to impart some sort of Eastern-style wisdom (and directions on which car to buy).

These mid-'90s ads were strange and not successful (much like Nissan's other division, Infiniti, which ran their now-infamous "rocks and trees" ads when the division first started in 1990), but they did endear the "Mr. K" character to millions of American TV viewers. Ask any Car Nut who Mr. K was and they might know the entire story, but the will remember the ads. However, they might not remember which cars he was selling. (Photo: Original 1970 Datsun Fair Lady 240Z).

The real Mr. K had been "retired to a window office" in Japan by 1980, a Japan Inc. euphemism for being removed from decision-making. He was also given authority over one of Nissan's suppliers, another sign of forced retirement. Datsun/Nissan's products from 1980 through almost 1995 were, for the most part, quite lackluster and unexciting, reflecting to Nissan employees and enthusiasts how important and far-thinking Katayama had really been. He is over 90 now and still active; we attended his 80th birthday party at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles. I last spoke with him at the 2006 TOKYO MOTOR SHOW, when Katayama lamented Nissan's chief Carlos Ghosn's move of the company's USA headquarters from Gardena, in southern California to, of all places ... Nashville?!?

The Nissan buildings have over many years become beacons to southern California drivers, monuments and landmarks at the area surrounding the San Diego and Harbor Freeways, just blocks from the last location of the infamous Ascot Park race track. More than 40% of Nissan-USA's top people have already left the company, rather than make this move, which I predict will do terrible harm to the company's ability to "stay on top" of southern California and even Japanese automotive trends. (Photo: The REAL Yutaka Katayama presents the keys to the Datsun pace car to Parnelli Jones at Ontario Motor Speedway).

Lee Iaccoca, and "you gotta love 'em!",on the other hand, never shut up, and he had it all, everything the TV cameras demanded: Charisma, presence, power, projecting integrity and righteousness, when he said "Buy a car, get a check!", you damn well seriously thought about it!

By the way, those spots were done initially by Joe Garagiola, who once hosted "NBC's TONIGHT SHOW" one night when Johnny Carson was on vacation and the guests were John Lennon and Paul McCartney ... but THAT is another story. And also a great trivia question and topic!

Iaccoca literally invented car-buying incentives with those ads, something which will forever put Iaccoca in the hearts of consumers and on the sh*t-list of all other car-makers. Sales of Iaccoca's K-cars zoomed, the minivan continued on a hot streak, and Chrysler's PR office, which was the best the  auto industry had ever seen, continued pounding the drum for their "future products", which, when they appeared as the daring "LH" cars, sold like the proverbial hot cakes. (Photo: Iacocca on one of his several TIME covers).

                                                 -30-

Comments

[Jim]

do you remember a TV commercial with Dale Earnhardt Sr. that aired on ESPN about 6-10 years ago with a golden retriever in the passenger seat and some guy in the back telling Dale to "pass that guy"? I can't find it anywhere...and ESPN isn't helping.

Thanks,
-Jim