Grab your keys and some tissues. Chevrolet’s new holiday ad is a tearjerker

Hooboy, here we go again. Chevrolet has once more rolled out a tearjerker ad for the holidays.

Created by ad agency Anomaly, “Memory Lane” follows an older couple on their annual holiday drive to the family cottage in their well-loved 1987 Suburban. The trip takes them back to holiday memories and moments of years past that helped build their family. We see the kids go from babies and toddlers to bickering back-seat siblings to near-silent teens, all on the way to meeting them again as adults.

For just about any parent, this is an absolute field-goal kick to the cryballs. It’s a story that is specific to this fictional group, but a sentiment that will touch on similar memories for many viewers. It’s also continuing the brand’s streak of delivering an emotional, well-told family tale for the holidays since 2021.

Chevrolet CMO Steve Majoros told Ad Age that the strategy is not the hard sell, but rather to steer into the brand’s 114-year history. “I’m sure people are going to say, ‘Oh, it’s the same formula and the same whatever,’” Majoros said. “You know what? They’d die to have the brand we have, and they would die to have the kind of connection we have with people, the legitimacy and credibility of our brand. So I’m not going to apologize one bit.”

And why should he? Let other brands that desperately need awareness go full brain rot on TikTok. Here, Chevy is aiming to reinforce a reputation and legacy built over the past century with a creative strategy as solid as the classic cars and trucks featured in these spots. The brand’s emotional connection lives on through an ’87 Suburban, a ’78 Silverado truck (2024), ’72 Suburban (2023), ’57 Chevy Nomad (2022), and ’66 Chevy Impala (2021).  

If I were ranking Chevy’s top three tearjerker holiday ads, this year’s would be a close third. 

In second is 2023’s “A Time to Remember,” which the brand created in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association. It follows a granddaughter’s drive to bring back some memories for her grandmother with a cruise around town. 

And in first place, last year’s “The Sanctuary.” Clocking in at more than five minutes, it’s a generational tale of fathers and sons that didn’t feel overly sappy but definitely got some tough guys choked up. 

Now, who’s cutting the onions?

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