OnStar Touts Safety Benefits in New Ads

General Motors Co.’s OnStar telematics unit will launch a new ad campaign this week in the U.S. during Major League Baseball’s first games of the 2018 season and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s final four games over the weekend.

The radio and television ads will promote OnStar’s safety and security capabilities as part of a new “Be Safe Out There” campaign. The ads, in which the OnStar button is the only reference to the brand, will be the company’s first stand-alone commercials in at least six years, according to The Detroit News.

OnStar also is resurrecting its “Real Calls” radio spots that highlight recordings of OnStar advisors helping subscribers with various emergencies and other problems. The ads are narrated by actress Laura Dern.

The new ads are “raw” and “very emotional” because they’re real, Gerard Connell, OnStar’s director of sales and marketing, tells the News.

OnStar has some 2,500 operators in the U.S. and Canada who field some 245,000 calls per day. Last autumn OnStar also worked with emergency response organizations to help coordinate resources and assistance to people in need during the hurricanes in southeastern states.

Launched in 1996, OnStar is available for a monthly subscription fee in every Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicle in the U.S. and Canada. The service includes automatic crash response, emergency and crisis assist, stolen vehicle recovery, roadside assistance and concierge-type services.