XM Radio, Cadillac Enlist Generational Icon Bob Dylan

XM Satellite Radio and General Motors Corp. launch a new Cadillac marketing campaign featuring legendary singer and songwriter Bob Dylan.

The integrated advertising campaign launches today (Oct. 22) and highlights XM Radio as a standard feature on the ’08 Cadillac Escalade. Dylan will devote his hour-long Oct. 24 show on XM Radio to all things Cadillac.

“He’s a big Cadillac fan,” a spokesman for XM Radio tells Ward’s.

The Cadillac session, which will air at 10 a.m. (EST) on XM channel 40, promises such tracks as The Blasters’ “Long White Cadillac” and an obscure version of “Pink Cadillac.”

“It’s some very esoteric and unusual stuff,” the spokesman says.

The advertising campaign kicks off with a 30-second TV spot called “Detour” that features Dylan driving an Escalade through a desert landscape.

“Cadillacs, they roll, they cruise, they make you feel like a million bucks,” Dylan says during the spot. “Nothing goes better with a Cadillac than a long ride to nowhere full of the right music.”

The TV commercial closes with Cadillac’s current slogan, “Life, Liberty & the Pursuit.” Print and online efforts begin in November. XM Radio officials have not disclosed financial details of the campaign.

Cadillac earlier used Led Zepplin’s anthem “Rock & Roll” to help revive its brand during a 5-year campaign titled “Break Through.”

A recent shake-up in the division’s marketing ranks and a change in advertising houses brought the more youthful “Life, Liberty & the Pursuit.”