The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2021
GM's 'No Way Norway' Super Bowl ad sends Will Ferrell to war with EV-leading Norway
GM answered Norway's lead in EV sales with Super Bowl LV comedy: Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina declare war on the country that outsells America
General Motors
What it had to solve
GM had committed to an all-electric future by 2035, but electric vehicles were still on the fringe with huge adoption barriers. The brand needed one big statement to make its new battery technology feel like a turning point rather than a distant promise.
How it works
GM had committed to an all-electric future by 2035, yet electric vehicles still felt like a fringe product with huge barriers to adoption. To make its new battery technology feel like a turning point rather than a distant promise, the company needed a statement big enough for the whole country to notice.
The answer was to turn an inconvenient statistic into a rivalry. Will Ferrell, playing himself, learns that Norway sells far more electric cars per capita than the US and refuses to stand for it. He recruits Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina, loads up a Cadillac LYRIQ and a GMC Hummer EV, and sets off to take the fight to Norway — only to discover at the end that he has arrived in Sweden.
The 60-second spot ran at Super Bowl LV in February 2021 as part of GM's 'Everybody In' EV campaign. It placed sixth in USA TODAY's Ad Meter and drew attention and likeability scores above the norm. When Norway itself replied — the prime minister, Audi Norway and Ford Norway all joined in — the fictional war became real international press, the exact 'international story' the idea had promised.
Why it lands
- It gave a statistic a face and a villain: Norway, not GM's own gap, became the thing to overcome.
- The comedy conceded the gap honestly — 'Norway is crushing us' — which made the battery claim feel confident rather than defensive.
- The new EVs (LYRIQ and Hummer EV) were woven into the joke, so product news travelled inside entertainment.
- The plot left an open end: the rival country could answer back, and did, doubling the story for free.
What it did
The ad finished sixth in USA TODAY's 2021 Ad Meter, drew attention 6% above the norm and likeability 5% above it, and generated 34.8 million social impressions. Norway's prime minister, Audi Norway and Ford Norway answered in the same comic register, turning the joke into a genuinely international story that D&AD later carried in its awards archive.
What you can take
An inconvenient statistic becomes memorable when it gets a face and a rivalry — and if the rival answers back, the campaign gets a second act for free
Since then
No Way Norway aired during Super Bowl LV in February 2021, placed sixth in USA TODAY's Ad Meter, and drew replies from Norway's prime minister, Audi Norway and Ford Norway. D&AD later carried the work in its awards archive.
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