As Mercedes-Benz prepares to deliver the 2007 S-Class to dealer showrooms, the company has debuted a new campaign that includes broadcast, print and internet. The effort for the new S-Class, now in its ninth generation, kicks off on such top-rated programming as Lost, Desperate Housewives, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Two and a Half Men, 24, as well as the State of the Union Address.

The broadcast campaign includes two brand ads and a launch ad for the new S-Class.

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The first brand spot, called "The Race" (:60/:30), is done in a mythic story-telling mode that utilizes Mercedes-Benz's victory in the world's first automobile race in 1894 as a metaphor for the company's century-long challenge to continually outdo itself. On a race track that, Brigadoon-like, exists in its own special time, one iconic generation of Mercedes-Benz overtakes the next, as the narrator intones the story of a company " ... that's never looked back ... never stopped pushing forward ... " The story builds triumphantly, with the latest Mercedes-Benz earning its place on the track that is today's stage. At the conclusion, the cutting-edge SLR McLaren supercar pulls into place as voiceover states, "The race that really matters ... the race with ourselves ... is never over ... "

What goes into this drive to continuously overtake oneself is the subject of a second brand spot, titled "Weld Them" (:30). Set to a techno-beat, a robotic voice describes the dozens of processes that occur behind the scene of every Mercedes: "Weld them. Dip them. Test them. Build them. Wreck them. Freeze them. Nano-paint them. Lock them. Mold them. Roll them. Crush them. Shut them. Draft them. And Pre-safe them ... " ending with the question "What goes into making the best cars in the world? You have no idea."

The last spot, called "Turns Into" (:30), focuses on such "transformative" elements of the vehicle such as seats with massage capability, infrared night vision, the power of a new 5.5 liter V8 engine and the athletic yet graceful styling. The spot ends saying, "It turns the mundane into the magnificent." The broadcast component, created by MBUSA's lead agency Merkley + Partners NY, airs on Bravo, CNN, ESPN, Fox News, History and National Geographic and in Primetime on spot television. Local broadcast buys will also include reality shows to sporting events, including coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics. The campaign will be featured in March during the broadcast of the Academy Awards in 20 top markets and nationally during the NCAA basketball tournament games during "March Madness" on CBS.

A complementary print effort will run in major magazines, such as BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, New York Times Magazine and across golf and thought-leader titles. Newspaper advertising includes the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily and Barron's.

Starting in February coinciding with the retail launch of the vehicle, S- Class ads will be seen at online websites including Edmunds (edmunds.com), Kelley Blue Book, (kbb.com), Car and Driver (caranddriver.com), Road &Track (roadandtrack.com), and Forbes (forbes.com).

The advertising also includes internet marketing, direct mail, product placement and events. An S-Class microsite (http://www.mbusa.com/microsite/s-class/index.jsp ) invites viewers to "tour" the new S550 with the guidance of a virtual concierge. Since it was launched December 15, 2005, the microsite has had over 110,000 visitors. The site has recently been enhanced with a 3-minute walk-around tour of the S550.