NEW YORK -

By now, you may have seen Vroom’s first-ever television commercials, which feature comedic actors John Leguizamo and Rachel Dratch.

Funny and purposefully a bit oddball, one features the pair, as husband and wife “Dick and Peggy,” riding an ostrich and a yak to avoid buying a car.

In the other, Leguizamo constantly distracts Dratch while she’s meditating, sleeping, gardening and watching TV, all the while chatting up Vroom. In addition to being tongue-in-cheek, the ads showcase Vroom’s services and their new delivery trucks.

The ads began airing in the Phoenix and Austin, Texas markets on July 12, and that same day, Auto Remarketing caught up with Vroom chief marketing officer Gaurav Misra to talk about the company’s approach with the new ads. 

“It just felt that there’s a levity that needs to be brought back into the idea of used-car buying. It is such a potentially painful and stressful process for a lot of people, and it’s a very time-consuming process,” Misra said in a phone interview.

“And we have this philosophy that car-buying should start out fun, because the minute you realize you want to get a new car, it’s an incredibly exciting thing.”

But as the shopper goes deeper into the process and it gets more complicated, that’s where it can get frustrating, he said.

 “We want to juxtapose how absurd car-buying was and how actually easy it is, and I think it’s best done with a bit of lightness and humor,” Misra said.  

He later added: “We think car-buying should be enjoyable, and we wanted the spot to just convey that sense of wonder, magic and smiles that car-buying from Vroom can bring.”

(Interestingly enough, Misra said, Leguizamo was already aware of Vroom before the shoot, and was on the website to shop for a car for his daughter.)

This marks the first time that Vroom has invested in a larger offline media spend, Misra said, and if it goes well in Austin and Phoenix, they plan to roll it out nationally.

Beyond those cities, the ads can be seen on YouTube and on the Vroom website.

As for the new trucks — which enclose the cars but keep them visible from the outside — Vroom is looking to “put a bit of a ceremony around that delivery,” Misra said, with the music going and lights spinning.

 “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Buick or a Bentley. For us, we treat them exactly the same. For you, that’s your car,” he said. “That’s your new car.”

Misra recalled childhood days, when his parents would take off work to buy a new car and the family would go get ice cream. Vroom aims for that same excitement in car-buying today.

“We want that sense of wonderment to still be in place,” he said.  

(But if the buyer would rather go the flatbed route, that works too, he said).

Vroom has always provided free delivery in the lower 48 states. Previously, the company was providing all of its delivery via flatbed. It has now converted three of its 10 trucks to the new model. Two of those are in Phoenix, one is in Austin. They will be doing nearly all of their deliveries in those areas with those trucks.

As the company scales out, Vroom will be moving more to the new trucks, which hold two cars.