How Cars Sell 2001-2008

Ever since I watched my first series of short movies by BMW, I have been enthralled at how the auto industry is using the internet and advertising to sell cars. Most results won't be as amazing as BMW and most campaigns won't pull in 100 million views over four years.

I have outlined a few of my favorite things that I've seen done with selling cars. This includes anything online and especially the one's that converge the technology of today with their traditional ad placement. If you have any you suspect should be here in addition (or in place of,) I hope you'll take a minute to add them in the comment box at the end.

Here's the best-of-the-best :

• The Oprah Show giveaway where her entire audience walked out with a brand new Pontiac G-6. The show came under some scrutiny because a couple of the ungrateful winners whined about the car tax they'd have to pay but, for the most part, it was an exacto-knife cut through advertising poopla. There wasn't a news broadcast - local, national, international, or otherwise - that didn't give the Oprah G-6 promotion some free press and it generated office cooler talk forever about how great Oprah was. Unfortunately, the G-6 and Pontiac could have sponged a bit more out of the campaign and demanded that "they" actually get the credit for supplying all the automobiles, but what of it. Pontiac reported that out of 52,900 total people who shopped the G-6 online the month of the Oprah giveaway, 51% shopped it either the day of the show (22%) or the day after the show (29%.)
  
• The Ford partnership with American Idol. Even though there's no way I can see David Archuletta rocking out a new F150, it has positioned the brand with one of America's top feel-good shows. The fact that you can watch the commercials of all the contestants running around and driving Ford's through paint online at www.americanidol.com or the music video breaks from the action on Fox, this one leaves its mark.
  
• On the partnership angle, some of my other favorite partnerships between automotive companies and movies/television are:
• The 1995 Goldeneye James Bond film with the z3 Roadster.
• Chrysler's cross-promotion with The Apprentice.
• Toyota's cross-promotion with The Contender.

• If you ever want product placement on a national scale, you need to go with one of these companies: AIM Productions, Hero Product Placement, Monkey Junction Entertainment, or Norm Marshall Associates.
  

• There are also several companies who specialize in measuring product placement for companies. You can use companies that track your return-on-investment (ROI) and get software like Compete and Nielsen Place Views Software.

• And, finally, my all-time personal favorite that got more media attention in 2006 than a tire could ask for is when Rip Hamilton (Detroit Pistons basketball player) allowed Goodyear to braid his hair in the style of their new tires tread (don't believe me, click here.) The results were outstanding and reached over 16 million people that week alone. And, according to the link to PRNews.com, "company earnings [for Goodyear] had a $35 million first-quarter improvement for Goodyear North American Tire, and Assurance has become the best-selling new product in Goodyear's 107-year history."

So, where next?

In 2005, BMW Brand Manager John Cappella (who did the BMW "The Hire" short film series) said in an interview with Digital Marketing (Digital Marketing, November 21, 2005) that he expects to see two things in the future. He looked forward to seeing where advertising would go with podcasting and also how product inclusion would be immersed in the online gaming industry.

In 2006, Wieden & Kennedy hit solid gold with Honda's diesel i-CTDi engine ad commercial that has been cleaning up in the advertising award arena. Here's the kicker - the diesel engine isn't ugly anymore and you can also play a flash-based game online to boot where you are a rabbit turning old technology in to lush environmentally-friendly landscape.

Guess we're on our way. Where's dem' Podcasts Johnny?