Marketing/Advertising


REPORT: BMW using money saved from F1 pullout for more product placement

You wouldn't know it if you weren't a serious film buff or marketing exec, but Propaganda GEM is responsible for a big share of the products you see placed in films. The entertainment marketing agency represents such brands as Audi, Lamborghini, Nokia, Panasonic, Bang & Olufsen and Casio, to name just a few. And it has a new client: the BMW Group. Following such films as I, Robot and Iron Man, Propaganda has helped Audi significantly increase its profile in Hollywood. But the agency will be terminating its 13-year relationship with ... Read more →

REPORT: Chrysler piles on even more incentives ahead of the holidays Chris Shunk

In an effort to spur lagging sales, Chrysler has reportedly cranked up incentive spending on nearly all of its models by $1,000 to $1,500 while also offering 0% financing on many of its models. ...

Toyota blends social media and trail search tool in 4Runner marketing blitz Jonathon Ramsey

Said the executive creative director of the 2010 Toyota 4Runner media campaign: "This is the last authentic SUV. All the rest have gone suburbia." By "authentic" he means dirt, surf, wilds, and ...

VIDEO: The answer to how Honda will market the Accord Crosstour? Animated jazz Chris Shunk

We're not so sure about the Honda Accord Crosstour. It's definitely a Honda, so at least from a marketer's perspective, that''s a big plus, but the big crossover/hatchback//wagon/thing isn't ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: Maybe consider taking the bus? Jeremy Korzeniewski

Being the type of people who obsessively cover the auto industry, we generally prefer four-wheeled travel to pedal-for-yourself bicycling. Not that riding a bike is a bad thing... quite the ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: Politically Correct Edition 14 days ago on Autoblog

Nowadays, being politically correct is of the utmost importance to companies the world over, and that includes automakers. Especially Volkswagen, apparently. Judging from the commercial pasted after the break, the German automaker – which just happens to have recently earned the title of ...

VIDEO: Volvo goes after tween vampire demographic with New Moon promotion 14 days ago on Autoblog

Paying for product placement for big-screen movies can be a pretty risky business. If the movie is a flop, doing so could be a big-time waste of ad dollars that could have been better spent elsewhere. But if the movie turns out to be a global blockbuster, it can look like a very wise move, ...

VIDEO: NASCAR's Dickies 500 shows you how to properly deliver a pace car 15 days ago on Autoblog

The official pace car for last weekend's Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race was none other than the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS. This, in itself, is no biggie. What's interesting is how the car was delivered to the Texas Motor Speedway prior to the race. If you watched sports over the weekend, you ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: Serious automotive testing 15 days ago on Autoblog

These days, cars and trucks need to pass a slew of strict testing procedures before they can be certified for sale. Included among these procedures are tests for safety, emissions, performance and reliability. Though they're surely a hassle for automakers and one reason it's so difficult to ...

REPORT: Stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealers being scaled out of existence 16 days ago on Autoblog

In 2006, Ford began to shrink its dealership network in order to more efficiently align its distribution network. Three years later, it appears that the hardest hit are the company's stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury dealerships. While there were 619 Lincoln-Mercury dealerships nationwide just a few ...

Hyundai wins Advertising Age Marketer of the Year award 16 days ago on Autoblog

Allow us to set the stage. The year was 2009, the month was February. The U.S. economy, which for months had been showing signs of springing a leak, was now fully flooding into five forward compartments. Banks were dead or dying, the housing industry had ground to a halt and without massive ...

VIDEO: Bacardi, Maserati, and Michael Schumacher get shaken, not stirred 17 days ago on Autoblog

After seven Formula One World Championships and more records than your local second-hand vinyl shop, Michael Schumacher has proven incredibly adept at driving a point home. Now that he's semi-retired, well...he's still making more money than most of the active drivers in F1 (or any other form ...

The Tony Fox "Proud American" and "Bonneville Boss" Rocket Truck 17 days ago on Autoblog

Before our favorite weekly Southern California car gathering this Saturday, we had been told by a friend that he'd be bringing his new rocket truck. Rocket truck? What the heck's a rocket truck? Visions of rocket-powered pickups and semis running the quarter mile immediately came to mind. Did some ...

High Speed, High Fashion: Izod secures deal as IndyCar title sponsor 17 days ago on Autoblog

New beginnings demand new threads, and that's just what the reunited IndyCar Series has gained with the announcement that clothing label Izod has become the league's new title sponsor. The deal, which runs through 2015, is reportedly worth in the neighborhood of $10 million per year. Renaming ...

VIDEO: "My Name is Ram" TV commercial ran 190 times on debut night 18 days ago on Autoblog

Now that Chrysler has separated Ram from the Dodge brand, it's time to let the American public know. But instead of easing the public into the idea of giving the trucks their own brand, team Pentastar took the sledgehammer approach. Chrysler worked with new marketing partner Reynolds to create a ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: Ready for winter? 19 days ago on Autoblog

As someone who happened to have grown up in snowy climes of the Great Lakes States for the first 25 years of life, this author knows exactly how nasty it can be in the morning to walk out of your nice, toasty house on a cold and blustery winter day. It's even worse when you need to drive ...

Chrysler to outfit Fiat 500-approved dealers with specific showroom "salons" 21 days ago on Autoblog

Listening to Chrysler's long and rambling 2010-2014 Business Plan, it was clear that the company and its dealerships are very much looking forward to finally getting the Fiat 500 in North America. Much like what happened when BMW launched the Mini brand eight-odd years ago, it's hoped that the ...

Mini lets artist "Krink" all over its car 23 days ago on Autoblog

New York artist KR begat the artistic style – and ultimately brand and trend – of Krink. Mini, combining its urban credentials with an aesthetic born from Queens graffiti, gave KR a Mini to Krink and put it on display in Hamburg last weekend. In case you didn't know, it is the ...

Microsoft teams up with automakers for Windows 7 theme packs 23 days ago on Autoblog

Microsoft has been in the car business for years, supplying specialized infotainment systems to automakers like Ford and Fiat. But the door swings both ways as a handful of automakers have released special theme packages for the new Windows 7 operating system. So far Infiniti, Porsche, ...

BREAKING: Hyundai developing competitor for OnStar, Sync... but new system needs a name 23 days ago on Autoblog

As part of its product and marketing development process, Hyundai has reached out to owners and enthusiasts to create a network of consumers with which to discuss everything from future models and technologies to advertising tactics, polls, and so on. Autoblog has learned of a ...

VIDEO: Latest '10 Unleashed winner gets his rally on 23 days ago on Autoblog

We don't think of the Ford Mustang as a rally car. In fact, a Mustang doing anything but drag racing doesn't represent its customer base very well, but that doesn't mean we don't like to see it compete in all kinds of motorsports. So who would turn a brand new 2010 Ford Mustang into a rally ...

Funny Car Commercial of the Day: Never judge a book mascot by its cover 26 days ago on Autoblog

Ever see those poor men and women out on a hot and sunny summer day dressed up in some ridiculous costume as some sort of promotion their employers are running? We truly feel for these people, but it seems not everyone is as kind and caring... probably those same jerks in middle school that used ...

VIDEO: 1977 Dodge Colt dealer film is a completely amazing time capsule 28 days ago on Autoblog

The year was 1977 and the world wasn't as bright a place as it could have been. The Sixties were officially long dead and buried, the national speed limit had the cruise control set at 55 mph, the Son of Sam was on the loose, Elvis died, and Hay-on-Wye's succession from Britain turned out to be ...

Accord Crosstour, JDM Odyssey, or JDM Accord Tourer - Which would have been your pick? 1 month ago on Autoblog

While we were in Japan last week for the Tokyo Motor Show, at least two American Honda officials expressed interest in bringing the automaker's Fit-based Freed MPV to the U.S. market. However, as we strolled the streets of Tokyo's Ginza district, another thought occurred to us when a JDM Odyssey ...

VIDEO: New Toyota Prius ad channels Vishnu to explain hybrid tech 1 month ago on Autoblog

What do you want from me... I've only got two hands?! Wouldn't we all be a bit more productive if we were blessed with another set of upper appendages, complete with opposable thumbs? Toyota apparently thinks so, and the Japanese automotive giant is using the point to prove that two drivetrains ...

REPORT: David Coulthard gets a speeding ticket. In an F1 car. 1 month ago on Autoblog

You can't blame an F1 driver from driving fast. That's what they're supposed to do. Evidently authorities in India feel differently, however, as they've slapped David Coulthard with an enormous £20,000 (approx $33k) ticket for breaking the speed limit. The kicker? It was for a Formula 1 ...

Intel Inside: Audi launching special Forza edition TT? 1 month ago on Autoblog

As far as art imitating life goes, it doesn't get much more realistic than Forza 3. But it was only a matter of time before life would in turn imitate art, and here it is: the Audi TT Forza Motorsport Edition. Launched by Audi in conjunction with Microsoft, the Forza edition TT is being ...

VW chooses Deutsch LA as its new ad agency 1 month ago on Autoblog

Chrysler, Cadillac, and Chevrolet aren't the only folks looking for new advertising agencies on the assumption that, to quote GM CEO Fritz Henderson, "We can do better." For the last four years Crispin, Porter and Bogusky has attended to Volkswagen's advertising needs, bringing us moments like ...

VIDEO: 1988 Yugo sales video is hilarity of the unintentional variety 1 month ago on Autoblog

If this video had been made by Saturday Night Live, it would have been the funniest thing on the weekend variety show for as long as we can remember. But it's not a skit, and it's not comedy – at least, it's not meant to be. It's a 1988 video extolling the mighty and numerous selling ...

VIDEO: How can you tell if someone drives a Mini? 1 month ago on Autoblog

We really tried to think of what this commercial meant beyond the fact that Mini drivers can get in more parking spaces. Otherwise, it appears that Mini drivers prefer to take the steps, walk on chairs, and send their Jack Russell Terriers on snarky missions. Have a look at the video for ...

V-Series Challenge participants announced, no surprises inside 1 month ago on Autoblog

In less than a week, Bob Lutz will be joined by a few automotive journalists and a handful of regular Joes at the Monticello Motor Club in New York to race some fast sedans around a fast track to see if anything with four doors can outrun a Cadillac CTS-V. Sounds like fun. But, after reading ...

Commercial Success: The 1986 Ford Taur-US, For US! 1 month ago on Autoblog

The 1980s. The decade that gave us Knight Rider, Gobots, rolled jeans and poofy hair also produced a lot of lousy cars. There were a few good ones, too, and the 1986 Taurus is at the top of the list. The new-at-the-time Taurus was a near instant phenomenon as it garnered over 200,000 sales in its ...

VW launches Real Racing GTI on iPhone, giving away six GTIs! 1 month ago on Autoblog

Volkswagen is no stranger to promoting its vehicles using games for the iPhone and iPhone Touch. Witness such forgetables as Volkswagen Polo Challenge 3D [iTunes link] and Volkswagen Scirocco R 24H Challenge 3D [iTunes link], both by developer FISHLABS. Neither game is very fun to play, being on ...

Chevrolet follows Cadillac into the advertising agency review breach 1 month ago on Autoblog

Some loyalties run deep in Detroit, take Chevrolet's relationship with its advertising agency. Campbell-Ewald has been urging people to buy bowties since 1922, when a single magazine ad contained more words than a BMW press release. Chevrolet's account is huge, and the automaker is not looking ...

REPORT: Hyundai may extend Assurance program, go after fuel economy crown 1 month ago on Autoblog

If you haven't noticed, Hyundai's been on a multifaceted tear lately. Earlier this year, Hyundai came out with its Hyundai Assurance Program, letting customers return their cars if they suffered a loss of employment. CEO John Krafcik confirms that Hyundai Assurance is staying until the end of 2009, ...

Ford recreating Fiesta Movement with Fusion 41 program 1 month ago on Autoblog

Ford is diving into the burgeoning social media world head first. Based on the success of its Fiesta Movement, the Blue Oval has decided to launch a new program called Fusion 41 – so named because of the Fusion Hybrid's 41 mile-per-gallon EPA estimate in the city and the fact that Ford is ...

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Autoblog Podcast #154: Gobbling up the News

Chris, Sam, and Dan kick out a podcast just in time for the long holiday drive.

 
 

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