The South Korean automaker wants to “turn the needle a little bit in the direction of more entertainment,” John Krafcik, chief executive officer of Hyundai’s U.S. unit, told reporters last month while outlining plans for NBC’s Feb. 5 broadcast of the championship game of the National Football League. “We’d like a little bit more memorability.”
Last year’s winners saw big -- and lasting -- market-share gains after putting up spots in last season’s final game. VW Passat interest surged 70 percent on Edmunds.com during the week after it aired a spot of a child playing Darth Vader compared with the prior four weeks, according to Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, California-based website that tracks automotive sales.
Chrysler also benefited from its Super Bowl play. Car- shoppers’ consideration of the brand on Edmunds soared 87 percent in the week following its two-minute ad for the 200 sedan that featured rapper Eminem and extolled Detroit’s toughness as a possible source of luxury.
“It does raise the bar because the other car companies look at what happened with the 200 and they figure ‘We can do that too,’” said Vice Chairman Jeremy Anwyl of Edmunds, which also helps shoppers compare vehicles. “It’s not that easy.”
Boosting Sales
The successes of VW and Chrysler, which both gained U.S. market share this year, raises expectations, while the growing industry means more is at stake, said Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar.com, another site that monitors auto sales. Chrysler Group added 1.3 points of share so far this year, the most in the industry, to 10.7 percent, according to researcher Autodata Corp., while VW rose to 3.5 percent from 3.1 percent.“We expect 2012 to be another year of recovery, reaching to nearly 14 million car sales,” he said. “There is more sales potential for automakers to grab during the next Super Bowl than during the past three Super Bowls.”
Light-vehicle sales in the U.S. fell to 10.4 million in 2009 after averaging 16.8 million from 2000 to 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp.
Volkswagen’s ad for the new Passat showed a pint-sized version of the Star Wars villain trying to control household objects with his mind. His dad eventually starts the car with a key fob, letting the child believe he has special powers.
That spot and another for the new Beetle were “pretty radical” departures for the Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker, said Jonathan Browning, head of VW’s U.S. operations.
“It served the purpose of getting Volkswagen back in a discussion and dialogue that it wasn’t part of at that point in time,” Browning said in an interview.
Read More: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-14/hyundai-quest-for-memorability-means-emulating-vw-s-super-bowl-ads-cars.html
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