Pontiac wins big on NCAA contract, G8/Vibe Advertising

[nadepalma]

SOURCE: Detroit News

Thursday, March 27, 2008
Pontiac wins big on NCAA contract
Exclusive three-week coverage timed perfectly for launch of new vehicles.
Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

Sixteen teams are fighting to win the NCAA men's college basketball crown, but one automotive nameplate already could be called a winner: Pontiac.

The official car sponsor of the NCAA basketball, football and baseball championships, Pontiac will reach tens of millions of people during the three-week basketball tournament as it promotes its new G8 sports sedan and its recently redesigned Vibe compact crossover.

According to CBS, the regional matchups last year drew 9.2 million viewers. The televised tournament overall attracted more than 132 million people, roughly 46 percent of all American viewers.

"This is a very attractive demographic for us," said Pontiac spokesman Jim Hopson. "Not only are you looking at the younger people, who watch these games, but the boosters (too)."

But don't expect Pontiac to do anything outrageous in Detroit when the Midwest Regionals tipoff at Ford Field on Friday.

"We normally do our major push at the Final Four," Hopson said.

Other car companies will steer clear of the downtown matchups, respecting Pontiac's top sponsorship.

For the General Motors Corp. brand that includes: the Pontiac Game changing moment as featured on Youtube.com; a plethora of commercials; its 8 For the Road Contest, which includes a trip and tickets to this year's Final Four for eight people, and, of course, a 2009 G8.

As one of three corporate championship partners with the NCAA (the other two are AT&T and Coca-Cola), Pontiac stands center court as far as car companies go during the NCAA tournament.

It should. While Pontiac officials declined to say how much it spends, the Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal estimates the top tier sponsorship costs about $35 million a year.

Pontiac is already seeing big increases in traffic on its Web sites, Hopson said. Since the tournament began, there's been an 80 percent jump in people looking at the G8 and a 47 percent increase in people coming to Pontiac's Web site.

That type of spike is exactly what Pontiac is paying for, according to Eric Smallwood, vice president of marketing for Port Huron-based Front Row Marketing Services.

Pontiac needs to integrate its message with a multimedia approach to send that audience to its Web site, he added. It's a sophisticated game plan that combines television, print and other advertising with an online campaign, Smallwood said.

MORE HERE

[nadepalma]

Good to see the Poncho brand getting some attention...

...but the "Pontiac is CAR" crap advertising just kills me.

[ronald mcretard]

They had the same deal last year and they advertised the crap out of the Solstice and the G6 convertible. I'm not sure it helped that much.

[FenwickHockey65]

G8 adverstising will be good...but if the markups continue, they won't have too many buyers...
And the Vibe I saw today at the dealer was...sorta boring.

[ZR1-S10]

I've allways liked the ads GM uses during sports. There far more indepth then the other day-to-day ads that just show what the incentives are. Why can't Pontiac get a sports spokesmen in their ads, Tiger is perfect for Buick and Howe Long is great for Chevy trucks. Pontiac is more sport
marketed anyway.

Any ideas on who the spokesman for Pontiac should be?

[88ls1blazer]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

G8 adverstising will be good...but if the markups continue, they won't have too many buyers...
And the Vibe I saw today at the dealer was...sorta boring.

what markups? every person I know that has bought a g8 it has been less then sticker...

[stevecmh]

Originally Posted by nadepalma

Good to see the Poncho brand getting some attention...

...but the "Pontiac is CAR" crap advertising just kills me.

agreed.. its not catchy at all.. they need to come up with something different.

like the G8 kicks ass.. that would work for me

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by 88ls1blazer

what markups? every person I know that has bought a g8 it has been less then sticker...

The G8's been marked up pretty badly around here. I just went to a Pontiac dealer to look at one, it stickered for $31k and was marked up to $36k.

[smokyn454]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

The G8's been marked up pretty badly around here. I just went to a Pontiac dealer to look at one, it stickered for $31k and was marked up to $36k.

There is a difference between dealers marking up cars and dealers using the car as advertising.

Considering most dealers will only get 2-3 G8's for this model year, most would like to keep them around for a while. Why not mark them up so they won't sell ( or if they do they get a tidy profit ) and then use them as advertising. It is hard to keep the buzz going when someone comes in to see the car and you already sold the only 2 you are getting for the next month.

If there were 8 G8's sitting on the lot with a $4000 markup, now that would be wrong.

[jbernie]

Originally Posted by ZR1-S10

Any ideas on who the spokesman for Pontiac should be?

Not serios, but how about David beckham, since he is supposed to be an automatic gold mine.

If they are going to do the NCAA why not get a basketballer... only run the ads for the tournement so hopefully it doesn't cost as much.

[eaton53]

Get Bob Knight.
Pontiac is $%*&@#$ Car!!

[FierySolstice]

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

G8 adverstising will be good...but if the markups continue, they won't have too many buyers...
And the Vibe I saw today at the dealer was...sorta boring.

Because Toyota makes the Vibe!!!

[SuperSS27]

Originally Posted by jbernie

Not serios, but how about David beckham, since he is supposed to be an automatic gold mine.

If they are going to do the NCAA why not get a basketballer... only run the ads for the tournement so hopefully it doesn't cost as much.

Peyton Manning would be perfect.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

The good news is that G8 is getting good reviews in most of the Auto rags which are typically read by 20- and 30-somethings. You know, guys who are into the Skyline's, Infiniti G's and BMW 3 Series'. And those same guys are who typically watch The Tournament.

And the real good news is that now when these guys, and women, go into a Pontiac dealership because of the ads, Pontiac has strong products.

[ChevroletRevived]

Nice! Very big win for Pontiac. They've got a huge audience to display some of their recent commericals to and launch their new products. Reaches right into the demographics Pontiac's trying to sell too!