Under the category of "Gee, I wish I thought of that!", we'd like to talk about Chrysler's New Car Gas Promotion. I must admit that for the first time in a long time, I sat up and took real notice when --- in the middle of a recent American Idol show --- a commercial for Jeep came on the air offering the most novel and timely incentive...with every new car purchased, customers would
be provided with a card that locks in gas prices at $2.99 a gallon for
three years through June 2. Hell I wasn't even in the market for a new car and I took note of every word.
Then, the next morning I saw an ad for Dodge in the newspaper while commuting to work, and later on a commercial for Chrysler touting the same arresting offer --- right there among the barrage of news stories about how gas prices would exceed $4.00 a gallon by July 2008.
When you think that the planning for this type of expansive corporate promotion takes several months to prepare, the strategic planners, marketing people and accountants at Chrysler and their advertising agencies deserve a lot of credit for 1) identifying, early on, a critical consumer hot button (the rising price of fuel) and 2) linking it in a fresh but simple way to an incentive program to get new car buyers interested in visiting their showroom versus the Japanese or European competitor down the street.
The proof of greatness of this promotion comes in the observation: when was the last time anyone wanted to engage in a conversation about Chrysler?? Lee Iacocca would be very proud!
