Ron Burgundy Dodge Durango Campaign Hits Millennial Marketing Jackpot

Ron Burgundy Dodge Durango Campaign Hits Millennial Marketing Jackpot

Say what you want about Olivier Francois, CMO of Chrysler, he does not think small.

Coming out of the government bailout, Olivier commissioned his ad agency, Wieden+Kennedy, to come up with a 2-minute anthem that ran on last year’s Super Bowl for a total cost of $10 million or so. Francois somehow convinced rapper Eminem, who shies away from commercial endorsements, to appear in the spot that was a tribute to Eminem’s native hometown Detroit, as it was to Chrysler.

How do you top this coup? By airing a commercial featuring another icon who shies away from appearing in commercials, Clint Eastwood, in the last Super Bowl.

It is perhaps surprising that the pulse of America is grasped by a guy who has lived in this country for less than 4 years, but listening to Olivier at the recent ANA Masters of Marketing Conference it becomes clear that his respect for America is deep and unqualified. He recounted how in 2009, before the automaker broke its now famous “Imported from Detroit” campaign, he was sitting in a Detroit hotel after taking the Chrysler job, turning on the TV and seeing ads for vinyl replacement windows and car ads shouting about deals. “I wanted to make ads that point out how America was bigger than cup-holders and President’s Day events”, he said.

To be successful, advertising needs to surprise and delight and get under the skin of its audience. Too many advertising dollars are wasted by playing it safe, and not engaging the audience. Automobile advertising is especially guilty of this, focusing on features or on generic shots of a car racing a winding slalom downhill.

Chrysler has a different formula, and it’s working: “Breaking convention is what guides us,” said Mr. Francois. “We don’t believe in marketing as usual.”

So how do you follow Eminem, and Clint Eastwood?

Why, with Ron Burgundy of course, Will Farrell’s moronic alter ego in the 2004 movie “Anchorman”, as spokesman for Dodge Durango. The campaign has been up for five days, and the spots that are already online have 3.5 million views. Chrysler looks pretty smart for using Ferrell, but the smarter part perhaps is the low cost of producing the campaign.

The ads are squarely targeting younger drivers. For years, Detroit has been trying to attract Millennials, using crazy stunts with celebrities, palettes of bright vehicle colors and modern techno music. Car executives experiment with new ways toward what is expected to be the wealthiest generation in history. However none, until now, have caused such an explosion on social media and in earned media since the Durango campaign that started airing.

About 70 ads will blanket the web before the launch of the “Anchorman” movie sequel, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”, which is expected to be in movie theatres in December. In the ads, Ferrell, in character, is doing what Burgundy does best – going on with ridiculous rants about how much gum the glove box can fit, talks back to the navigation system, or when he thinks “mpg” is a word instead of an abbreviation for miles per gallon and mispronouncing it.

This collaboration is interesting on a number of levels. First, by starting to air the spots two months before the movie comes out and have Chrysler foot the bill for producing the ads and running them, Farrell and Paramount, the studio behind the sequel, made it arguably the smartest movie promotion ever. They are in effect running a non-trailer movie trailer to “Anchorman.”And Dodge got a huge star – for free. It’s a nice intellectual capital barter deal.

The creative collaboration is with “Funny or Die”, Ferrell’s comedy website. Ferrell was given a free hand to write and produce the ads. Initially he was supposed to make three-to-six ads, but ended up with 70, all featuring Burgundy. I believe that in years to come we’ll see clients reaching beyond their agencies to engage creative talent that write for websites, such as The Onion or College Humor, to help shape their communications. These writers know their target audience and can expand the context of the brand conversation.

Dodge intends to blanket the web is also forward thinking. Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube – that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year. The web is transforming itself into a video medium, with video growing exponentially because of economics: video CPMs continue to grow despite the explosion of content.

View the original article on Forbes.com here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2013/10/15/ron-burgundy-shills-for-dodge-durango-in-new-ads-that-are-insane-and-hilarious/

Authored By: 

Avi Dan, Contributor

I write about marketing and advertising.

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