And this is somthing that my marketing professor will no doubt attribute to the power of media and brand recognition: Joe Isuzu.

<snip from Automobile Magazine>

ISUZU
Joe Isuzu's return has boosted sales by record amounts
The Joe Isuzu advertising campaign, back after twelve years' absence, is credited for a massive jump in U.S. Isuzu sales. The exaggerating character, played by actor David Leisure, has been advertising Isuzu on U.S. television since February. April sales of the VehiCross were up 128 percent over April 2000; Rodeo sales were up 73 percent and Trooper sales up 46 percent for the same period. Isuzu executives say they will keep the Joe Isuzu ad campaign going indefinitely; three new ads are being shot this week.

</snip>

There you have it. Honda needs someone like that.

 

Dang! Has it been 12 years. Getting old. LOL

 

Dang,

I hope David Leisure negotiated a percentage commission of increased saled in his advertising contract.

 

I remember those...he used to have a bullhorn..... as the toyota would drive by, he would yell.....

"Ask him if it has a 5 speed transmission"

He was on that awfull empty nest show wasn't he?

Scot

ps...they had a 4 door vehicross at the '00 NYC autoshow..that was pretty cool looking... the 2 door versions have a $32k MSRP!!!!!

 

I find it hard to believe Joe Isuzu would have such a large impact on sales.

 

i think that pretty much demonstrates the power of marketing, brand recognition, and basically good presentation

 

It's so counter intuitive. How can a somewhat amusing guy sell cars? Sure he adds awareness and branding, but it's weird that after seeing his commercials people would go out and buy Isuzu.

 

Hmm, true. But I think this commercial wasn't geared towards the car's capability, but get people interested and curious enough to actually walk into an Isuzu dealership. I remember reading somewhere that there was a set of percentage/relationship between foot traffic/test drives and purchases. So if you increase the number of foot traffic or test drives, you might (and it did in this case) increase sales. Heck, I'm amused enough and curious enough with the media campaign that I wondered into one just the other day.