When the folks behind the television show “MotorWeek” wanted to promote their Drivers? Choice Awards, they hit the road.
Maryland Public Television, which produces the show, and Baltimore-based public relations firm Verb Communications decided to wrap a Kia Sedona van in advertising to call attention to the awards, which highlight different vehicles for their consumer focus.
They drove the van from Baltimore to Chicago, where it made an appearance at the Chicago Auto Show.
The advertising was a leap for MPT, which usually relies on public relations to announce the awards.
“We?re noticing that this kind of advertising is more popular over the past five to eight years,” MPT Vice President of Television Programming Steven Schupak said. “We thought, what a great way to use our own subject matter to promote our own program.”
Because of limited funds, MPT looked for a lot of bang for the buck.
“Working within the reality of public television budgets is largely different than working for commercial ventures,” Verb Communications President Lisa Shenkle said.
“Budgets are limited, and dollars don?t come easily, so we don?t do advertising in general ? we rely heavily on media and public relations.”
“We were looking for something highly visible,” “MotorWeek” host John Davis said.
“We had seen the vehicle wrap done by others. I knew how successful it was. We had the right vehicle, the Kia Sedona, the right price and the right opportunity. All the pieces fell into place.”
Tangible results from the car wrap aren?t available because of the van?s constant mobility. Nonetheless, Schupak considers them successful in reaching a large audience.
“I think we were doing this more from the gut, we knew how many people would see it, and we used first person feedback to support that,” Schupak said.
“We had people leaning out of cars saying ?That?s cool, I?ll be at the auto show,? and people would get out and call to us. That kind of feedback is not scientific, but it tells you are going in the right direction.”
Shenkle agreed. “Folks were waving and bending down on transit buses to get a good look at the van,” she said. “People have to see a name, time and again, and in various manifestations before it all starts clicking. We are inundated with messages all the time [about the wrap].”
The van will be driven through the spring.
