Anchorman ads aid Dodge sales

Published January 18, 2014 at 8:10 am

The numbers are in, and they look great for both Anchorman 2 and Dodge.

The unlikely pairing teamed up for a series of ads in recent months, aimed at promoting both the new film and the car company’s Durango. The campaign struck a nerve in the public consciousness, garnering more than 33 million views on YouTube, and making both a staple in late-2013 pop culture.

Those numbers translated well. The film has been out for just under a month and has already raked in over $150 million in box office revenues, and Dodge has seen a real bump in sales of the Durango.

Their sales were up 36 percent in November and 3 percent in December from year earlier months. In addition, market interest spiked. Before the campaign, the auto manufacturer had just an 0.7 share. After the ads started playing, that figure was up over 40 percent.

“That’s a really big gain,” says Lincoln Merrihew, vice president of transportation at research company Millward Brown Digital. “In terms of generating demand, which is what the campaign is supposed to do, it’s been fantastic.”

There’s a marketing lesson in that success. Being able to tap into something that resonates with your audience is the quickest route to capturing their interest and, in turn, their dollars. Humor is often a strong catalyst for creating a compelling story, but it’s often difficult to manage for companies unused to using this sort of tack.

Instead, going to an expert — somebody who knows what’s going to keep people captivated — can be a winning formula for sustained sales.