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FEATURE-Super Bowl aside, TV not so super for car ads

By Michael Ellis

DETROIT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - For U.S. television advertising, there is no bigger day than Super Bowl Sunday.

That leaves the other 364 days of the year to search for alternative ways to influence consumers. The task has become more daunting for car companies and other major advertisers who must compete with electronic devices like Tivo zapping ads and Generation X turning off the tube in favor of video games.

General Motors Corp. , the biggest spender in that category, has declared that television ads are not always the best solution.

"To compete today, you not only have to grab their eyeballs, you need to concentrate on other parts of their bodies ... like their butts," said Gary Cowger, president of GM's North American automotive operations, in a recent speech.

Getting consumers' butts into the driver's seat makes much more of an impression than a blur of ads, and leads to more sales, Cowger said.

Customers got a chance to drive GM's luxury Cadillac cars against competitors' models this month at the former El Toro Marine Base in California, where the world's largest automaker rented 1 million square feet of space for a seven-course "Drive Summit." More summits are planned on alternate months for the rest of this year.

GM is also getting more consumers into dealerships by giving away 1,000 cars through the end of February, and offering 24-hour test drives.

That's not to say that the auto industry is walking away from television advertising. All three Detroit automakers will have a major presence in Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast.

GM is buying two 60-second ads at a price of about $4 million each for its Cadillac and Chevrolet brands, while Ford is sponsoring the pregame show.

The Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG will run a 30-second ad for Dodge after withdrawing its support for the pay-per-view "Lingerie Bowl," a "tackle" football game to be played by two teams of seven model/actresses in lacy undergarments during halftime of the Super Bowl.

AD ZAPPER

The auto industry will spend about $10.7 billion for advertising this year. That comes to about $644 for every vehicle sold in the United States, up about 7.5 percent from last year, says Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa. Detroit automakers will be among the biggest spenders to support a barrage of new cars as they try to take back market share from Asian competitors.

However, recent data shows slipping television viewership among men ages 18 to 34, the coveted group sought by advertisers. Men in that group -- many of them busy playing computer games or viewing movies on DVD -- watched 6 percent less television last fall. In both cases, they were missing the ads.

Another threat to advertisers is the growing use of digital video recorder (DVR) devices, such as Tivo, which allow users to skip commercials as they record television programs. About three million Americans have DVRs, but use is expected to grow as more cable and satellite television companies add built-in DVRs in set-top boxes.

"It hasn't achieved critical mass yet. But the more and more availability of DVR does concern me," said Jan Valentic, vice president of global advertising with Ford Motor Co. . "We need to be prepared to operate differently."

THEATER JAM

Consumers can expect to find more car ads popping up in unlikely places.

Mazda Motor Corp. randomly picked up revelers outside popular nightclubs in U.S. cities last year, and drove them in the RX-8 sports car to parties or concerts, providing them with backstage passes and an opportunity to meet celebrities.

The idea was to project a cool image for Mazda, particularly among trend-setters who would then tell their friends about the parties.

"Those are the kinds of things people talk about," said Valentic of Ford, which controls the Mazda brand. "You really drive a conversation about why did they choose you to do something like that, and what does it say about the car."

Moviegoers settling into their seats for "The Matrix Revolutions" in November were startled when actors scattered throughout the audience stood and delivered poetic lines timed to coincide with an ad on the screen for Nissan Motor Co. .

Similarly to Mazda, Nissan hoped the "theater jam" campaign would create a buzz around the brand.

"The key is showing up in places that are unexpected," said John Cropper, senior manager for youth and urban communications at Nissan's North American operations.

Some of these alternative campaigns won't connect with people, Cropper said, "but when they do, they are definitely going to create ripple effects in the culture that are going to influence trend-setting people."