Chrysler's Super Bowl Lift Sticks

Chrysler's Super Bowl Lift Sticks

By Michelle Krebs February 14, 2011

One week after its "Imported From Detroit" ad aired on Super Bowl Sunday, Chrysler continues to enjoy a significant boost of interest, according Edmunds.com data.In the week following the Super Bowl, consideration for Chrysler climbed 87 percent compared to the brand’s average on Edmunds.com during the four weeks prior.

The surge has been driven by interest in the Chrysler 200 – the car star of Chrysler's Super Bowl ad driven by rapper Eminem. Consideration for the car itself soared 463 percent after seeing near-dormant consideration before the big game. The 200 is the replacement for the Chrysler Sebring, revamped and renamed.

Interestingly, visitor interest in the Chrysler 300 virtually doubled in the last week even though the vehicle was not mentioned in the Super Bowl ad. Last week, Edmunds.com reported Chrysler’s impressive performance on the site in the hours following the Super Bowl. But the one-week mark offers a better long-term test that Chrysler seems to have passed.

It’s not surprising when viewers get swept up in the Super Bowl ad buzz for the next day or two. But Chrysler’s message seems to have resonated with viewers far beyond that first wave of buzz. While consideration for the other automotive advertisers has fallen back to earth, Chrysler is still getting much more attention now than just two or three weeks ago.

Kia (+13 percent) and Hyundai (+11 percent) are the only two automotive brands to see double-digit consideration lifts on Edmunds.com in the week after the Super Bowl. Volkswagen (+7 percent), Chevrolet (+5 percent) and Audi (+2 percent) all earned strong buzz immediately after the Super Bowl, but saw only marginal increases in consideration over the following week.

But while those companies saw little overall bumps, some of their models showed some staying power among consumers. Consideration for the Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD came in very strong at +143 percent, while consideration for the Volkswagen New Beetle and Passat climbed 79 percent and 70 percent, respectively, in the last week.

For the purposes of this evaluation, Edmunds.com compared consideration at the make and model levels for the week following the Super Bowl (2/7 – 2/10/11) to the average for the four prior non-Super Bowl weeks (ending 1/9, 1/16, 1/23 and 1/30).

Michelle Krebs:  Edmunds.com Senior Analyst and AutoObserver.com Editor in Chief Michelle Krebs has covered the automotive industry for 30 years, having written for publications ranging from The New York Times to Motor Trend.