I’ll admit I haven’t seen the new Transformers movie yet but the trailers make it look amazing. As a car guy and action movie fan I will make time for it this weekend. As a search engine marketer I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for GM to showcase some brilliant marketing and promotional strategies to capture the interest generated by the movie with Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. I’m not about to trade in my car any time soon, but imagine I’m in the market for something new and cool and I’ve just walked out of the Transformers movie saying, “I have got to get me one of those.” Trouble is, I don’t know what “those” are. So I start my research with a Google search for “transformers cars“. Nothing. Yahoo? Nope. Ask? Nothing there either. MSN…finally a relevant GM result.
According to the 3rd organic result in MSN, Chevy took to the time and spent the money to create chevyautobot.com. where users can select and fight their own bots in the Battle Arena. It’s kind of cheesy, slightly amusing but very well branded and infused with the spirit of the movie. Just the type of microsite that should be created for a movie integration.
The problem is, I had to go all the way to MSN to find it. Luckily for GM it’s my “Google-Free Friday” so I have to use a different search engine. My question to GM is, “Why aren’t there any PPC ads on Google, Yahoo or MSN?”. It’s safe to assume that at least some interested, qualified car shoppers would be looking for more information on the cars they saw in the movie. Sponsored listings will funnel all of those shoppers directly to the expensive-looking microsite, or chevy.com for more info on the vehicles themselves, or local dealer sites.
Apparently, somebody else gets it. Edmunds.com’s Inside Line recognized that this would be a great editorial opportunity and put together a whole article (complete with photos) here. Very cool stuff. Exactly the kind of stuff that would get me excited about shopping for a new GM vehicle.
Utilizing PPC is a fantastic way to leverage the increase in awareness and search volume generated by movie integrations, press mentions, advertising campaigns, rumors, controversy, etc. People might not remember the product name, but they do remember where they saw it and they are searching for it. It’s up to you to plan ahead to be at the right place at the right time.
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