Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. has started its third “Free Gas for Summer” promotion with the hopes that the gas deal will spur sales of fuel-efficient autos.
As part of the program, the automaker is giving buyers three months of free gas with the purchase of a 2010 Kizashi sedan, SX4 SportBack, SX4 Sport sedan, SX4 Crossover, Grand Vitara or Equator.
“It’s a good summer promotion as everyone is getting ready to plan their road trips and budgets for those road trips,” said Gene Brown, vice president of marketing at Suzuki.
Suzuki started the campaign in 2008 and resurrected it in 2009 when gas prices were inching toward $5 a gallon. Other automakers, including Michigan’s Chrysler Group LLC and Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc., part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, have similar promotions.
“Gas may not be $5 a gallon anymore, but (the promotion is) likely to still have some pull,” Brown said.
The free gas is one more attempt by Suzuki to draw consumers back to showrooms.
The automaker, part of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., has seen sales drastically decline during the downturn and, unlike other automakers, has yet to turn around its fortunes.
April sales were down 23% from a year earlier to 1,950 vehicles with overall sales for the 12 months through April down 57%.
Suzuki’s 2010 Kizashi sedan—its most heavily marketed model—made up about 20% of April’s sales.
“We’re off to a strong start, but we have a ways to go before consumers know about it,” Brown said.
Those who buy a Suzuki get a debit card ranging in value from $280 to $442 toward gas purchases.
The promotion kicked off this month and is expected to run through the end of August.
The campaign is getting a regional TV push in select markets, but none locally due to high costs here.
“When it comes to broadcast, we’re relatively geo-targeted in our approach,” Brown said.
The automaker will promote the program with giveaways on its social media sites.
“We launched our Facebook and Twitter (pages) back in mid-February and already have more than 20,000 fans,” Brown said. “For 90 days of operation, it’s not bad.”
Hispanic Water Campaign
Costa Mesa-based Casanova Pendrill Publicidad Inc. has retooled a TV, radio and print campaign to get more Hispanics to drink water.
The campaign for Nestlé Pure Life water, part of Switzerland’s Nestlé SA, encourages Hispanic moms to get their families to drink more water as opposed to soda.
The campaign “La Promesa Nestlé Pure Life,” urges Hispanics to replace one sugary drink with one glass of water each day.
Hispanics have played an important role in growing the water brand’s popularity since it was launched in the U.S. nearly seven years ago, according to Casanova.
It’s one of the best-selling bottled water brands, according to New York-based Beverage Marketing Corp.
Last year, Nestlé focused on Hispanics but didn’t run general market advertising. Since those ads broke in 2008, the brand’s recognition has quadrupled among Hispanics.
Hispanic TV host Cristina Saralegui was featured in the first campaign and reprises her role, as part of a two-year partnership to serve as the brand’s spokeswoman.
National TV spots start in June and run through October on networks such as Univision, Galavision and Telefutura.
The campaign also uses regional radio to support store promotions, grassroots events and a sweepstakes at Nestlé’s website.
Thermador On ‘Ellen’
Santa Ana-based DGWB Advertising & Communications landed two May kitchen giveaways on the “Ellen Degeneres Show” for client Thermador.
The prizes are part of a national campaign designed to gain awareness for the appliance maker, part of Huntington Beach-based BSH Home Appliances Corp.—a unit of Germany’s BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GMBH.
Thermador makes high-end ranges, refrigerators and dishwashers.
Bits and Pieces
Irvine-based Hispanic ad shop Traffik has launched a healthcare practice team focused on Medicare Advantage plans. The team includes art director David Morin, Web graphics designer Chia-Yi Mou, entertainment graphic designer Jose Gonzalez III and copywriter Mike Zuckerman, who is responsible for America Honda and La-Z-Boy campaigns … Oprah Winfrey and reality TV producer Mark Burnett, creator of “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” are holding open auditions in Laguna Niguel as part of a competition to find the next big TV talk show host. “Your Own Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star” is a competition series that will premier on Own, Oprah Winfrey’s cable network, in 2011 … O’Neill, a maker of surf-inspired clothes that is part of Irvine-based La Jolla Group Inc., has added another athlete to its ever-growing list of spokespeople. Collin Harrington, a wakeboarder, will represent the clothing brand … Irvine-based Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC has been hired by Huntington Beach-based My Memory Catcher, a personal historian service specializing in recording moments of people’s lives.
