GM’s title sponsorship/co-branding with CCTV-4: “Shanghai General Motors reminds you to watch CCTV-4″. This simple ad made Buick the #1 car in China.
In 2005 GM’s Buick brand surpassed Volkswagen and claimed the title of top automobile sold in China. They achieved this coveted title by sponsoring and co-branding with CCTV-4, China’s most popular news channel (when we say popular in China, that means 100′s of millions of viewers).
STRATEGIC MARKETING GOAL:
Increase Buick brand awareness; increase image that Buick is the a great international, high-class brand.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
China’s “pre-eliete” to “elite” status’d males, age 25-55
- Successful entrepreneurs, senior level managers, proprietors of private company
- Successful mid-class, have high income in major cities
- Achieved a high level of educational background
- Pay attention to national economy and social news.
MEDIA STRATEGY:
Research showed that the target market’s favorite TV program are domestic and overseas news (as seems to be the case with businessmen the world over).
Time-wise; this target is busy busy busy; so they only watch news after 9pm. The star’s aligned for CCTV-4, the only news channel on after 9pm; and a hit popular news show was born.
The sponsorship was simple in execution (see above); and simply reminded viewers to keep watching CCTV-4. Super simple; but the effect? Super super!
CCTV-4 RESULTS
85% of the targeting audiences remember the commercial. Among them, 65% have better feelings towards the brand after viewing. 86.8% of the audiences think that GM is a reliable brand, with quality and famous cars.This key windfall went on to drive increased sales for the next few years.
SOME BACKGROUND INFO ON CCTV
In 2006, there were 1.19 bilion TV viewers in China already, 3 times the size in America. Their average viewing time is 176 minutes per day. (When comparing with US and Japan, this figure is not very high.) By 2008, TV still accounts for 60% of media revenue in China, and CCTV accounts for 30% of TV revenue among 683 TV stations. CCTV-4 is an international channel broadcasts also outside of China in Mandarin. It contains variety of programs including documentaries, music, news, dramas, sports and cartoons.
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