Golf can be a very expensive and exhaustingly difficult sport to play, but watching the pros makes hitting the dimpled little ball seem like child's play. Pro golfers can have the same effect on the car buying process, as a recent study by Compete.com shows that web traffic for three sponsors of The Masters are getting a huge spike in site traffic in advance of the event. Mercedes, Cadillac, and Buick are pouring money into golf, and at least online the strategy is paying off. This is especially true for Buick, which has the one and only Tiger Woods as its pitchman.
Golf lovers are five times more likely to visit a Buick website than the average consumer and two to three times more likely to visit a Mercedes or Cadillac site. We're no marketing experts, but if those numbers hold up, that's an impressive return for the automakers marketing dollar. It'll be interesting to see if the up-tick in online interest will spur sales for Buick, Mercedes, and Cadillac in the month of April. The chart above shows web traffic in the months before The Masters, which begins April 10. Thanks for the tip, Eric!
Click image for a gallery of the Enclave used by Tiger Woods
In January, EA Sports held an online contest for Tiger Woods 08 players on the XBOX 360. First prize was a 2008 Buick Enclave CXL courtesy car used by Tiger during December's 2007 Target World Challenge golf tournament. Tiger won the tournament, finishing seven strokes ahead of '07 Masters champ Zach Johnson. Well, the contest is over and the winner has apparently taken delivery of the Buick, which came complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by Tiger himself. This might well be the only Buick Enclave in circulation that's Upper Deck authenticated.
Naturally, the car's new owner is looking to see if the Tiger connection is something that can be capitalized on, and the ride has been listed on eBay. Fully loaded, finished in Cocoa Metallic over Cocoa Cashmere, and showing just 220 miles on the clock, it's a really nice vehicle. As for the $100,000 Buy It Now price, well, that's ridiculous even with its certified, touched-by-Tiger history. According to the auction listing, eleven people have made offers, but there's no telling if they're anywhere near the asking price. We can't imagine they would be. Our advice: exercise some patience. Garage the Enclave, put the certificate of authenticity in a safe, and offer the whole package at Barrett-Jackson in January. As if by magic, a mundane, dealer-supplied courtesy vehicle becomes a "celebrity car". In B-J's massively hyped, more-money-than-sense environment, a hundred grand seems entirely feasible. Do we hear two hundred? Thanks for the tip, Steve.
Our favorite 32-year-old Buick ambassador, Tiger Woods, wants to carry your clubs. That's right, the world's greatest golfer wants to be your caddy. The humbling act is all part of Buick's new "Tee-Off with Tiger" online contest kicking off today.
Each time Woods plays a PGA tournament, entrants will attempt to guess his score for each of four 18-hole rounds. The person who guesses closest will win his actual tournament Buick (it will be slightly used, as Tiger will have put a few miles on it between the hotel and the greens - let's just hope his cleats were clean) for that event. At the end of the season, the top 10 closest entrants from each tournament will be placed in a pool, and a single winner will be chosen for the Grand Prize. The lucky individual, and a companion, will enjoy coach class airfare to La Jolla, California to play at Torrey Pines where Woods will serve as a personal caddy for nine holes.
You have to be 18 years of age and hold a valid driver's license to enter, though you need not possess any golf skills. Says Tiger, "I'm looking forward to sharing some golf tips, maybe a few jokes and certainly a lot of laughs." Nevertheless, we're sure by day's end the greatest golfer of all time (yeah, we said it) will tire of hearing the word "mulligan" and watching plumes of sand erupt from the traps.
Man, we really feel for Tiger Woods. Just three days after the birth of his first child, Sam Alexis Woods, the guy basically gets canned by Buick as their numero uno spokesperson. Seriously, how's a guy that swings a club for a living going to support a family without endorsements like Buick's? Sure, he's still got the Nike account, but all babies do are eat, sleep and poop, the latter of which requires diapers, which are hella expensive.
Buick says it wants to focus attention back on its product (really?), so while Woods will still appear in some advertisements, he won't be used solely to divert one's attention from the product anymore. General Motors has a heart though, so they've thrown the kid a bone and offered young Woods a stint endorsing OnStar. We'll likely see him appear in more of those celebrity-laden commercials with Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Kimmel, Kelly Rippa and the gang. We wish Tiger all the luck in the world without the deep pockets of Buick behind him anymore.
Click the above image for more shots from the GM Style Event
How many people associate the Chevy Monte Carlo with cool? How about the Buick Rendezvous? GM's doing everything it can to overhaul its lineup with more competitive products like the Saturn Aura and the Chevy Silverado. The battle to change perception that GM's marketers are waging may be a more daunting task then the design and engineering renaissance that the General is in the middle of. Stars like Gwen Stefani and rapper 50 Cent are being used to show that GM has found its "inner Fonzie." Stefani drove a gold Tahoe in one of her latest videos. Jay-Z helped design a special blue paint finish for the new Denali. Want more examples? The GM Style Event on the eve of NAIAS was a celeb-fest, and Tiger Woods, who's been endorsing Buick for years, unveiled the Enclave at the LA auto show last November.
Will America buy GM's push to be cool? We don't know. We are pretty sure, however, that products like the new Camaro, rear-drive Impalas and the forthcoming Pontiac G8 will probably help their case.
Buick really scored a hole in one when they signed Tiger Woods to be the company spokesperson. Although not exactly the demographic, Buick's historical ties with the PGA make it a great marketing move.
This video starts with Tiger looking for his "lost" wedge. As each group on the tee finds it, he asks if they want to bet on who can hit the ball closest to the hole... for a Buick Rainier. As the foursomes play through, Tiger eventually gives away four of the Buick SUV's to the stunned golfers that beat him.
Buick couldn't have made a better deal than to have Tiger sell their cars. especially with all of the news, both good and bad, recently surrounding him. He continues to win, got married, lost his father and will now become one himself this summer. As Buick works hard to lower the average age of their buyer from the late baby-boomers they currently attract, furthering this relationship should be their ace in the hole.
I guess we can bill this as Update 2. We just showed you the video of Tiger Woods and the new Enclave and speculated that this "hidden cam" vid might be a fake. Not rocket science to figure that out, but until we had confirmation, we didn't want to call BS on GM. Well, they just called BS on themselves.
While the 60-second YouTube clip appeared to be a bootleg, the Buick logo at the end was a big tip-off. According to The Detroit News, Buick spokesman David Darovitz admitted that "the video was shot two weeks ago in Los Angeles to build excitement for the Enclave's world introduction Nov. 28 at the Los Angeles Auto Show."
"We wanted to do something different," Darovitz said. "The idea was to make it look like a video stolen from an advertising shoot. We knew we weren't going to fool anybody. We just wanted to do something different that would create buzz."
With more than 9,500 hits, we'd say mission accomplished. This does show, however, how automakers are getting more creative in their marketing, trying to tap into non-traditional media outlets. Pontiac and Scion are in Second Life, and now Buick has a YouTube viral. We understand that these are two signs of the Apocalypse.
UPDATE 1 - Commenter TheOne442 points out the most obvious confirmation (which your eagle-eyed Autoblog staff missed completely) that it's a Buick viral: the Buick logo that appears over the YouTube logo as the thing ends. Props to Buick for the neat stuff, though.
Taking advantage of a level of security that could be best described as "relaxed," a videographer showing some serious testicular fortitude nonchalantly filmed portions of the upcoming Buick Enclave ad production featuring Tiger Woods, catching the new CUV in its birthday suit. According to Tiger, he's "never seen anything like it on the road." We're not sure about never, but more interesting than Tiger's forced Buick-speak is the sense of humor he shows when a plane buzzes overhead as he prepares to deliver a line.
Our favorite part comes at the end of the video, when someone gets all in the camera operator's face, covering the lens a wee bit too late to do any good.
So, while we love it, we wonder if it's a real "spy" vid or slick viral advertising from the General. For what its worth, the YouTube poster, "tigerstyle" has no other videos uploaded. Also, the camera used to record the action zooms in and out much faster than consumer cans we've used, which leads us to believe it was shot with professional video equipment. Watch, enjoy, and decide for yourselves.
GM's Chairman/CEO Rick Wagoner will join PGA superstar Tiger Woods to unveil the new-for-'08 Buick Enclave at this year's second L.A. Auto Show. Apparently moving the show to a new time slot in December to avoid the January competition with Detroit is already paying off for the L.A. organizers. Bringing Tiger out for this event shows how eager Buick is to get maximum exposure for this all-important new model. We're sure Tiger's going to be happy they didn't wait for the North American International Auto Show to debut it. L.A. in December or Detroit in January? Tough choice.
The Enclave should look a lot like the concept shown in Detroit last January, but will mark the debut of GM's new Lambda platform. The Lambdas will eventually replace the U-Body minivans with their front- or all-wheel-drive platform and 2+2+2 seating. Initially a 270-hp V-6 mated to a 6-speed automatic will be offered, but a V-8 should arrive somewhere down the road as well. That V-8 will undoubtedly be identified by the four (or is that fore?) ventiport styling touch Buick is becoming known for.
The Enclave should also feature a more upscale interior befitting Buick's position in the GM lineup. The first Lambda full-size CUV to be unveiled was the Saturn Outlook at the 2006 New York Auto Show, and it will beat the Enclave into showrooms when it goes on sale next Spring, followed by the Enclave and GMC's Acadia. The Enclave will replace the awkward looking and slow-moving Rendezvous.
If you've been dreaming of playing a round of golf with Tiger Woods, look no further... An auction benefiting
Buick Open charities is offering up the opportunity to bid on the chance to hit the links with the legendary
linksmeister.
Also up for bid are an autographed golf bag used by Tiger during the season, an all-expenses paid trip to L.A. to
take part in a clinic proctored by Tiger himself, and two VIP passes to the Daytona 500 (if you get these, please
remember your favorite contributors over at Autoblog).
Check your schedules -- the Buick open is July 31 through August 6.
Golf lovers are five times more likely to visit a Buick website than the average consumer and two to three times more likely to visit a Mercedes or Cadillac site. We're no marketing experts, but if those numbers hold up, that's an impressive return for the automakers marketing dollar. It'll be interesting to see if the up-tick in online interest will spur sales for Buick, Mercedes, and Cadillac in the month of April. The chart above shows web traffic in the months before The Masters, which begins April 10. Thanks for the tip, Eric!.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
Rendered or Real? 2010 Toyota Prius
UPDATE BREAKING: Layoffs and executive shuffles at Tesla Motors
SEMA Preview: Dodge bringing Viper-powered Challenger SRT10 Concept
CAR reveals spy shots of McLaren P11 supercar
2010 Chevrolet Camaro priced: LS $22,995, SS $30,995
Knight Rider: The Liveblog -- Season 1, Episode 4
Autoblog Comparo: Moving Mountains - Toyota Landcruiser vs. Hummer H2
First Drive: 2009 Volkswagen Routan
In the Autobog Garage: 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo
