automotive

Chrysler Video Puts Spotlight Back On Detroit

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Chrysler is bringing Detroit back. Not the city -- although maybe that will happen, too, but the city as gritty industrial landscape of the Chrysler brand and its "Imported from Detroit" theme.

After getting a lot of attention with its two-minute Super Bowl ad -- which featured rapper Eminem, scenes from urban Detroit, and shots of the new 200 sedan -- Chrysler reportedly held meetings with Eminem but was mum about the topic of discussion. Observers speculated about the possibility of Eminem making or appearing in other ads for the company. But while the campaign continued using Eminem's backbeat, the follow-up "Imported from Detroit" ads featured artists and athletes who are from Detroit but live in other cities.

Now "Imported from Detroit" is back in the Motor City -- at least online -- and Eminem is involved again, although he's not appearing in ads. A new Detroit travelogue again uses Eminem's "Lose Yourself" performed by Detroit's "Selected of God" choir, which was also in Super Bowl commercials.

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Eminem's "Eight Mile Style" label will donate all publishing proceeds from the song -- available on iTunes for about a dollar -- to three local Detroit charities, part of an overarching Chrysler/Eight Mile Style program called "Imported from Detroit Project."

While the music video for the song was produced by Chrysler but doesn't feature any Chrysler vehicles, it is on Chrysler's YouTube channel. Meanwhile, the Chrysler brand is talking up Beats Audio, the in-vehicle entertainment system developed with Eminem's Detroit hip hop compadre Dr. Dre.

Olivier Francois, Chrysler brand president and CEO, said in a statement: "This new rendition of 'Lose Yourself' ... is meant to inspire the listener from within and it perfectly captures the emotion felt in the 'Born of Fire' commercial."

Has the campaign sparked sales? Chrysler LLC, a unit of Fiat SpA, said it saw a 33% increase in sales last month across its brands, but that sales of Chrysler brand cars -- meaning the Chrysler 200 and 300 -- increased a combined 66% last month, driven almost entirely by the Chrysler 200 car that was featured in the original commercial. The company posted a 111% increase in sales of the Chrysler 200. Sales of the Chrysler 300 were up 6% last month.

1 comment about "Chrysler Video Puts Spotlight Back On Detroit ".
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  1. Kirby Winfield from Dwellable, August 3, 2011 at 8:16 a.m.

    Nice piece Karl. I love the Eminem ads for the determination and backbone they evoke on behalf of a beaten down brand and city. But I have to say, incredibly sloppy of you to call Dre a Detroit artist - he is arguably the most identifiable and influential Los Angeles hip hop icon in history.

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