• by Karl Greenberg , December 16, 2013

Stars fell on Alabama last night, and they fell on New York's Broadway, and up on 74th Street too. Along with some ice. Will Ferrell and about 63 quintillion other Left Coast luminaries strode the slush-encrusted red carpet for the world premiere of "Anchorman 2" at the Beacon Theatre. The line to get in the front way was a couple of blocks long, and in the back, the reporters looked on as the actors posed in front of a black Dodge Durango before heading in through the theatre's back door. Dodge was in the house too, not just in the reception tent. The brand was splashed across the theatre's giant screen. 

Ferrell, who plays the lead role in the movie, also posed in front of the SUV. Nice of him to do so, as he's gotten more publicity, exposure for the movie, views and just plain moolah from doing those improvisational Durango sketches on YouTube than he has for “Funny or Die.” It helps that the Durango sketches are at least as funny, too. 

What about Dodge? Market research firm Millward Brown Digital, which has done a shopper analysis of the campaign, reports that “It Comes Standard” on the Dodge YouTube channel garnered 3.6 million views, while “Staring Contest” had 2.6 million.

And Dodge was either very lucky or very smart to get Ron Burgundy (Ferrell's newsman character) into its creative before Ferrell, and/or his advisors and/or his agents began acting out, Satyricon-style, splashing burgundy on any media channel they could get their hands on. Since the theatre seats were stuffed with big names in production, acting, media, marketing, management, and obviously, the press, the car company also scored big having the car and the name at the premiere too. 

Now that the movie has officially premiered, it's fair game to look back at the whole Burgundy/Durango campaign. Millward Brown's analysis of the impact that the campaign has had on conversion rates assumes that if consumers associate “Anchorman” and Ron Burgundy with Dodge and Durango, there should have been more shoppers during the campaign than before. And there were. Although actual sales are soft, per the firm. As Burgundy might say, "you can lead a horse to a uniquely designed cupholder, but you can't make him use the straw." 

Millward Brown said Durango drew 28,500 in-market shoppers last month, up 33% from September and the highest level obtained this year. The firm also says it's the second-highest level since October 2011. The improvements also outpace the industry's return to health.

But the analysis also found that fewer Durango shoppers are becoming buyers. That, per Millward Brown, may have to do with the fact that incentives for the vehicle are lower for the new vehicle. From May to August, they averaged $4,440 per unit. Over the past months, they averaged $3,900 -- with November at $3,700, per the firm.