• by Karl Greenberg , March 31, 2010

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA), which unveiled a raft of luxury vehicles at the New York Auto Show this week, will support the vehicles this year with some major product-placement deals and exclusive automotive sponsorship of the U.S. Open Tennis Championship in New York late this summer.

The company is also sponsoring -- and has several products in -- the upcoming New Line release, "Sex and the City II." Steve Cannon, MBUSA's VP marketing, tells Marketing Daily that the automaker's presence in the film includes a number of Mercedes vehicles and activation on several fronts, including sponsorships of the premiere in 20 to 30 markets; dealer-sponsored local-market pre-screenings of the film; and product displays.

"It's a big position in a film that skews female, which is a great demographic for us," says Cannon, adding that the focus on a film that will certainly bring in more women than men makes sense partly because of a demographic shift toward women among highly educated, affluent consumers.

"Demographically, the weighting of MBAs has shifted toward women -- there's a power shift, generally going, in terms of graduation rates in college, and achievement of more senior degrees," he says.

The company showed three new versions of its E-Class sedan: an E350 BlueTEC diesel sedan; the E-Class Cabriolet; and E-Class 4Matic wagon. Also unveiled is the newest R-Class crossover.

Cannon says popular culture will be a major avenue this year to get the word out about the new vehicles. He says that in addition to movies, the company will have vehicles in TV programs, including reality shows and sitcoms.

"We get more exposure in product-placement than any of the other luxury brands combined," says Cannon, who adds that Mercedes has products in shows like "How I Met Your Mother," "Two and a Half Men," and "The Amazing Race."

The automaker replaces Lexus as sponsor of the U.S. Open -- which Cannon notes is the biggest single sporting event in the world, bringing in some 720,000 people over the two-week period of the event whose average income is $120,000. Cannon says MBUSA will have nine product displays.

Per Cannon, Mercedes will support with a media commitment on ESPN and CBS.com. There will also be nine product display areas.

"As people are milling about the tennis center, we get to engage them with new products. And to make sure we are hitting a green theme, we are putting a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles -- 75 of them -- in the U.S. this year and next. We will have a fleet of zero-emission vehicles to shuttle players to and from the tennis center."