• by Karl Greenberg , September 5, 2012

Chrysler’s Dodge division is going forward in time to further its two-month-old U.S. marketing campaign for the 2013 Dodge Dart compact car. The effort includes a new TV spot, debuting Wednesday, “How to Make the Most Hi-tech Car.” The ad, which touts things like the car’s available 7-inch customizable instrument cluster, and 8.4-inch touchscreen Uconnect media center, suggests that the only way to develop that and other on-board technology is to literally build a time machine.

The spot joins the 90-second “How to Change Cars Forever” launch ad, which broke in July. The company says the fall media buy includes a range of network and cable shows, including NFL and NCAA football, regular season and playoff baseball games, network season premieres, appointment viewing shows, news, late-night, and tentpole events like the “Latin Grammys” and “American Music Awards.” The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker says other spots will roll out during Q4.

The new spot -- which like most elements of the campaign, is via Portland, Ore.-based AOR Wieden & Kennedy -- offers a humorous take on how to make high-tech car like the Dart: first, you have to have a time machine to go a couple of thousand years into the future to grab a guy, then bring him back to help you design the car. When he is sent back to the future, as it were, the time machine is trashed.  

Meanwhile, the original 90-second launch ad from July will run again on Wednesday in the top 25 DMAs during the NBC network’s season opening NFL game, per the company, which says the ad will run again over the weekend on the Fox coverage of Major League Baseball plus Sunday afternoon football games on CBS and Fox.

And there’s more: digital, newspaper and magazine advertising includes a USAToday newspaper cover wrap on Thursday and home-page takeovers on USAToday.com and Yahoo.com. Four print ads will run on consecutive Fridays in the USA Today sports section gridiron coverage, with placements in the television season premiere issues of Entertainment Weekly and People magazines. The Dodge division says print ads will also run in a range of lifestyle, entertainment, auto enthusiast and multicultural publications.

The print ads showcase the Dart’s look with headlines like “We Didn’t Tweak Last Year’s. We Invented this Year’s” and “Designed in Michigan. Built in Illinois. Driven in America.” 

The company says the launch campaign is showing healthy KPIs: Chrysler cites a 30% increased of visits to Dodge.com since July. The company says there are also a lot of hand-raisers looking for more info about the 2013 Dodge Dart, with compact-car bellwether state California leading in that regard. And, per Chrysler, 75% of those requesting information on the Dodge Dart do not currently own a Chrysler Group vehicle.