• by Karl Greenberg , September 7, 2012

It's a "Test of Ownership" for Chrysler's Town & Country minivan. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker is talking turkey about how families should think about what to look for in a minivan. In a sense, the minivan market is probably the closest to pickup trucks in terms of the importance of specific features versus intangibles. With pickups, it's about towing capacity, storage, bed length, and suspension. For minivans, capability means rows and how many of them can be made to disappear into the floor; entertainment technology for the unruly ones in the back; storage capacity for things like soccer balls, and beach chairs. 

Chrysler says the new site, TestofOwnership.com, has videos from real Town & Country owners who talk about what makes the vehicle stand out. The effort also includes partnerships with Amazon Mom, BabyCenter and Brain Quest. That is also par for the course with Town & Country and sibling Grand Caravan, which have in the past had marketing programs with Disney. 

The effort also has two TV spots for national and cable media. The automaker says the campaign was inspired by Town & Country having gotten the top spot for the segment in the Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards for 11 years in a row. The effort, via AOR Portland, Ore.-based Wieden+Kennedy, also has extensions on sites like Facebook, and YouTube. 

One spot shows how a family uses Town & Country. The other ad puts the spotlight on Chrysler's Stow 'n Go feature, which allows both the second and third row to be dropped into the vehicle's floor for big cargo space. The online videos featuring a trio of real families tout on-board tension ameliorators like DVD standard, leather seats (for easy cleanup), built-in flashlight, and things like grocery bag hooks, and built-in umbrella holders.

The deal with Amazon Mom puts Town & Country content on a pre-natal and children's products page on Amazon.com, and on a Special Offers campaign on Kindle. There is also online advertising and custom consumer outreach. Chrysler is also hooking up with pregnancy and parenting mobile and Web destination BabyCenter to tout Town & Country with branded content, tools, social outreach programs, dealership programs, and test-drive offers. 

Chrysler is also doing a year-long marketing program with educational brand Brain Quest featuring a 100-city road tour and fund-raising test drives for schools and students. Three co-branded Town & Country minivans will roll into book and science festivals around the country; book and toy stores; and libraries and schools, per Chrysler. The partnership includes with a $20,000 college scholarship as grand prize, a $5,000 scholarship for college tuition, among other prizes.