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I don’t watch “24” but apparently GM’s dead brand Pontiac Pontiac “received $256,200 in exposure by 8 total sequences, including one verbal mention” on the season premiere of the Fox terror drama according to Front Row Marketing and TVbythenumbers.com. Your tax dollars hard at work building equity for dead brand? Out of morbid curiosity, are there any 24 fans out there who can tell us what these references were? [Hat Tip: Graham Smith]
24 Comments on “Ask The Best And Brightest: How/Why Did Pontiac Sponsor “24”...”
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The only thing I could contemplate a G3 being used for on 24 is to be filled with plastic explosives and blown up.
Are you questioning GM’s absolute mastery of dead brand management?
Saturn is too happy shiny for 24. Saab is too left wing liberal. In addition, they are phasing out support for Oldsmobile over the next decade, and are saving most of that budget for Europe and China. Opel? Too obvious.
In other news, GM just recently finished a deal to make the Cadillac SRX the official vehicle of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
Because like any bureaucracy, it just keeps doing what it has always done until somebody stops paying them. There will be stuff like this for years.
I watched the first episode and was very surprised to see a G8 GXP in it. I loved the fact that it was used but you could tell it was product placement. It made me wonder how long ago the deal was signed to use it. It was used for all of 30 seconds in a chase scene but it was still awesome and it made me remember that I wanted one.
A G8 was in the opener with a guy fleeing an assassin and was shown quite prominently. I noticed other Pontiacs here and there, but it wasn’t obvious like with the Fords in previous seasons. I don’t recall hearing them say Pontiac at all.
Didn’t watch the Cheney/Bush pornograpy called “24”…Time to get back to diplomacy, not torture and nation building – Pontiac or not
Today marks the start of Mr. Obama’s *second* year in office. Perhaps it is time to stop blaming Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Lincoln, and Washington for their policies while president?
Yotacarfan,
You’re wasting your breath. Guys like this are primarily interested in their perception of their side winning… everything else is secondary.
Do you watch “Dexter”? If so, are you pro-serial killer?
24 ran very obvious placement for the Hyundai Genesis sedan in the 2 hour movie they ran between seasons 6 and 7.
The season airing now started shooting in May, one or two months after GM decided to kill the brand. It’s very possible the cars were already prepped for filming at this time, in which case GM would have had to pay for rewrites and prep work on different models, which could have pushed filming back even further and ruined the production schedule.
How difficult would it have been to replace one line of dialogue and swapping a CTS-V for the G8 GT? The planning for Pontiac’s wind down was likely 12-18 months in the planning. Proving once again that GM could screw up a free lunch.
The car was featured in at least one action sequence where it is shot up. It’s possible that the shoot involved several cars specially prepped. It’s also possible the second unit already had some work in the can. For production to be pushed back for a botched placement deal would be untenable.
While they may have had contingency plans in place for months, GM did not pull the plug on Pontiac until April.
You’re assuming the producers even care what kind of car is in the scenes. All they care about is that the cars are contracted for, prepped, and in place when the cameras start rolling.
Any personal caring about cars has to do with what they’re seen in at the Brown Derby’s valet parking tonight.
To make watching the show more interesting play the 24 Drinking Game (take a drink each time you see / hear this):
– An iteration of “X number of innocent lives are at stake”
– Jack knows what to do but his “superiors” do a different thing and Jack has to go “rogue”
– Chloe knows something to do but her “superiors” do something differently and she breaks the rule
– News on TV is something other than Fox News (trick – never gonna happen)
Anyway, fun aside – shouldn’t a Pontiac be easier to break into and hot wire than a Cadillac? Seasons before they only drove Ford Explorers…and good guys used Nextel and bad guys Sprint.
The lead time of filming the series probably caused the use of the Pontiacs to precede the bankruptcy of GM. This marketing decision was made by the “old” GM. The cost of re-filming the sequences would probably be high.
GM does not pay product placement fees to TV and movie production studios. Their approach is to provide access to a large fleet of vehicles in Hollywood for production work to make it easy for the studios to come to their lot and pull whatever they need. Perhaps a G8 was still in this fleet, and the producers picked for whatever reason.
It was a silver G8 that was stolen and shot at. The mention was when the NYPD officer called in the stolen car by name.
Actually it was a Magentic Gray Metallic G8 GT Sports/Premium package. I can’t believe those bastards destroyed a perfectly good G8. They should rot in hell.
@Syke – The Brown Derby’s valet parking lot? Neato Keeno! I’ll shine up the Studebaker, get out my fedora and spats, havel my girl get dolled up in her best glad rags, and we’ll all hit the town. No messing in the rumble seat, though!
Thank you for giving me such a smile today.
It was a gray Pontiac G8 GT with the sport package 19″ wheels. I paid special attention since that’s exactly what I own (minus the hotwiring and bullet holes).
Redwood,
unless the color is off on my TV, I’m pretty sure it was a black G8 GTP.
maybe it was just prophetic? shoot up the dead brand? later Jack is in a silver malibu. message: heroes drive chevrolets!
Incidentally, if you plan on getting into “24” watch the first five series and then never watch series 6 and 7. Utter tripe.
Used to be 24 was loyal to a particular brand… Ford most recently. This season is a mishmash of Pontiac, Ford (Fusion), GM (Hybrid Tahoes and Malibus), and a throwback Impala for good times (explosions).
Evident marketing money has dried up…