TV Exposure Can Drive a Car’s Sales Higher, Firms Find

The impact on car sales from movie and television exposure is hard to measure, product placement agents say. But occasionally, the car companies get telling reminders of Hollywood’s selling power.

BMW’s American officials found out about it firsthand not long ago, when one of their dealers in Virginia called frantically trying to find out what kind of BMW Cybill Shepherd drove in “Moonlighting.” A customer wanted to buy the exact same model, with the same colors and fabric schemes, as a present for his wife. BMW had to call Norm Marshall, of Norm Marshall & Associates, its agent in Hollywood, to find out.

Mercedes-Benz also discovered that the television show “Hart to Hart” provided priceless exposure for its little-known station wagon, recalls agent Bob Hadler of Hadler Public Relations, which then represented Mercedes.

Few car buyers knew Mercedes made a wagon until it was on the show. Later, Sue Ellen Ewing drove one on “Dallas,” and the double-barreled exposure led to a sharp jump in sales.

Sometimes, car companies consciously seek exposure geared to their customer base. Hadler, for instance, convinced the creators of “Dallas” that a modern and sophisticated Texas oil man would drive a Mercedes. The agent argued that a Cadillac convertible with a longhorn hood ornament, originally planned for J. R. Ewing, would give the show’s top star a dated image that didn’t reflect the fact that he was an ‘80s kind of evil genius. Thus J. R. first drove onto the set at Southfork Ranch in a Mercedes.