Chrysler is the smallest of the Detroit Three car manufacturers, and has the smallest marketing budget of them all.  It has a long established product, but is not considered by the general consumer as a coveted brand.  Competing head to head with GM, or Ford is a difficult prospect, as they are the number 2 and number 4 (respectively) advertisers in the United States  For this reason, Olivier Francois, director of marketing, feels that risks need to be taken in order for his company to get their message across.  His approach is to increase the impact of his adds through creativity.  He has been rolling out commercials headlined by celebrities.  This has been done before, but the Chrysler ads differ from just having a celebrity “talk” about why you should buy a vehicle.  The first popular Chrysler ad featured rapper Eminem,  with a pounding musical beat in the background and a cool Detroit vibe.  The goal was to evoke an emotional link to the heyday of the Detroit automobile era, while making it look cool and current.  The second ad featured Clint Eastwood “talking about America making a comeback”.  This implied that the consumer could be a part of that recovery, thereby making buying a car more  valuable to the consumer (value proposition).  In the newest ad, the focus will be on humor, as Will Ferrell appears as “Ron Burgundy, Anchorman” to pitch the product.  Humorous commercials are typically popular and lead to a lot of comments like “hey did you see that funny ad”.  Getting people to talk about your advertising can be just as valuable as them talking about your product.  It keeps people interested and when it comes time to buy a vehicle it could be the thing that brings them in to purchase.  To paraphrase  Chrysler’s (Dodge) Tim Kuniskis, CEO, he could stick a commercial with footage of a vehicle driving and a generic voice telling you about it, but it would just get lost in the ad world.  However,  If you run an ad with Will Ferrell, it is more likely to get the consumer to take notice.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/chrysler-signs-will-farrell-to-make-pitch-for-dodge-suv-as-anchorman-character-ron-burgundy/