Call me crazy, but I enjoy a good commercial. Read my blog post on Dead Space 2 and you’ll know I give credit to well executed marketing campaigns. And today I want to give a shout-out to this:

Who gets credit for the campaign?

Cooked up by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy‘s Portland office, this promotion for Dodge’s new Journey crossover incorporates TV spots, a YouTube channel, and–talk about interactive–a nationwide treasure hunt!

What’s so good about it?

The first thing that caught my attention was the subtle use of celebrity: the voice-over is done by lovable serial killer Dexter Morgan– er, I mean Emmy-nominated actor Michael C. Hall.

Also attention grabbing is the clever emotional appeal: while displaying images of gorgeous American landscapes the spots reminds us that:

“People don’t make a list of the websites they wanna see before they die. They don’t fill photo albums with pictures from an online search. Like being there is not like being there.”

And then, there’s this incredible call to action:

“We built the first search engine for the real world–the Dodge Journey. And then, we left three somewhere out there. If you can find one, you can have one.”

I can only imagine the flood of traffic this has brought to Chrysler’s website and YouTube channel as eager treasure hunters seek clues to the cars’ whereabouts. (As of this writing two have been found, but one is still out there!)

What I like most about this campaign, though, is that it’s different. It’s exciting. In a world where most car commercials follow pretty much the same formula… This one stands out.

So, way to go Wieden+Kennedy! (Call me if you ever need any SEO copywriting.)

How can we emulate such marketing genius?

But what can the rest of us learn from this excellent example?

  1. Engage your audience by integrating various sales channels like TV, blogs, social media, and live events.
  2. Generate buzz by being different. Car sweepstakes happen every day, but how often do they involve a giant game of hide-and-seek?
  3. Have some fun because people prefer brands with a human element.

I’d love to hear your thoughts; please leave me a note in the comments section.