In last night’s episode of Survivor, the popular reality-series broadcast on SABC 3, contestant Colby Donaldson won a Pontiac Aztek – recently voted the ugliest car in the world. How much is GM prepared to pay to punt their products in this way?
The last person standing in the US-based reality TV show Survivor will win $1 million (R8 million), but for General Motors to continue its relationship with the series, it’s prepared to pay between R160 and R200 million.
It remains to be seen whether GM can justify its expenditure on the second Survivor series – which was shot in the Australian outback – by choosing to include its most maligned product, the Pontiac Aztek, as one of the show’s big prizes.
Colby Donaldson, a 26-year old custom auto designer from Dallas, claimed a bright-orange Aztek by winning a reward challenge during an episode shown on SABC 3 last night. Perhaps Colby is a somewhat dubious “expert” in auto design, but the best thing he could say about the Aztek was: “It’s actually nicer than I thought it would be” (or something to that effect).
He was, however, impressed with the fact that the back of the vehicle could convert into a nifty little tent.
The eventual winner of the second Survivor series also picked up a brand new Pontiac Aztek. However, with its controversial styling, “some claimed that it was an uglier sight than anything they had encountered in the bush during their trial by TV sojourn,” The Ride reported this week.
“We got an enormous pop from the Survivor association,” the President of GM North America, Ron Zarrella, was quoted as saying in Automotive News last May.
From a marketing perspective, Survivor seems to have been a short term hit. Recognition of the new Aztek – previously voted the ugliest car in the world in a survey – rocketed in the United States during the first and second series, but sales have decreased since the show finished.
The original show cost advertisers between R32 million and R40 million per series, compared with this year’s R80 million to R100 million. After baulking at the original price from CBS for its next Survivor series, GM negotiated an upfront deal, which will see it remain as the prize vehicle supplier for the next two series.
GM would probably secure a better return of investment if they placed something more desirable than the Aztek in the upcoming Survivor series to be filmed in Africa, though.
