Star Trek legend in Chrysler ads
Shatner auto maker’s new pitchman TV spots promote $1 million giveaway
Captain James T. Kirk of TV’s starship Enterprise will try to boost Chrysler car sales in a $ 1 million holiday season contest that may also send ratings at two network newscasts into orbit.
DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. announced yesterday it has hired William Shatner, the veteran actor who played Kirk, to promote the company’s “You could be a millionaire” contest, an effort to pull consumers into showrooms in the traditionally slow year- end selling season. Anyone who buys or leases a vehicle from today until Jan. 3 will automatically qualify for a chance at a $ 1 million prize. In order to win one of the weekly $ 25,000 cash prizes, they will also have to watch CTV’s and TVA’s national newscasts on Thursday nights to obtain a secret word that must be included with their entries. Mike Accavitti, DaimlerChrysler’s vice- president of marketing, said in an interview the auto maker is trying to rise above the industry “ clutter” of incentives with a unique campaign to attract new business.
“ The big deal for us is increasing consumer awareness and getting them into our showrooms,” he said.
Accavitti said the company can accomplish this by exposing consumers to the promotion in two ways. People who are exposed to the television, print, radio and internet ads featuring Shatner could go to dealerships and enter the contest for $ 1 million or $ 25,000 prizes.
If they watch the television newscasts, they might notice the network revealing the secret word, prompting possible participation and a showroom visit, he added.
“ The promotion drives people to the newscasts, which will be good for the network’s viewership numbers,” Accavitti said. “ In exchange, we get the exposure there. It’s a win- win situation.” CTV currently attracts more than 1.5 million viewers on its nightly newscast.
DaimlerChrysler sold just under 30,000 vehicles in Canada last November and December, but the auto giant hopes to increase sales by attracting a lot more people to dealerships.
Investors punish GM stock on restatement fears, F3
ent company ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., Air Canada has decided to pay out the likes of New York hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP, Deutsche Bank AG and General Electric Co.’ s financing division. “Those companies basically bought Air Canada for pennies on the dollar,” Lefebvre said. “ Milton is beholden to them. He owes his livelihood to them, so there’s no question he would go along with this.”
Milton told the lightly attended meeting that the company’s workers incurred relatively small pay cuts compared to other North American airlines. He also noted that any payout remains subject to a board decision, and said no timeline has been set for that. Some industry analysts backed the airline’s move.
Research Capital Corp. analyst Jacques Kavafian said the unions were off base with their criticism.
“ The problem the unions had was the money wasn’t going to them,” Kavafian said. “ Air Canada has $ 2.5 billion in cash on hand. For an airline of its size, with its prospects, $ 1 billion is a good number to keep for a rainy day.”
Kavafian described the payout plan as a “ good way to reward those companies who had invested in the company.”
Air Canada has resisted the request from unions to use any extra money to close its pension deficit. In a recent securities filing, Air Canada said its board at a Sept. 13 meeting “ concluded that the passing of a special resolution is in the best interests of ACE Aviation.”
Several airline union members said the payout has set a negative tone for coming contract negotiations. Unions have the right to begin negotiations on new collective agreements in January, and can officially reopen those agreements June 30, said Pamela Sachs, an official with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents Air Canada’s 7,000 flight attendants.
“ What this says is that the financial plan that they used to get concessions from us was way off,” Sachs said. “ We’re going to be looking to get back the 13.5 per cent in concessions we gave up.”
It’s also possible that the payout could presage legal action, said Hugh O’Reilly, a lawyer for the Machinists.
Shareholder activist Bob Verdun denounced the resolution as merely a scheme “ to push up share values to allow option holders to cash in.” Verdun said the money should go back to employees, or be reinvested in the company.
Milton responded that companies that treat shareholders well also do well for their employees.
Milton also told the meeting that ACE is forging ahead with plans to sell shares in its Jazz regional airline division, and in the aircraft maintenance division.
Milton, 45, head of Air Canada since 1999, also said yesterday that he might leave “sooner rather than later” after proving the company can compete.
“This long ago ceased to be much fun, so this is about proving that it’ll work,” said Milton.