Abram Sauer Online

The ill-timed Chrysler announcement of a tie-in with Terminator Salvation, coinciding with its acceptance of billions in bail out money, led the blood-in-the-water media shark to ridicule the automaker for wasting taxpayer money, often with groan-inducing headline puns (”Chrysler to be back with Terminator“; Reuters)

Never-mind that, as the film’s shooting schedule was a year prior, the deal was almost certainly done long before any bailout money was approved, or even requested. Chrysler has (or “had”) a real chance to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. Too bad, from trailers, it looks like Chrysler is going to prove its detractors right, if for the wrong reasons.

Let’s start with the good news. Jeep, the Chrysler brand appearing in the film, has at least had the wherewithal to set up a site to highlight it’s partnership. (As we’ve pointed out before, brands constantly squander great onscreen opportunities by offering no information about their starring roles on their own sites.) Of course, the bad news is that the site is just a contest entry form, skinned with Terminator stuff, featuring a standard film trailer. As it becomes apparent that the ROI of product placement is unpredictable at best, brands that front good money to be put into films like this need to start demanding that part of the deal is some sort of trailer that specifically contains several scenes of their placements. How much better (for Jeep) would this Jeep-Terminator micro-site be if the trailer featured some of the Jeep in action in the film? As has been noted, Vespa and Harley also suffer this lack of vision.

Anyway, fans of the original Terminator will remember the ending of that film as basically a long Jeep Wrangler commercial starring Sarah Connor. Sunset, Pregnant Sarah Connor, armed with both hope for humanity and large revolver, driving toward the unknown horizon of both the literal West and the metaphoric future. The Jeep placement was perfect. The Wrangler model added a great deal to the scene, communicating that this woman was ready for anything the future might bring, be it sand, a river crossing or, you know, off-roading over human remains after Judgement Day.

So jeep certainly had an opportunity here with Salvation. Having not yet seen the film, it’s not a sure thing that Jeep wasted the opportunity but it’s likely.

There are two ways Jeep could have come out of Terminator Salvation with a victory (of sorts at least). First, would be if the Jeep featured in the film were a special edition “survival” model, tricked out with all the sorts of add-ons John Connor might want if he stepped into a Jeep dealership. Extras like a built-in short-wave radio, portable gas tanks, winch and maybe a gun rack. It could even just be a highlight package of options that are promoted for potential customers to come in and ask about.

The second option would be for Jeep to have lobbied the production to include an older model of Jeep as a way to build reputation. (This is a very effective tools for iconic brands to reinforce their reputations with their existing brand champion communities, such as Harley-Davidson in Indiana Jones or Triumph in Benjamin Button.) For example, Jeep could have asked for Connor and crew to drive around in classic Jeep Cherokee, the unmistakable model Jeep’s been cranking out for almost two decades. Furthermore, the reliability and ruggedness of the classic Cherokee combined with the fact that there has been so many made over the years that finding replacement parts (in the post Judgment Day world) is comparatively easy, makes it a perfect Terminator-fighting Jeep. With a background like that, Jeep might, conceivably, even be able to sell producers on including a line or two of this reasoning.

Instead, a Jeep something-or-another will tear around a few corners and maybe blow up. Along with 1,000 other nameless vehicles. And by the time they get home, nobody, including potential Jeep customers, will remember anything about Connor’s Jeep in Terminator. Unless of course you mean Mama Connor’s; that Wrangler was awesome.