Source: CNY Business Journal

LIVERPOOL - What can get you out of a speeding ticket, unlock your car from the inside, and deter potential car thieves? A Trunk Monkey, of course.

Bresee Chevrolet is building brand identity thanks to a new television advertising campaign that highlights a monkey popping out of a car's trunk, inevitably helping out the car's owner in some way.

It's an ad campaign specifically designed to offer an antidote to Billy Fuccillo's "Huge" ad campaign.

"It's totally the opposite," explains Scott Portuondo, Bresee's general manager. "Ours [is] fresh, It's not as in-your-face, it's more entertaining." Equally entertaining has been the response by customers and prospects that have seen the TV spots, he adds.

The Liverpool car dealership has had to create an e-mail list for customers eagerly awaiting the fourth trunk-monkey commercial. Portuondo, who won't reveal what the trunk monkey's next stunt will be, says that ad will launch at the end of this month. Other customers have e-mailed Portuondo explaining that they bought a new car, but now they want their Trunk Monkey.

Portuondo, a Bresee Chevrolet veteran of 10 years, says he "cannot remember any ad campaign having nearly as much of an impact. It's mostly kind of a goofy ad that cuts through the clutter. Every ad you see on TV for car dealers has been tried anywhere you go in the country, and this has a fun twist to it."

There are no sales goals attached to the campaign, which Portuondo says was designed specifically to build up the Bresee brand. The dealership has a Trunk Monkey-decorated Christmas tree, and plans to come out with a line of Trunk Monkey-themed apparel after January 1.

The commercials, which have been airing since late May, have cost Bresee between $15,000 and $20,000 per month. "On average, we're spending a lot less than 'Huge'," Portuondo says.

And while Portuondo says he'd love to take the credit for the Trunk Monkey's appearance in Central New York, the idea originated with a dealership in Portland, Oregon. A clip was e-mailed to Portuondo in April "and I just thought it was hilarious," he recalls. "I said, 'Gee, we have to get that.'"

He called up R-West, a Portland-based advertising agency, to secure the rights to the campaign, and then coordinated local branding of the Trunk Monkey series with Bresee's own ad agency, Designworks. Additional commercials featuring the Trunk Monkey depend on how long R-West can keep the campaign fresh.

"It depends on how many sequels they'll produce," Portuondo says. "We just bought another commercial last week. We've got the rights to that for another year. They keep making commercials, we keep buying them."

Copyright Central New York Business Journal December 10, 2004
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