Smart USA to spend no ad money for the U.S. launch.

[SmartAmerica]

From B12 Solipsism's web site..."Smart USA has no plans to spend money on ads in 2007 or 2008 to support the U.S. launch early next year of the Smart car.



Whether or not that is smart remains to be seen. But what already has been shown is that the car's pre-arrival word-of-mouth buzz is extensive and praise from international owners borders on legendary. Since its introduction in 1998, more than 700,000 have been sold in 36 countries."

[propes]

Makes sense - by all accounts even if theres a sizable number of people with buyer's remorse and decide on refunding their $99 deposit, it's clear any inventory will go within days. National media campaigns are really pricey, and those who buy the first models in the US will end up repeating the words "smartusa.com" over and over and over again.

It's actually much the same for many of the other popular, but still niche cars. Anyone seen commercials for the Mini? Toyota is only mentioning the Prius in their ads as part of a branding exercise, not to sell a car that still has waiting lists.