General Motors and Hollywood's little gold statue have been friends for 11 years, but with a reduction in its marketing and ad budget, the U.S. automaker has walked away from high profile events such as the Super Bowl, Emmys, and Oscars. Thankfully for ABC, the multimillion-dollar breach in the 2009 Oscars telecast created by GM's departure has been immediately filled by Hyundai.

As of now, Hyundai has only signed on to take over an unknown quantity of the $1.7-million-plus ad slots - it isn't known whether the Korean automaker will completely replace GM's presence at the awards. Along with a new agency, and an increased marketing budget - and all those SEMA cars - Hyundai's ad buy is another measure of its confidence in the new Genesis and its push to move into premium territory.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments