Pontiacs Scores Major Marketing Coup by Providing New G6s

It pays to be in the right place at the right time, or at least that must be how 276 Oprah Winfrey fans feel right about now.

Talk about fan appreciation day, those in attendance of her season-opening show on Monday got a big surprise as they went home with the keys to a new Pontiac G6. Thats one per attendee, a 276 tally that in total is worth $7.7 million.

Everyone knows that Oprah is rich, after enjoying 18 years with "The Oprah Winfrey Show" at the top of television daytime talk shows, but spending close to eight million would have been a little bit too generous if she had actually paid the tab herself. Instead

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey (center) poses atop a Pontiac G6 outside her Harpo studios in Chicago, Illinois, September 9, 2004, surrounded by some of the 276 delighted fans that made up the audience of her first show of the season. Each received a key to a new G6 during the shows taping. (Photo: Bob Davis, Harpo Productions)

Mondays Pontiac G6 giveaway was kicked off this seasons "Wildest Dreams Come True" theme, a feel-good segment of the show where Oprah

Oprah Winfrey (left) is introduced to General Motors Orion Assembly Center employee Carol Vance (right) by Plant Manager Jamie Hresko Thursday, September 2, 2004. Winfrey visited the plant, which builds the G6 model she gave away on her show, for a tour earlier this month. (Photo: Tom Pidgeon, General Motors)

"Its incalculable," commented Mark-Hans Richter, Pontiacs director of marketing. "The power of this is not in how many minutes of airtime we received. Its the power of Oprah. The buzz and validity is priceless, especially among women. There will be a lot of women talking about the G6 tonight over dinner."

The Grand Am model that the G6 is replacing is currently popular among women, and GM has hopes of increasing

The G6 models given away are well equipped to the tune of $28,000, with OnStar and XM Satellite Radio included. (Photo: General Motors)

According to an Automotive News story, it took Pontiac and its African American advertising agency partner, Vigilante of New York City, one year to put the publicity event together.

The G6 models given away are well equipped to the tune of $28,000, with OnStar and XM Satellite Radio included. Each customer also has the opportunity to customize their new G6, through a Pontiac program.

What the lucky winners most likely couldnt have known prior to taking delivery of their new cars, is that the G6 is the first Pontiac

The G6 is the first Pontiac to get the full Bob Lutz treatment, the product czar GM lured out of retirement after years of service for Chrysler Group. (Photo: General Motors)

So how did Oprah set up the audience? At the beginning of the show she called eleven fans out of the audience to the front stage, and presented them with the new car. When the cheering finally settled down and the prize winners regained their collective breath, the popular host had gift boxes passed out to the entire audience, and told the crowd that one of the boxes contained a set of keys for the twelfth and final car. When the members of the audience saw that they had won a car too, shrieks of joy permeated the theater.

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