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Chrysler boosts Jeep production.

Facebook will announce a "life-saving tool" on Good Morning America on Tuesday.Continue reading...

There's nothing like robust sales and some good, old-fashioned TV commercials to bolster a brand's perception with the public. That's exactly what's been happening lately with Chrysler, according to YouGov's Brand Index.

Some worried that Chrysler would have a difficult time finding the right positioning after its 2011 Super Bowl-originated "Imported from Detroit" theme ran its course, especially without a reprise by Clint Eastwood of his role in the company's halftime commercial during the 2012 Super Bowl.

But judging by the feedback to YouGov, it appears as if Chrysler might have waited too long to move past Eminem, Dirty Harry, gritty images of downtrodden Detroit, and its vehicles in the midst of it all.

Turns out that Chrysler's new fleet of four TV spots — each of which bolsters an important bit of positioning for one of its four brands — have been all but magical in lifting the perception of the individual auto brands and Chrysler as a whole among those who've seen them.Continue reading...

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The Chrysler Group has posted another spectacular monthly sales result, with March sales up by 34 percent over a year earlier. Americans are buying Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles at a recent-record pace, and there appears to be no end in sight for the company's resurgence nearly three years after the U.S. government accepted its carcass and gave it to Fiat.

Yet there is one big cloud that remains for Chrysler amid all the silver linings: product quality. The company has made huge advances in spiffing up its vehicles as it has overhauled its product line over the last few years, especially in improving the materials and finish of amenities and components in its vehicle interiors. But there's much progress still to be made, which is why the company has invested $20 million over the last year to upgrade vehicle quality at the Belvidere, Ill., assembly plant where the new 2013 Dodge Dart soon will begin rolling off the line in volume.

"We are trying to drive a culture change," Jeff Betts, Chrysler's head of quality, told the Wall Street Journal. "Before we tried to downplay problems, because who wants them ending up in your lap. Now if you pont out a problem we shake your hand, say thank you and fix it."Continue reading...

Chrysler brand is getting all the buzz. Fiat is receiving credit for a bit of a comeback after its unimpressive re-launch in the U.S. market last year. And Dodge will benefit from the new Dodge Dart later this year.

So what is the Jeep brand doing for Chrysler Group these days?

Bringing home the bacon, and the Facebook fans (2 million and counting, thanks to such outreach as the recent contest that led to the Altitude model name). And serving as the leading ambassador for the Fiat-owned company as CEO Sergio Marchionne pursues his strategy of exporting U.S.-made vehicles around the world — and establishing some new manufacturing posts for the company abroad as well.Continue reading...

It's finally the "second half" for Chrysler, and this weekend the automaker is rolling out a quartet of new TV ads that pick up where its "Halftime in America" commercial with Clint Eastwood (above) left off during February's Super Bowl. Don't expect anything like the punch delivered by Eastwood's craggy rallying cry or the alleged political innuendo in the spot that ran at halftime of the Big Game, urging Americans not to give up on themselves, their economy or their nation. And, of course — buy a Chrysler.

The new fleet of commercials is somber in tone, reflecting that of the original "Halftime in America" spot. They stick with the notion of making a comeback. And each shows a line at the end of the spot that repeats one of the themes uttered by Eastwood in the Super Bowl ad. But there are no overt references to Detroit as in Chrysler's celebrated advertising of the last year or so, just a few glimpses of a gray and gritty metropolis that might be Detroit. They offer "hope and encouragement," as Chrysler CMO Olivier Francois blogged about them.

Yet the new spots—watch them below—do shed some fresh light on Chrysler's strategy for each of its U.S. brands, depicting the stories of four individuals, each of whom relates to Ram, Dodge, Chrysler or Jeep in particular tell-tale ways. Below, meet Chrysler's post-Eastwood brand ambassadors: Tommy, Shaun, Steven, and Jenny.Continue reading...

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Above, watch a video case study submitted to the Cannes Lions for Jeep-In, a mobile interactive game created for Chrysler's Jeep brand in Poland by Leo Burnett's Warsaw office. The mobile marketing promotion targeted young car-buyers by inviting them to hit the off-road and check-in along a virtual treasure map and collect awards along the way, with the player collecting the most awards winning a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Elsewhere in Europe last year, Leo Burnett Brussels tested a different spin on treasure hunts for a different Jeep model (the Compass) with a different interactive game challenge: to find Belgium's most deserted mailbox.