General Motors had been an Oscar sponsor for more than a decade, but announced earlier this year that is was pulling out of the red carpet event in order to more wisely spend its advertising bucks. That left a $13 million void in the Oscar’s purse, but luckily the star-studded event has found a replacement sponsor.
Hyundai has announced that it will be picking up the slack left by GM and will be sponsoring this February’s Academy Awards. No word on how much the new deal will be worth, but GM dropped $13.5 million on the event last year, which included an exclusive automotive sponsorship.
Times must be a little easier in Korea than they are in Detroit right now as Hyundai also confirmed it will be running two 30-second spots during January’s Super Bowl — an event GM pulled out of in September.
Slumping car sales and an overall weak economy have forced many automakers to reduce their advertising spending, with ad spending taking an 18 percent dive in the second quarter of 2008, according to Automotive News.
