Writing a Thesis on Product Placement?

Independently owned since 1972

Vista Group Sets Sights Over Hollywood

    On location: Pan the San Gabriel foothills through the haze filter and skirt Burbank's movie lots until you find the 33-acre lot that houses Vista Group, a hybrid agency that specializes in automotive public relations and marketing activities along with film and television product placement.  You will also find a fleet of 150-200 client vehicles including GMC busses such as the one used in the feature film "Speed," as well as old movie sets and an array of heavy-duty trucks that belong to a long-distance movie company.

 It's the kind of place that Raymond Chandler might know and even write about.  It's a place that can house "high impact" business opportunities, according to Vista Group's founder and president Eric Dahlquist, Sr.  The low, tan office buildings are roomy and filled with plenty of car art.  In the lobby is a General Motors' futuristic concept vehicle from "Demolition Man," the sci-fi film starring Sly Stallone, and which was also featured in a five-minute Vista Group film created for GM's annual shareholder meeting in 1993.

    Down the hallway is an office for client GMC's traveling sales and marketing road show program, a program put together by Vista Group to integrate sales with promotion.  A second room houses automotive publications dating back to 1900.  Vista Group founder Dahlquist, Sr. is a historian as well as an auto journalist and former editor of Motor Trend. The next room shelves client press kits and manuals.  Still another room is dedicated to the National Hot Rod Association's promotions in associations with GMC  and Pontiac.

    "Incentivizing team spirit to present the product" is key to Vista Group programs, explains the energenic and dapper Dahlquist.  "For the integrated program which brings GMC trucks to the customers, we use two 50-foot trailers that travel to 20 National Hot Rod Association events across the country.  Dealers bring their cars to each event and visitors review information on program kiosks as well as try out the vehicles.  About 1550 vehicles are sold through these events each season," Dahlquist said.

     In the near future, Dahlquist hopes to roll out the same kind of merchandising program for Pontiac.  While talking about his work with Pontiac over the years, which has also included placing the Firebird as the main "character" in David Hasselhoff's "Knight Rider" television show, Dahlquist recalls being especially proud of the fact that he was asked by GM's Bill Hoglund to help adapt Pontiac's mission statement a number of years ago.  "Along with 30 other GM people, I helped come up with Pontiac's new image."

    All of Vista Group's projects are targeted to create high-impact interest.  However, Dahlquist said his group also serves as a bridge between corporate, legal and automotive staffs for clients.  An example of this kind of cross-communications is Vista Group's work with GMC to develop at trademark licensing program, which has grown in six years to include over 40 licensees such as toymakers Mattel and Corgi, as well as Hallmark Cards.  The revenue generated from this business has increased 500% since 1990. Hundreds of different toy trucks that represent Vista Group's work sit on top of file cabinets across from several offices.

    The highlight of Vista Group's publicity acheivements is providing the car industry with Hollywood glitz and glamour.  "Vista Group is a translator because Hollywood and the car industry speak different languages and they are on different time schedules," Dahlquist explains.  To make sure the right car or truck is used in the right film--whether it is a futuristic hybrid concept car for a sci-fi film like "Demolition Man" or an old GMC pickup for Clint Eastood's folksy romance "Bridges of Madison County," Vista Group finds the perfect vehicle.  The company has placed vehicles in over 1000 major films, and 85 television shows including the camp "Knight Rider," and the worlds most ogled "Baywatch."

    On the journalistic front, Dahlquist, Sr. has his own annals of automotive history to maintain and write about.  He kept letters from key automotive people, such as John DeLorean.  Someday, he hopes to store his information, as well as his collection of vintage automotive periodicals, on DVD-ROM and even on the Internet.  He also has a book in the works.  What's ahead for Vista Group?  The words that keep cropping up are "film industry" and "fleet" and the new ways to bridge old relationships.--the essence of communication and business.