NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four Brings Ford $22.5mn

Those who tried to get shelter from the financial storm by slashing marketing and advertising budgets should look at Ford for a "how it should be done" crash course. The only American manufacturer that still manages to cope without government intervention received overall media exposure worth about $22.5 million leading up and during the event, according to a study quoted by Autonews.

Ford, as the title sponsor for the Detroit stadium where the final took place, got half of its exposure during the CBS Final Four broadcasts, the Joyce Julius & Associates study said. The combined in-broadcast exposure amounted to $11.4 million from prime time telecasts.

Ford's Field (an indoor stadium located in Detroit, Michigan that is the current home stadium of the NFL's Detroit Lions) was mentioned by the in-game announcers, adding an extra $1.7 million exposure value to Ford. An additional 15,000 newspaper and Internet articles mentioned the stadium. The print media alone amounted to $9.4 million.

Ford Field is host of a wide variety of sporting events, including the Super Bowl XL in 2006, the MHSAA Football Finals, the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2008 and the Final Four this year.

This year's event was the first to take place with a minimum seating capacity of 70,000. The Final Four were Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and North Carolina, which also became the winner of the event.

The next milestone in Ford's extra-curricular activities is the upcoming 45th anniversary of the emblematic Mustang. The event is to be held in Birmingham, Alabama and is expected to draw more than 2,500 people.