DETROIT — As sports reporters tracked every tackle, catch and carry during the Big Game, Ford Motor Co. kept stats of another kind on Sunday.
The automaker, using a research firm, counted each time its logo atop Ford Field appeared on TV, how often an announcer called the stadium by name and how many people were exposed, in one form or another, to Ford advertisements.
Heading into the game, Ford executive Jim Vella said the automaker laid the groundwork to receive plenty of fan attention during Super Bowl XL.
And he liked how Ford stacked up against General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac brand, which paid royally for its 2007 Escalade SUV to be the official vehicle of Super Bowl XL.
"I bet they say Ford more than they say Cadillac," said Vella, a Ford executive assigned to oversee the company's Super Bowl sponsorships.
As in previous years, Super Bowl Sunday provided a huge platform for Detroit automakers and other companies to pitch products to a massive and influential audience.
But this year, officials from Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said the game gave them a chance to project an air of confidence and stability even amid troubling times in the U.S. auto industry.
"In a way, the eyes of the world are on this event and our product and our company," said Steve Tihanyi, GM's general director of marketing alliances and entertainment. "You want people to leave with the impression of an energetic and vibrant company that is also a healthy company."
GM and Ford are cutting a combined 60,000 North American factory jobs and closing numerous plants under new restructuring plans to stem losses.
The companies, eager to prove they are not in retreat, worked to prevent their woes from putting a damper on the Super Bowl.
In a show of its power and reach, GM virtually blanketed downtown Detroit with marketing pitches, wrapping the People Mover with Cadillac ads, affixing a Super Bowl insignia to its Renaissance Center headquarters and dominating the Motown Winter Blast with a multi-block display.
Though limited by stadium naming rights, GM also showed up in force at the game. It parked new Escalades outside Ford Field and plastered the back page of the official game program with an ad for the Cadillac SUV, which arrives in dealerships by March.
Both GM and Ford also shelled out for Super-Bowl TV commercials, which this year ran $2.5 million per 30-second spot. Airing in the second quarter, GM's ad touted the new Escalade SUV in a glamorous fashion-runway-style debut, while Ford used Kermit the Frog to promote its Escape Hybrid SUV.
In addition, the Big Three poured millions of dollars into other game-related promotions and sponsorships.
While some critics question whether the auto companies can justify such spending during hard times, Marlene Stone, president of Clarkston-based market research firm Intellitrends LLC, said Detroit automakers will see benefits from being affiliated with the Super Bowl.
"Being a part of it has nothing but upside for those who participate," she said.
Detroit automakers also invested in game-related sponsorships to show for the city of Detroit.
"Showing that the city can put on the greatest sporting event in the world and to show that the city is coming back is important to us," said Leven Weiss, Chrysler's senior manager of civic and community relations.
After witnessing all of the traffic and activity downtown on Sunday, Weiss was hopeful the ripple effects of the Super Bowl would extend throughout the region long after the game. "Maybe," he said, "it can even help the way people see Detroit automakers."