Suburban Auto Group, a car dealership in Oregon, created a series of commercials in 2003 featuring the “trunk monkey” – a fictional feature in their cars that activates a monkey from the trunk to assist the driver in certain situations where the car manual cannot (like dealing with kids throwing eggs at the car and other drivers with road rage).
The idea of a monkey coming out of a trunk was so out of the ordinary that it made people want to watch it more, especially since these short spots were executed perfectly. There was a short and sweet storyline and you had to watch from start to finish to get the punchline.
Suburban Auto Group identifies itself as “Home of the Trunk Money” at the top of its website and even has a section dedicated to trunk monkey videos. With a successful campaign like that, who wouldn’t want to boast? The video compilation on YouTube has over 7 million views and counting.