Alfa Romeo 147 Dives Deep With Oceanic Ad Campaign

MILAN, Italy — A Belgian Alfa Romeo advertisement is going to new heights — or should we say depths — in spectacle. A documentary video it has released on the Internet claims to show a billboard for the 147 being dropped to the floor of the ocean, seven miles down in the Mariana Trench, near the island of Guam. The spot is claimed to be the lowest point on earth, and the hook is that the 147 has a low, low price of €14,995 (the equivalent of $21,500).

A documentary-style video tells the story of how Alfa Romeo Belgium hired a veteran boat captain from Guam to take the billboard down under the ocean, and it's filmed reality-TV style. The enterprise is rife with complications such as how to make the billboard resistant to high water pressure. For those who wonder, it's done by making the billboard out of aluminum, with the poster itself printed on plastic, and drilling holes in it. "We can't go any lower," reads the ad text.

The highlight is probably the "nerve-racking 11-hour descent," accompanied by suitably scary music.

Inside Line says: At least one blogger calls this a "hoax," but we are calling it amusing viral marketing in a world that could use some more amusement. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent