- Steve Miller, Brandweek

DETROIT The Hummer H3T pickup truck is touted as "the most versatile Hummer ever" in a new TV spot breaking tonight on major news networks and on ESPN.

Creative, via Modernista!, Boston, shows a group of buff young men driving an H3T across a mountain range and onto a rocky beach, where they unload a motorcycle, a surfboard, a hang glider and fishing equipment. The spot reveals all of them using the gear for outdoor activities. It uses the same tag, "Welcome to the open," which was introduced by Hummer in May for the H3 campaign and for the entire brand.

Print for the Hummer H3T breaks this week in lifestyle and outdoor enthusiast magazines, and a Web component also will launch in the next week. The campaign is scheduled to run through the end of the year.

The new campaign devotes as much time to the features of the truck as it does to the lifestyles of the people that General Motors hopes will embrace it. The target buyer for the truck is 75 percent male, compared to the usual 50-50 (male-female) split for Hummer vehicles; the target average household income is $90,000, down from the usual $120,000, said Hummer representative Nick Richards.

"The H3T buyer tends to be more active as well as more family oriented," Richards said. "The buyer is looking for even more room than an H3 provides." He noted that Hummer counterparts, including the Dodge Ram and the Ford F-150, give the H3T a "fresh in the market" appeal.

Dodge launched a campaign for its best-selling truck, the Ram, earlier this month. Meanwhile, Ford has delayed the release of its retooled F-150, which had been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 23 years but fell in the ranks due to rising fuel prices.

Fuel prices have also caused Hummer's sales to drop 45 percent-plus through August, per Autodata, Woodcliff Lake, N.J., and have contributed to the proposed sale of the brand by GM.

Hummer spent $35 million on ads through July, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Last year it spent $85 million-plus, a 40 percent drop from 2006.