Build your own Chevy Ad
After the final fours, I traveled on to spend some time here in Vail. Even without falling snow, Vail is pretty much all SUVs all the time. Most never need the rugged 4 wheel drive or high clearance provided by the beasts, but we all have them here. I leave my Chevy Tahoe here, which after years of salt had me in the market for a replacement. Not sure if it is the same with you, but once I start thinking about a car, I see the ads everywhere. The approach GM took with Tahoe really impressed me.

GM is one of the most command and control organizations that I have ever been exposed to. Every ad is focus tested against each demographic to ensure proper delivery of the message. GM also has a large corporate structure indicative of, well, large corporations. I can only imagine the marketing executive who proposed that they allow the public to create their own advertisement for the Tahoe, using assets created by Chevy. They must have been quite a ‘car salesman’ to pull this off and have it featured on ‘The Apprentice’.

You can go assemble your own ad using Chevy video clips, insert your own text and send it to whoever you want. Your video message, regardless of how it positions the Tahoe, or if it even talks about the Tahoe, is prepared online, complete with the famous Chevy logo at the end. Sure we have all seen the contests where people can send in their own ad, but this is different. I doubt that an ad touting American Airlines proclivity for losing luggage would see the light of day if it were submitted for their ad contest.

This ad campaign took guts. David Weinberger, friend and author of a great book ‘Cluetrain Manifesto’, wrote at great length about accepting and even encouraging conversations about your brand. Sure its risky to open the floodgates to everyone with internet access and an axe to grind, but it makes your brand real. If you believe in your brand and think your customers will as well, then opening it up truly gives what David describes as ‘a voice’. This voice, driven as much by you as your customers, speaks much louder than any marketing blitz you could afford. Plus ‘word of mouse’ marketing continues long after a thirty second spot on prime time.

Go ahead and make your own Tahoe ad and pass it along. If you think of it, include me on it RArcher AT archer-group.com. That’s what GM hopes you would do.