Chevy stick a Tahoe in murky waters
I'm a great admirer of BL Ochman but I have to disagree with her recent blog post about Chevrolet's brave viral launched in the US to promote their new Tahoe SUV.
The viral allows people to direct their own commercials for the new vehicle using a wide variety of video and sound, to which they can add their own text. There are now thousands of the home-made ads hitting inboxes around the world, many of which lampoon the Chevy's ozone-destroying qualities.
A recent article in the New York Times said that Chevy 'got' the web but BL Ochman pours scorn on this claim describing them as 'clueless'. She also says Chevy should have had a plan for responding to the negative ads, but with all due respect, this smacks of the old world PR philosophy that 'everyone must like us'.
I think Chevy know that far from everybody likes them and that the knitted-yogurt, tree-hugging brigade will never be customers for their gas guzzlers. But they are using their detractors as marketers. The more ads that circulate, the more buzz that exists and ultimately the more vehicles they will sell.
Chevrolet spokeswoman Melisa Tezanos said: "We anticipated that there would be critical submissions. You do turn your brand over to the public and we knew that we were going to get some bad with the good. But it's part of playing in this space."
Quite. Those who never liked SUVs still won't. Those who do like SUVs may well now buy a Tahoe instead of an alternative vehicle.
And I would venture that many of those who produced the anti-ads are actually potential customers for Chevy. They have just tapped into the humorous possibilities that the viral offers. Chevy totally get the web.
Here's the ad I made.
"the knitted-yogurt, tree-hugging brigade will never be customers for their gas guzzlers"
and as that brigade grows, and is heard, the more some of Chevy's current customers may see the light.
defending the Tahoe after the fact on the GM blog, as Ed Peper does today, is not exactly savvy marketing.
Love your ad. What are you: some kind of yogurt-eating, Birkenstock wearing, tree hugger? :>)
B.L. Ochman
What's Next Blog
Written by B.L. Ochman on April 6, 2006 07:17 PM
God, I've been outed!
Written by mike on April 6, 2006 09:26 PM