So you didn't win the big award especially after losing to your main rival. It isn't the best feeling. In this situation, Nissan LEAF lost to the Chevy Volt for North American Car of the Year at the North American International Auto Show but that didn't stop Nissan from promoting what they did win.
Today on Twitter there is a promoted tweet: "Nissan LEAF" that promotes their winning the Eco Car of the Year at NAIAS. There is nothing wrong with promoting this tweet and getting the word out. Nor is there anything wrong with the Eco Car of the Year award, I'm sure it's an honor.
I just wonder if it's a little sad after losing the big award to have to promote a tweet to get people to notice you did win something. After all of the press coverage of Chevy Volt winning Car of the Year on Monday, perhaps Nissan felt a bit left out and wanted to share they didn't walkaway empty handed.
Lastly, I would've never known they won if it wasn't for the promoted tweet so it definitely served its purpose.
"We're wanderers. Wayfarers. Even nomads. So doesn't it just make sense that we build an electric car that goes far... really far."
Chevrolet is getting ready for the Volt to hit the American road as we near the final months of 2010. This is the first consumer video promoting the production car.
Overall, I personally like it. It's not groundbreaking and maybe it should be, but I think Chevy is trying to normalize electric vehicles and make the concept more friendly, not just for Greens, but for everyone.
There are no MPG claims just some very small type about "25-50 miles of electric driving in moderate conditions." Also, the information about the car being electric isn't shared until the very end of the ad.
Chevy is also introducing a new tag line for the brand: "Chevy Runs Deep". Not sure where this is going but it's a bit confusing at the end of the Volt ad, since the ad is talking about the car running more miles than any other electric car. How that is "deep", or what "deep" even means from a brand positioning statement, is still lost on me. Will be interesting to see how Chevy, which I thought was called Chevrolet, evolves "deep" in coming marketing uses.
So I was listening to Chevy's Volt pricing announcment and noticed Joel Ewanick, General Motors' vice president for North American marketing, was promoting a new website for the Volt using the web address: http://www.getmyvolt.com. So I tried it to see how I could get my Volt. Unfortunately, it just took me, after two redirects, to the Volt landing page on Chevrolet.com site that has been up for months with no calls to action to order a Volt (the image above is where I was landed.) Too bad, I was hoping to see how the effort differed from Nissan's Leaf pre-order website that was very clear in how to order their electric vehicle offering.
As part of the pricing announcement, Chevy hosted a Q&A where Chevrolet Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle and Volt vehicle line director Tony Posawatz shared some answers to questions mainly around availability and the ordering process.
UPDATE: They added a green button sometime yesterday to start the process with a dealer in certain markets where the Volt will launch, but I checked back this morning and it's gone.
First it was the announcement of 230 MPG with a giant happy face outlet plug. Now it's a campy, Suzanne Vega sounding song with a lot of whistling that is promoting GM's buzz workhorse - the Chevy Volt.
Electric Vehicle (EV) technology is not easy to explain and is definitely creating a lot of confusion as companies promote ridiculous MPG claims and even crazier torque claims.
"Our goal is to craft that education in a manner that is family friendly (as it should be because we are America’s original mass /heart brand), entertaining and simple to understand for a rather sophisticated product.
A Volt song helps us to achieve those objectives. 'Chevy Volt and Me' explains what Volt is all about as a better EV in simple friendly terms," explains Maria Roher, GM’s director of global Volt marketing.
So let me get this straight. To explain the complexity of the Volt's three-phase AC induction motor rated at 120 kilowatts, or 160 hp, powered by a 6-foot-long, 375-pound array of lithium-ion cells mounted low along the Volt's floorpan requires a whistle laden, rhyme challenged song to help the common person understand what the Volt is all about?
Now what rhymes with lithium-ion? Conan O'Brien? Uruguayan? Scion?
I don't know. Seems to me the target Volt customer is going to be an early adopter and someone very knowledgable, well-educated and looking to better understand the details of Volt's green footprint and technological advances. Perhaps a see through diagram of the powertrain from Popular Mechanics would be more helpful.
Nissan's LEAF effort is much more appealing to an educated audience looking for answers about this whole new Electric Vehicle segment. For the general population, Nissan went with a simple, concise video to educate new users about the vehicle.
Sure the LEAF doesn't get jammed in your head like a Lady Gaga song, but one quickly understands what it is, what it is not, and how it functions. For the more advanced mind, the LEAF site can be used to dive deeper into answers from the novice to the intermediate shopper.
Of course I understand the Chevy Volt song isn't the only effort Chevy is doing to promote the Volt. In fact, a lot is going on to share information about the Volt and the GM team has been releasing every minute detail about the Volt to keep the buzz going.
Chevy Volt has it's own presence on Chevrolet.com where visitors can get answers to several common questions about the car. A Popular Mechanics like diagram is also available to show how the Volt works. A few videos, images and even a full Volt Community called VoltAge is available to keep up with the latest on all things Volt.
I just wonder if a few of the marketing efforts like the "Chevy Volt and Me" song and the What Is 230? website will define the car in an unflattering way. And after the car sells to well-off early adopters, the Chevy Volt has to appeal to the general population in a cool, compelling way to make it as desirable as the concept car it originated from.
UPDATE: This is really getting weird. The GMVolt YouTube channel posted the "Chevy Volt Dance" from the LA Auto Show on December 13, 2009 complete with breakdancing.
The mantra for real estate is "location, location, location!" For automotive it is "product, product, product!" When GM launched their branding campaign RE:Invention the day it exited bankruptcy it was highly controversial and easily criticized debut for the 100 year old brand.
Now with Bob Lutz, the seminal car guy of the industry, in charge of marketing it is no surprise that the newest GM Re:Invention ad is call Re-Ignition and does what all the critics, myself included, said GM should do and that is focus on the products the company is building that showcase what the New GM is all about.
"Re-Ignition" leads with Cadillac's highly-successful CTS sedan and transitions to show off two new production vehicles, the SRX and CTS Sport Wagon. What's surprising about the spot is the new CTS coupe is literally launched in the ad. It's surprising because the car is about a year away from arriving on dealer lots, but launching new vehicles a year or even years ahead of having them for sale is starting to become a trend with GM.
This early marketing of the CTS coupe begs the question: Does it make sense to launch a car a year or more ahead of supply? For GM, it makes a lot of sense since they are mainly trying to rebuild their brands after accepting significant government bailout money.
The whole push to promote new models and even early CAD renderings of possible concepts is a way for GM to show they are new, fresh and capable of building cars people want. The Chevy Volt is showcased over and over again since it is the darling of what an American 'green' vehicle can become. It truly reinvents the industry (just don't tell anyone that every automaker from Fiat, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, etc are also building Electric Vehicle products launching around the same time as the Volt.) But this is marketing and GM is making a strong bid to show it is building the future of the American auto industry.
It is rare for an automaker to start promoting a vehicle before the production version gets its official reveal at a major auto show. The auto show is a place where the media can see the car, get inside, and share their thoughts on the design and space of the vehicle before early production models head out for media drive events. The reveal starts the buzz for a new vehicle.
The Converj Concept, that the CTS coupe gets its body from, debuted at this year's Detroit Auto Show but that was an early concept model and not the production reveal. Plus the Conjerv was all about making a Cadillac version of the Chevy Volt. By debuting a new model months before it shows up in an auto show as a production debut, Cadillac is trying to generate some early buzz for the product and the Cadillac brand.
Unfortunately, the coupe isn't that revolutionary. It's just a coupe which is something the CTS needs to be competitive against its German rivals the Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3-series, and Audi A5. Lincoln doesn't make a coupe MKZ and Lexus should have an IS coupe soon. Having an entry luxury coupe isn't as exciting as reinventing electric vehicle technology so maintaining any buzz will be difficult.
Regardless GM is actively reinventing itself and it is a great thing to do that reinvention by showcasing future products instead of using cliche Americana imagery that many rolled their eyes at when GM ran their "New GM" spot. My guess is that with Lutz at the helm we'll continue to see early product marketing efforts and fewer brand anthems. It's all about the product.
The campaign launched in early March as there are a set of photos from March 19, 2009 in New York City where t-shirts were handed out to passers by (3/19/09 is the date on all of the photos in the Flickr stream, though they were uploaded on August 9.) Since then, there’s been the website and some ads running on Hulu promoting the event.
But what is the event? I follow several automotive enthusiasts on Twitter and several of them are being flown in to Detroit for an event on Monday. It’s pretty safe to assume this effort is related to the 230 announcement GM is holding Tuesday. The campaign is all about buzz and engagement with social media auto enthusiasts is part of the effort to generate discussion.
An AdAge article on August 6 dug further into the matter but GM wouldn’t say a thing. We do know from the article that Meghan Winger, a staffer of Chicago agency All Terrain, is the creator of the What Is 230 group. Other guesses from readers include the following:
Number of days until GM files bankruptcy again
230 is the MPG of the Chevy Volt
Price of the new Volt - $230,000
230 days until delivery of the Volt
Most people definitely think this is Chevy Volt related and with All Terrain having Chevy as their top client it is a pretty reasonable guess. But what else can GM reveal about the Chevy Volt that people don’t already know? I think it is not about the Volt; though, it is about Chevrolet. Maybe GM is getting ready to announce another electric vehicle product? Guess we’ll find out Tuesday.
UPDATE 8/11/2009: Seems I was wrong. There was some news about the Volt that hadn't been shared - fuel economy numbers. Though, I find it odd that the EPA rating is out a year before vehicle introduction. Strange? Anyway, the 230 refers to 230 MPG city driving and the Volt is expected to have a combined MPG rating with three digits. More at the Wall Street Journal. Also, a great article from John Voelcker of GreenCarReports.com on the math behind the Volt's 230 MPG rating.
Is the Chevy brand trying to appeal to the Entourage crowd? Maybe it’s the high fashion couch from Target or the slightly loosened preppy boy tie or the arms expanded across the couch that makes me wonder what was someone thinking when they created the new Experience Chevrolet section on the Chevrolet.com website redesign that debuted yesterday.
It’s kind of funny the main image on the Experience Chevrolet site section (see above image), because the content just doesn’t fit what the image conveys. Instead what you get is a list of Chevy’s promotions with Major League Baseball, Fishing sponsorship, motor sports, and, of course, a few Country music stars thrown in. The partnerships and promotions are very apple pie America and true to the good ole’ boy brand of Chevrolet.
The page also showcases wallpaper downloads, events, social media page links, and awards. The Chevy Fueling Change content shows what Chevrolet is doing to further fuel-efficient products. But it seems all of this is a hodgepodge of content that can’t find a proper home. It’s like that closet in your house where a vacuum cleaner, old purses, light bulbs, stacks of old VHS tapes, and an old camera sit as some holding place without a proper home.
Of course, Chevy is promoting a couple new products. The new Camaro certainly attracts a style conscience muscle car fan with its retro-cool good looks. The new Chevy Volt appeals to a green consumer who really doesn’t fit well into the hardcore American muscle appeal Chevy personifies, but it’s game changers like the Volt that create some new direction for the Chevy brand.
Chevy has always been a mass appeal brand with products like the Cobalt, Malibu and Silverado. Plus they have an iconic halo product in the Corvette. It’s interesting though, now that Chevy is entrenching itself as the broad appeal brand for GM as they keep Buick as a premium brand, Cadillac as their luxury brand, and GMC as a utility brand.
The brand section of the new Chevrolet.com just lacks a strong cohesive message and seems all over the place. This is part of the problem big brands have when synthesizing their brand into a strong distinct message, because the products are appealing to all sorts of segments. Maybe some better categorization of the content would help strengthen the different appeals the Chevy brand supports.
I just find it odd leading the brand experience section with a young 20-something guy all alone on a modern couch in the highway. Seems to me the Chevy brand is stronger than that, and has an appeal that is much more compelling. Maybe the aspirational target is a younger, single consumer who thinks of himself as trendy? If so, it doesn’t feel authentic. I’m not saying the image had to be a family in the country with an organic farm in the background. The page just needs an image showcasing the board appeal of the brand and less the just out of college Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee.
I just wonder if it's a little sad after losing the big award to have to promote a tweet to get people to notice you did win something. After all of the press coverage of Chevy Volt winning Car of the Year on Monday, perhaps Nissan felt a bit left out and wanted to share they didn't walkaway empty handed. 
