CHALLENGE:

There are few groups more skeptical of traditional media today than college students. With Honda, Toyota, and Nissan entering the sub-compact segment, Chevy needed to communicate the benefits of an Aveo (spaciousness, quality, and low cost) to its core audience. General Motors needed a way to be promotional, yet authentic; if the target audience felt the online content was too contrived, corporate, or boring they would quickly lose interest.

SOLUTION:

Chevy created the Aveo Livin' Large Campus Challenge. Two students on each of seven college campuses across the nation were selected to see who could "live the largest" inside a Chevy Aveo for five days, only leaving the car for class and 10-minute bio breaks while documenting their entire adventure online.

The centerpiece of the program was the website, www.aveolivinlarge.com, where participants documented how they were livin' large through web cams, blogs, and videos. Equally important were social sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube where contestants shared their Aveo experiences direct and with their social networks.

RESULTS:

* In just five days, the Aveo Livin' Large Campus Challenge garnered nearly 217 million audience impressions through online, traditional, grassroots and campus media.
* Publications with coverage included Business Week, the Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, campus newspapers, automotive and marketing blogs, and local television and radio stations.
* More than one million students from 168 campuses were actively engaged in the Challenge through links in each team's Facebook and MySpace accounts and the Aveo website.
* From Oct. 29 - Nov. 4, there were 88,000 unique visitors and 750,000 page views to the Livin' Large site. Visitors averaged eight page views and 4-5 minutes each time they visited. 240 blog posts and 324 replies were submitted illustrating audience engagement.
* 62,991 votes were cast online or via text message.

Credit Information
--------------------------------------
Client: Chevrolet
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Budget: $325,000
Date of Campaign: October, 2006