Chevrolet Enlists 30,000 Consumers to Create Ads for New Tahoe

Background: Chevrolet needed a big idea to create buzz for the all-new 2007 Chevy Tahoe.

Problem: How to leverage the Tahoe's sponsorship of The Apprentice by creating a promotion that would allow the public to experience the product in an interactive and entertaining fashion.

Solution: Create an online promotion at chevyapprentice.com that allowed "armchair" apprentices to create their own commercial for the Tahoe by writing ad copy and assembling a collection of video clips and music tracks into a finished spot. A viral component enabled consumers to email spots to friends or post to YouTube.

Consumers were challenged to illustrate Tahoe's brand promise of being "More Capable, More Responsible and More Refined" in the best online commercial possible. The site enabled "virtual" product interaction through demonstrations, lifestyle visuals and brand superiority messaging.

The winner of the contest, open to U.S. and Canadian citizens, received a trip package and tickets to premier sporting and music events.

Results: The promotion far surpassed expectations, with 30,187 ads created in just four weeks and nearly 6 million site visits, 629,018 unique visitors engaged an average of 9.47 minutes per visit. For three weeks, chevyapprentice.com was the top referring site to chevy.com -- surpassing Google and Yahoo!

The campaign was heavily covered by mainstream media, including the New York Times, USA Today and the Associated Press, as well as in the blogosphere, which praised Chevy's open dialog with consumers. While much of the mainstream coverage focused on a minority of ads that were critical of SUVs, the mass exposure provided an outlet for Chevrolet to communicate its product benefits for the Tahoe and ultimately generated additional site traffic.

To address the negative ads, Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper opened a two-way dialog with the critics via a posting to GM's Fastlane blog, where he touted advancements in GM's fuel efficiency.

Credit Information
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Client: Chevrolet
Agency: Campbell-Ewald
Budget: Undisclosed
Date of Campaign: March 13, 2006 - April 10, 2006