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VIDEO: Chevy College Marketing Challenge
By Molly Peck
Chevrolet Divisional Advertising Manager
For the second year in a row, Chevrolet wanted to connect with its youth audience by hosting a College Challenge. The goal: to gain a better understanding of how to market Chevy’s fuel saving technologies to 18- to 30-year-old buyers. We wanted to expand what we know and find new and innovative ways to educate consumers about Chevy’s environmentally-friendly vehicles, and as a result, have them join us in our effort to reduce the nation’s dependency on petroleum. Students from across the country submitted their creative ideas to Chevy for consideration this fall.
The 2007 Challenge invited students, through their college or university classrooms, to design an integrated communications campaign that would reach out to consumers and educate them about Chevrolet fuel technologies. We asked students to start with a review of the target market, usually referred to as Gen Y, and many teams conducted their own consumer research. We encouraged teams to include a range of media elements in their campaigns - some could be traditional and some could be specific to the Gen Y consumer.
After careful review of all the marketing campaigns, in late November I worked with my colleagues from Chevrolet and our agencies to narrow the pool down to five finalist teams. It was hard work, and we want to thank all of the students for sharing their ideas with us.
On Dec.12, the five finalist teams - talented men and women from Fairfield University, King’s College, Drexel University, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and the University of West Florida - flew to Detroit as part of an all-expense paid trip to present their case studies to senior Chevrolet management and agency representatives. All of the ideas were really interesting and it was great to see the students’ enthusiasm for our vehicles and advanced technologies. Following the presentations the next day, we asked our panel of judges to assess the elements and ideas in the integrated plans.
The judges chose the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the winning team. They did an excellent job researching the target market and developed a thoughtful campaign based on their research.
The team of students from UNCG will be eligible for internship opportunities with Chevrolet or one of our agency partners and the university will be given a $2,500 donation from us.
Inside Chevy, we value innovation and new thinking, and the college challenge reflects that. Everyone here is really excited about our environmentally friendly cars, trucks, SUVs and crossovers, especially the new Malibu Hybrid and Tahoe Hybrid SUV. The competition this year gave us a great opportunity to listen to students who are from Gen Y tell us why they are environmentally conscious consumers, and talk with them about the best ways to reach their age group.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of the students who submitted their plans, and my personal congratulations to the five finalist teams that made it all the way to Detroit. It has been a great pleasure to work with all of you, and we at Chevrolet truly appreciate all the time and effort you put into to bringing your Fuel Solutions campaign ideas to life.
Check out this video to see what the students' trip was like in Detroit.
Posted by Editor on December 20, 2007 2:51 PM
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Comments
Greening up GM's image...Wow, you have a tough job! Where to start. I own a Scion xA. Basicly identical to an Aveo hatchback in capabilities, even highway mileage, they seem evenly matched until you see that the Scion enjoys a 20% advantage in city MPG. Highway mileage is mostly a function of vehicle size and aerodynamics, but in the city a little technology (VVT-I) goes a long way! You don't put 1/4 the effort into economy cars that you put into trucks and SUV's. That's why I consider you an inferior company.
Flex-fuel gas guzzlers? You'll have to do better then that. If we mandated all fuel sold contain 10% ethanol, we could barely keep up, so a hand full of vehicles running E85 does nothing to decrease our oil dependance in my book. That being said, I live in a cornbelt state, buy strictly E10 gasoline, and would certainly buy a flex-fuel vehicle if it were also a great economy car. None of those existed last I checked.
Strictly for brand image, you have to know that the Hummer line is basicly a middle finger raised high and proud to environmentalists everywhere. I know GM will never kill their prized cash cow, but you seriously need to tone down the advertising!
Posted by: Jason Campbell on December 27, 2007 12:40 AM
I'm part of that coveted 18-30 market and none of GM's vehicles, even the supposedly "green" ones are appealing to me. I had high hopes for the Astra, seeing the success it's been having in Europe and also seeing fuel economy numbers up above 40 mpg (5.8 l/100 km). But then I saw that GM's not bringing any of the engines that get that sort of fuel economy. Instead, it's a 1.8L that gets a disappointing 23 city and 31 highway.
And marketing won't change my opinion of GM. This is one of Gen Y's strengths - we're more savvy than our predecessors in terms of mistrust of advertisers. If GM wants to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers in Gen Y, it's actually very simple: Use technology to make a great car that gets great fuel economy, and the rest will follow.
While it's great that GM is building flex fuel vehicles (which I can't find E85 fuel for and which get poor fuel economy) and hybrids (which are large cars and SUVs that I'm not in the market for), you're not doing anything for someone who wants a car that gets great - not good, great - fuel economy in a small package.
But, then again, what do I know. I'm a computer programmer, not a marketing student. I'm used to making the most out of the available technology and letting it speak for itself.
Posted by: Paul on January 1, 2008 11:19 AM
