Automotive News October 31, 2011 - Chevy 100 - 115

A CENTURY OF CHEVROLET

2003
GM solicited ideas for an umbrella Chevrolet campaign from Interpublic agencies beyond Interpublic’s CampbellEwald. The agency kept the business. ❙ 2003 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,642,583 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.8%

Chevrolet in December 2009 shifted a major portion of its U.S. advertising account from Campbell-Ewald to Publicis, part of French agency Publicis Groupe. Chevrolet’s 2009 U.S. market share slumped to its lowest level since 1925. ❙ 2009 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 1,338,612 ❙ U.S. market share: 12.8%

2004
Chevrolet launched “An American Revolution” as the theme for its 2004 models on Dec. 31, 2003, on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. The campaign set the stage for the introduction of 10 new products over 20 months. The tag line replaced “We’ll be there.” Chevrolet dropped its “Like a Rock” tag line for the Silverado pickup at the end of the 2004 model year, putting all Chevrolet trucks and cars under the “An American Revolution” theme. GM named Interpublic’s McCann Erickson as agency to launch Chevrolet in China. ❙ 2004 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,747,368 ❙ U.S. market share: 16.2%

2010
GM in April 2010 decided to consolidate Chevrolet’s U.S. account at Publicis, dropping Campbell-Ewald. GM on May 5, 2010, named Joel Ewanick as VP-U.S. marketing effective May 24. (Ewanick became GM’s global chief marketing officer in December 2010.) Even before his official GM start date, Ewanick on May 20, 2010, announced the hiring of Omnicom Group’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as agency for all Chevrolet U.S. advertising. The Goodby Silverstein appointment marked a stunning turnabout as Chevrolet aborted the April 2010 plan to consolidate Chevrolet at Publicis. Chevrolet introduced its new ad theme from Goodby Silverstein in October 2010 in Game 1 of the World Series: “Chevy Runs Deep.” In addition to TV, the campaign included digital, print, out-of-home and social media. Chevrolet had estimated 2010 U.S. measured-media ad spending of $1.129 billion (52% of GM’s U.S. total), making it the third-most advertised brand in the U.S., according to data from ad tracker Kantar Media. ❙ 2010 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 1,563,881 ❙ U.S. market share: 13.5% ❙ 2010 Chevrolet worldwide sales: 4.26 million vehicles in more than 140 countries ❙ Worldwide market share: 5.8% ❙ Chevrolet’s share of GM 2010 U.S. vehicle deliveries: 71% ❙ Chevrolet’s share of GM 2010 worldwide vehicle deliveries: 51%

on Friday nights. Or the car you drove away in on your wedding day. Maybe it was the first car you bought with your own money. Or maybe it’s a car that, after all these years, you still dream of owning -someday. Whatever your story is, Chevy’s probably been a part of it.” Shown here is a Chevrolet Motorsports ad with Dale Earnhardt, driver of a GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. ❙ 1994 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,457,847 ❙ U.S. market share: 16.3%

1995
Chevrolet, working with Campbell-Ewald, launched its Web site, chevrolet.com. Chevrolet ran a national Spanish-language TV campaign on Univision and Telemundo, its first national campaign specifically for the Hispanic market. ❙ 1995 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,474,910 ❙ U.S. market share: 16.8%

2005
Chevrolet shifted two assignments — motorsports and Major League Baseball — from Campbell-Ewald to Interpublic sibling Deutsch, Los Angeles, in fall 2005. Chevrolet moved the work back to Campbell-Ewald a year later. GM expanded its Chevrolet product offering in Europe by rebranding Daewoo cars as Chevrolet with campaigns from Interpublic’s FCB, London, and German ad agency Buehler & Partner. GM bought South Korea’s Daewoo in 2001. ❙ 2005 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,651,124 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.6%

1996
❙ 1996 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,534,905 ❙ U.S. market share: 16.7%

2006

1997
❙ 1997 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,476,990 ❙ U.S. market share: 16.3%

2011
Chevrolet staged a post-Super Bowl tie-in with Fox’s “Glee,” creating a two-minute commercial to promote the electric Volt, new Cruze compact and the Camaro convertible. The “Glee” cast sang “See the USA in your Chevrolet,” the brand anthem of the 1950s. GM’s Ewanick told Automotive News in August 2011 that Chevrolet may do more contemporary versions of iconic Chevy campaigns. Asked to grade Goodby Silverstein nearly one year into the “Chevy Runs Deep” campaign, Ewanick said: “I think they’re a great agency. I’m really happy with them in general.” But “to get an A, you have to be consistent. That’s more of C and B work when you can’t find the consistency.” Ewanick said he had seen “grade-A work” from the agency. “The problem is, it hasn’t been consistent,” he told Automotive News. “We need to find our stride where it’s always at that level.” GM in October 2011 launched a sweeping global agency review for Chevrolet creative, soliciting proposals from four major agency holding companies: Omnicom (parent of Goodby Silverstein), Interpublic (parent of McCann Erickson and Campbell-Ewald), Publicis and Korean firm Cheil Worldwide. Agency Co-Chairman Jeff Goodby said he expected his agency to stay on the roster. McCann Erickson - Chevrolet’s agency in China, India, Latin America and Canada also has a major stake in the review. The automaker said: “GM will evaluate the proposals and determine the best course for moving forward, which may be to maintain or adjust its current agency footprint.” Ewanick said: “While preliminary, this is another significant step in our efforts to more effectively engage consumers, and drive efficiencies in our marketing operations on a global scale.”
Source: Advertising Age archives; Ad Age research; Advertising Age Encyclopedia; Automotive News; Automotive News Data Center; Campbell-Ewald; Chevrolet; General Motors’ GM Heritage Center and GM Media Archive; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
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1998
Chevrolet dropped the Geo subbrand, putting three former Geo models - the Prizm, Metro and Tracker - under the Chevrolet brand. ❙ 1998 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,418,510 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.5% Chevrolet promoted its Silverado pickup with an aggressively patriotic song by John Mellencamp, “Our Country.” ❙ 2006 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,396,532 ❙ U.S. market share: 14.5%

1999
The division reprised its “See the USA in your Chevrolet” theme in ads for the redesigned Impala and other models. ❙ 1999 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,600,767 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.3%

2007
GM’s marketing chief, Mark LaNeve, put pressure on Chevrolet and Campbell-Ewald to improve Chevy advertising. In an interview with Automotive News, LaNeve said he wanted to push Chevrolet cars as a “smart choice” offering a better price and comparable quality vs. Asian rivals. ❙ 2007 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,250,352 ❙ U.S. market share: 13.9%

2000
Chevrolet introduced “We’ll be there” as the ad theme in September 1999. The tag line replaced “Genuine Chevrolet.” Chevrolet kept “Like a Rock” as its truck theme. ❙ 2000 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,604,705 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.0%

2008
❙ 2008 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 1,790,519 ❙ U.S. market share: 13.5%

2001
❙ 2001 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,681,189 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.6%

2009
Stung by the Great Recession, struggling with shrinking market share and overloaded with debt, General Motors Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 1, 2009. The new GM, under the name General Motors Co., emerged from a speedy bankruptcy on July 10, 2009. Chevrolet heard pitches for select assignments. A spokesman said: “As Chevrolet moves to expand its global presence, it will reach out to a wider range of advertising agencies for new brand and product campaigns.”

2002
❙ 2002 Chevrolet U.S. vehicle sales: 2,633,800 ❙ U.S. market share: 15.6%
CHEVROLET 100 ❙ AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

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Automotive News October 31, 2011 - Chevy 100

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