Interesting article in today's New York Times regarding the Chevy Tahoe's write your own ad contest. The promotion has generated buzz and lots of people appear to be talking about the Tahoe, but I believe this was a big misstep for Chevy, as it's not all upside. Like Ford's Flash Concerts, they're missing the boat with product, drama, and customer segment. Outside of celebrities, I don't believe the adage that any buzz is good buzz.
Chevy spokesperson Melisa Tezanos claims Chevy knew this would happen when they turned their brand over to the public. The Tahoe (and SUVs generally), GM's reputation, and the Web have combined to produced negatively chaining themes. The media, the message, the product and positioning seemed to have created an unfortunate combination for GM.
It seems like a "me too" promotion for Chevy.
Take-aways from the article:
1. Consumer generated content is not inherently good or bad, but i tneeds to fit with the product and the consumers worldview to get the intended results.
2. Themes can chain out negatively or positively. The negative theme of gas guzzling SUV is easy to share among the Web savvy consumers and trumps the pro Tahoe themes Chevy was looking tease out.
3. All buzz is not good buzz.
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