• by Karl Greenberg , April 2, 2015

It was the best day ever for Chevrolet on Wednesday. That's when the automaker unveiled the new Malibu and Spark, and officially launched its campaign, featuring real people. The automaker has also rolled out an extension of that campaign by pulling in personalities from sports, entertainment and philanthropy. Their job, as part of the campaign, is to do perform “meaningful surprises” for people around the country. The efforts are being captured on short videos posted to a campaign Web site, at #BestDayEver. 

Among the involved are Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Major League Baseball, Manchester United, NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick, Spike Lee, Conde Nast, iHeartRadio, Kid Rock, and NFL announcer Howie Long.

Steve Majoros, Chevrolet marketing manager for cars and crossovers, tells Marketing Daily that because of the battle royale that is the mid-size car segment, the company will be hitting the road early, although the car doesn't launch until December. “We are taking advantage to seed the story; we have a few touches planned for owners, hand raisers and interested parties, but we will really use the six months to get the dealer body energized, sales consultants trained, and the organization ready.” 

Majoros, who helped birth Chevrolet's “American Revolution” campaign (with a “Ten new cars and trucks in 20 months” message) in 2003 when he was managing director at then-agency Campbell-Ewald, says brand-building remains key. “We are talking to customers about the fundamental renaissance of our car portfolio — 95% of our portfolio will be new by the end of the year. We have to get people thinking about Chevrolet, that we're a brand they ought to take a look at.”

He concedes that a challenge for the segment, and probably every segment, is that there is, today, no single marketing message that hits the bull’s eye because the number of consideration points has increased along with the with the size and breath of technical innovation, engineering advances, and aesthetics (which used to be a non-starter in mid-size cars). “One thing you get asked a lot is ‘what's the one thing about Malibu [to focus on]’; well there really isn't one thing.

“Years ago it used to be Toyota, Honda, and bulletproof quality, and nothing else mattered. It was the easy default answer. But if you look at mid car buyers today they are more discerning about what they are looking for, and they have expectations across the spectrum: technology, safety, performance. And it all has to be delivered in a pretty compelling vehicle styling.” Thus, he said, the messages will be in three buckets: safety, technology (including the 4G LTE, and Teen Driver Alert), and performance. 

In terms of the portfolio, the core vehicles will be the focus. “We have a really strong right arm with trucks, a really strong left arm with performance vehicles [like Corvette and Camaro]. But if you think about Malibu, Traverse, Equinox, that's 75% of industry volume. Those segments are the straw that stirs the drink.”