Q&A: General Motors' Chris Perry Talks SXSW

Chevy

Chevrolet spent the last few days in Austin, Texas as the official automotive sponsor of SXSW. The automaker had a three-part strategy: get Chevrolet vehicles in front of people with a big digital influence, and get those influencers inside the vehicles to experience them; get General Motors marketers in front of influencers, panels, and teach-ins to learn more about the social space; and make Austin the destination point for a 10-city road trip that tested new OnStar functions and generated social buzz.

Chris Perry, General Motors' head of North American marketing, was there to participate in panels, and generally soak it in. He spoke with Marketing Daily over the weekend about the experience and Chevrolet's role in it.

Q: Have you been to this event before?

A: This is my first time here.

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Q: What, in a nutshell, is your mission in Austin?

A: There's a couple of things we are doing. We are trying to engage people with our vehicles and our brand, and we as an organization are down here trying to learn how this space operates. It's interesting for me coming down here and trying to learn about where this is all going, and also recognizing that people are still trying to find their way around this space.

Q: I know Chevrolet is doing a lot down there, but honestly, isn't there a bit of a brand overload at SXSW now?

A: There are a lot of different brands, but we are the only automotive brand. So what we are trying to do here is be relevant, helpful and contextual. So, for instance, with the "Catch a Chevy Cruze" program we have 25 Chevrolet Cruzes just running around Austin taking people to different places. We have 10 Volts and other Chevrolet vehicles right outside of the convention center in which people can take test drives, and we have the Volt Recharge Lounge in the Convention Center that has been packed.

Q: But are people surprised to see Chevrolet there?

A: No, I think what we are trying to do is provide value. A lot of these attendees don't get a chance to test our vehicles very often. And "Catch a Cruze" gives people a chance to have a ride to the other side of town if they want it. The Volt Recharge Lounge has sofas, chairs, several dozen plugs for adapters. So I don't think it's surprising. I do think people are appreciative of what we're doing down here.

Q: Any sense of what people are saying about the brand at the event?

A: At least based on tweets, everyone's been pretty positive. And the Cruze is such a departure from what people think of the brand, when they ride in it they're like, "Wow, this is Chevrolet?"

Q: Why are these grassroots, experiential kinds of programs at SXSW important for Chevrolet?

A: We've changed our brand lineup so much, peoples' perception is not necessarily in line with reality. So "Catch a Cruze," the ride and drive, the Volt Lounge give us a chance to change that. Advertising can only do so much. Social media can only do so much. People are getting out of Volts -- people who have never driven one, much less seen one -- and they are just amazed, and it changes their perception of Chevrolet.

Q: But these are fairly tech-savvy people, I should think. If anyone knows about Volt, they do.

A: We've only distributed it to seven states so far since the rollout, so most places don't have a Volt yet. Sure, they know about it -- but they haven't seen it in person, and haven't had a chance to drive it.

Q: On the other side of this, how many people did you bring down from GM to be immersed in this?

A: Quite a few. We had people from our marketing team both to support our ride-and-drive events, and also to learn from the panel discussions going on down here.

Q: Is SXSW more important to you as a learning experience or a marketing opportunity?

A: They are both very important. It's not just about exposing the Chevrolet brand to people, but about sitting down and having conversations with some of the leaders in the social space, and talking about the space and how we can evolve the brand in it. The people who are coming here are clearly active in their social space -- whatever area that might be -- so getting them to be exposed to our products is important because they tend to influence more people than the average consumer. Some of the people down here might have 4,500 followers. When they get out of the Cruze and tweet about how much they like it, well, they have a much bigger megaphone than the average consumer, you might say.

Q: What's a takeaway from this experience?

A: One thing -- just from speaking with people at the Volt Lounge, or during lunch, or at panels -- it's clear there really is no road map for this area. There is no set way of approaching it. And that's probably a good thing. We are still learning how to do this and what you get out of it, finally, depends on your brand and your objectives.

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