With its 85th anniversary approaching and a redesigned model set to be revealed, we needed to find a way to create buzz around the Chevrolet Suburban while highlighting its rich 85-year history.

While Suburban has long been known for its versatility on the road — from acting as a first responder and leading a presidential motorcade to supporting military and law enforcement, the Suburban has also played a big role on-screen. We wanted to recognize Suburban’s Hollywood accomplishments in a way that would garner attention from media and our target audience.

Through research, we discovered the Suburban has been acting in Hollywood for the last 67 years, appearing in over 1,750 films and TV shows. In many ways, making the longest-running nameplate Hollywood’s longest-working actor.

To highlight this impressive resume, we petitioned the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and made our case that if the Suburban were a person, it would have been awarded its own Award of Excellence star. The Chamber agreed, making the Suburban the first inanimate object to receive a star. We held a formal ceremony at the Dolby Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where the Suburban was presented its star. The event even included honorary guest speaker, Dennis McCarthy, who has almost 20 years of experience building and casting cars in Hollywood films.

The Chevrolet Suburban Award of Excellence star generated 275 stories, reaching 2.4 billion unique monthly viewers with 19.5 million social media impressions. The event received 25 times the amount of coverage typically generated from Award of Excellence ceremonies. The news reached a wide audience of consumers through media outlets in various beats, including automotive news, daily news, local broadcast media and entertainment news — even making an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Additionally, coverage of the star reveal was syndicated globally in Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Russia. Ninety-nine percent of stories were positive in tone, with all including key messages and figures demonstrating Suburban’s commitment to Hollywood entertainment over the past 67 years.