Titanium: Chevrolet and the all-new Colorado were in the crosshairs of this very public — and very negative — social and media activity tagged with #technologyandstuff. While the conversation was negative, we saw the silver lining.

At 11:43 p.m. on October 29, as part of its Major League Baseball sponsorship, Chevrolet presented the World Series MVP with an all-new Chevrolet Colorado, complete with…”technology and stuff.”

Those were the words uttered by the very nervous Chevrolet representative that were broadcast to a live audience and sent the social masses spinning with the immediately trending #technologyandstuff.

At 11:35am on October 30, We pitched an idea to Chevrolet: own the moment with same-day creative, capitalizing on #technologyandstuff and highlighting the all-new Colorado amongst a hard-to-reach target audience.

With nearly everything sold out, we leveraged all resources and relationships to secure late-night TV, search, and social—where Chevy’s audience tuned-in and organic chatter was abundant—Thursday-Sunday, including SNL and The Walking Dead, as well as newspaper ads in the most relevant regions. The image turnaround was picked up by major news outlets and resulted in an estimated $5.2 million earned media impression.

U.S. Chevrolet brand opinion and momentum lagged behind competitors. Young adults felt apathy toward the brand. This unfortunate lemon afforded us the opportunity to make lemonade by engaging an increasingly difficult-to-reach audience.

Chevrolet’s positive sentiment changed was noticed by both large and small scale news outlets nationwide, including Advertising Age, New York Post and Good Morning America, resulting in:

- $5.2 million in earned media impressions

- 25,000 mentions

- 67.6 million impressions

- Hourly Colorado landing page visits 7-10 times above average the day following Wilde’s presentation

Regarding sentiment, what started out as mockery, was now recognition of marketing genius, with many people asking, “Was this planned all along?”

Regarding Chevrolet, it’s safe to say they were pleased. What started as a day of crisis management turned out to be an execution of real-time marketing at its best. The national sentiment was now “Well played Chevy. Well played.”

When Wilde flubbed his speech, all attention was on the misspoken words. We changed the sentiment by reaching consumers exploring Chevrolet and #technologyandstuff across channels.

Social

Real-time social marketing directed the conversation by inserting the Chevrolet brand into the center. We worked with partner agencies to recut existing assets and voiceover to include “technology and stuff.”

Search

Paid and organic search was utilized for anyone searching/joining the conversation helping to build a broader audience and increase conversation participation.

TV

Organic chatter was abundant and the MVP presentation was the butt of jokes across networks. Custom spots ran in:

-Sports: Including LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers homecoming

-SNL: Built social buzz and aligned with the comedic tone and Chris Farley comparisons

-The Walking Dead: U.S.’ biggest primetime show

Owned and print

Custom creative included “technology and stuff” and hashtag on Chevy’s website and in newspapers throughout critical markets.

Chevrolet and the all-new Colorado were in the crosshairs of this very public — and very negative — social and media activity tagged with #technologyandstuff. While the conversation was negative, we saw the silver lining: there was a new, large audience that was now talking about Chevrolet that wouldn't have typically engaged with the brand in any other circumstance.

This extraordinary circumstance created an opening to leverage the social and media activity to own the moment and conversation, shifting the momentum and changing the sentiment. We achieved this by executing same-day creative that tied right into #technologyandstuff, demonstrating Chevrolet as a modern and relevant brand and highlighting the all-new Colorado amongst a hard-to reach target audience — social, opportunistic guys 25-54 who always have their finger on the cultural pulse while seeking out their next passion or adventure in both work and play.