Chevrolet Plans New Ad Message

General Motors’ Chevrolet division needs to infuse its passenger cars with a brand message that resonates with consumers the way the “Like a rock” tagline does with truck buyers, according to John Middlebrook, the division’s general manager.
While the “Genuine Chevrolet” tagline will continue, the Chevy brand campaign set to break in the fall will look different than the work created to date, Middlebrook said last week.
“The phrase that we use to describe the work in progress internally is ‘We’ll be there,’ and I am pretty sure you will see that phrase somewhere in the creative,” said Middlebrook.
Campbell-Ewald Advertising in Warren, Mich., is the national agency for Chevrolet cars and trucks.
The idea, Middlebrook said, “is to come up with something of a rallying cry for our passenger cars.”
In fact, “Like a rock” has become not just a tagline, but a whole culture for Chevy’s truck business.
Chevy has benefitted from Americans’ increased appetite for trucks and sport utility vehicles, with its market share in that category up to 22.6 percent this year, from 22 percent in 1997. But sales of its passengers cars are down to 11.1 percent of the market, from 12.4 percent last year.
As it tries to energize its car operations, Chevy unveiled its new-model Tracker compact sport utility last week. Middlebrook hopes the more substantially built Tracker will attract people who are passing up on Chevy’s cars.