Re-evaluating Marketing for the Chevy Volt by Rob Youngs, Deepak Ghosh, Grant Mulligan, Jade Zhang, Pamela Jao

Roadmap  What is Volt?  Brand Identity Issues  Inconsistent Messaging  Marketing Improvements  Potential Long-term Strategies

What is the Volt?  Extended range hybrid  Better than competition  Yet, appears to be underselling

Problem: Sales Below Targets  Sales are consistently well below already conservative projections  Initially hoping to 'leapfrog' the Prius  In 2011, they projected sales of 60,000, sold 7,621 units  Sales are declining; down 19% last year to 19,000  Getting overtaken by the Nissan Leaf  Despite being highly ranked by customers; only EV with range extender

Problem: Lack of Brand Image  Toyota Prius: First Mover HEV (Harmony Ad)  Nissan Leaf: Innovation that excites (What if Ad)  BMW i3/Tesla: Performance, futuristic ( Newfangled idea ad)  What is Chevy Volt? Extended range electric vehicle

Analysis of Volt’s Recent Commercial  Lack of consistency - Who are they targeting?  2016 find new roads  Unclear value proposition : Performance vs. Savings vs. Feature  2016 driving on ice  2014 how it works  2014 dog lick ad  2015 fuel economy  2012 gas station  Online Ads only:  Norwicki: “Generally speaking, the category isn’t advertised on TV. You go where the target customer for your vehicle is. And oftentimes people that are drawn to specific categories of cars, alternative-fuel vehicles in particular — those people do not view TV. They are online. They’re in social media. But they are not typical TV watchers. So just because you don’t see us on TV doesn’t mean we’re not advertising online and in social media.

Tension with Parent Brand?  Chevy alone makes up 12.5% of U.S. auto- market  Silverado  Gas guzzler  Dems vs. GOP  1st Time Buyers?  More Silverado's sold in a day than Volt's last month  Sold in 2/3 of dealerships

Solution: Building Community of Evangelists  CMO reorienting strategy to be more regionally focused on densely populated areas and creating EV evangelist community  harkening back to days of Saturn community (i.e. road rallies, meetups, car-club events), using real owners in ads  We advocate for doing this with Volt  Capitalizing on social media opportunity with evangelist community  ex. Ford Fiesta 'missions', Nissan Leaf  650 mn YouTube views  40.2 mn Twitter impressions  765,000 Flickr views  300 mn media impressions  56% brand awareness  MPG competitions

Proposal 1: Marry with Parent Brand  Chevy Volt = Power and Performance  More horsepower than BMWi3  Faster 0-60 than Prius or Leaf  Power your daily life with 100% American Energy  Surfer Ad  Old school American power and ingenuity  Independence and no range anxiety  Recharges batteries going downhill- recapture energy

Proposal 2: Create Independent Brand  2013 Consumer Reports Car Brand Perception Ranks:  PERFORMANCE  3rd behind only Ferrari and BMW  QUALITY, VALUE  5th behind Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Hyundai  DESIGN, STYLE  5th behind Cadillac, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes Benz  SAFETY, TECHNOLOGY/INNOVATION, ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY/GREEN  Didn't make the list  Toyota, Smart, Tesla, Honda ranked highest

Proposal 2: Create Independent Brand  Parent Brand has Halo Effect on Child Brands  Chevrolet:  STRENGTHS  Performance, Design/Style  WEAKNESSES  Technology/Innovation, Green, Quality/Value  Negatively affects Volt's "Environmentally Friendly", "Green", "Technologically Advanced" positioning in terms of credibility, authenticity  Chevrolet's Brand Perception hurts Volt's Brand Positioning

Proposal 2: Create Independent Brand  Strategy:  Create, Cultivate Brand independent of "Chevrolet"  Toyota's Reliability/Dependability positioning does not help Scion's Hip/Trendy positioning  Marriott's Higher Economy/Mid-Luxury positioning does not help Ritz-Carlton's Ultra/High End Luxury positioning  Start with Volt's strengths  Position "Cutting Edge Technology", "Car of the Future": Conquer niche market, then gradually grow into mainstream  Cultivate loyal community, embrace "futuristic green" culture, create powerful brand ambassadors, leverage network effects through social media channels to align with "futuristic", "modern", "trendy" attributes and appeal to "next gen" consumers

Conclusion  Volt is cool, innovative; very happy owners  But, not selling enough; unclear brand messaging  Needs better long-term brand/marketing strategy  Two potential long-term strategies to simplify brand positioning and messaging:  Marry parent and product brands OR  Create new innovative brand