At our recent Masters of Integrated Marketing Conference there was discussion of – among other topics - consumer generated advertising. At every presentation on this topic at which I have been present, someone asks a question about how the company or brand can control their carefully crafted image when consumers are running amok creating their own content. 
Chevy Tahoe experienced this first hand and is the case study we all reference when this issue surfaces. (Unless you have been spending a lot of time in your cave, you have heard about what some think was the law of unintended consequences when in a March Apprentice tie-in, consumers were invited by Chevy Tahoe to visit the website and create their own Tahoe videos - some of which were negative about SUVS and their drain on environmental resources.) I for one applaud the Chevy Tahoe brand group.
Despite how you feel about SUVs (I drive a sedan and loathe it when an SUV blocks my view or I am parked between two of them!) you have to admire the company for being out there, participating in this new medium and allowing consumers to interact with their brand. I also think the publicity that emerged about the supposed “negative consumer reaction” was a bonus. Not caring a whit about cars and thus not paying attention to car advertising of any kind, I would never have heard about this new model had I not been reading about the consumer generated campaign in every advertising related trade publication that exists. I now have a favorable - and more contemporary perception - about Chevrolet because of this. I had not thought much about the brand since my Dad gave me his Chevy Caprice after I graduated from college many, many years ago. So Chevy Tahoe brand – keep it up! I will be looking to see the next brilliant advertising tactic you add to your arsenal. Oh and by the way, go to Google and search Chevy Tahoe Consumer Generated Advertising – there are 34,000 results! Not a bad return on investment…
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