Worst of the Week: Chevy Volt

If flatulence from cows and transporting out-of-season bananas and avacados across the country in diesel-powered trucks is causing a global warming catastrophe that will soon doom the world, then Armageddon is upon us when Chevy released this gem for their new Volt.  After seeing this “fun and educational” video about the new Chevy Volt, I’m not sure anyone will want to save the world by buying a Volt – except for maybe a few from the berry/granola crowd.

Now, it’s good to see that Chevy was being frugal with their government bailout money by producing a video using iMovie and photos from their Flip video camera.  But this is the best they could do?  Arguably, this is the most important product launch in your company’s recent history!  A two-and-a-half minute whistle of a jingle packed with so many product features that it sounds like the lyrics may have been written by the Volt product development team after a few cold Miller Lites at the bar across from Chevy headquarters?  ”Vehicularity”?  ”It’s so simple like a dimple, plug it in and see”?  Yeah, listen closely.  Those lyrics are actually in there!

And what’s with showing the Prez. not once, but twice in the video?  Paying homage for helping you get your bailout dollars?  If so, you should have at least gotten a shot of him in the car!

Here’s what GM’s Maria Roher, GM’s director of Global Volt Marketing had to say:

Chevrolet and I feel very strongly that educating our future leaders, kids, on the future of the electrification of the auto category works hand in hand. We are not only looking to sell our Volts come start of production but we are also looking to educate our youth on something that is rather new and sophisticated and quite eco minded.

Our goal is to craft that education in a manner that is family friendly ( as it should be because we are America’s original mass /heart brand), entertaining and simple to understand for a rather sophisticated product.

A Volt song helps us to achieve those objectives.  ’Chevy Volt and Me’ explains what Volt is all about as a better EV in simple friendly terms.

Can’t speak for everybody, but if you’re looking to educate the youth, this Ad Maverick has a good span of kids who will be up-and-comer drivers starting within the next couple years.  And while I can’t always decipher what they’re listening to … they’re not listening to Joni Mitchell meets R.E.M.

The problem is, if this video had been just a little worse, it could it would have gotten some traction and gone viral for being really bad. But it sits somewhere just above that threshold – too bad … but not quite bad enough.

Chevy, we know times are tight and you’re scraping to make every marketing dollar work hard, you can do better!

Congratulations, Chevy Volt, you’re our worst of the week!

Author: AdMavericks
www.lessingflynn.com

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Tagged as: berry/granola crowd, big yellow taxi, Chevrolet, Chevy, Chevy Volt, Chevy Volt and Me, Chevy Volt Song, GM, government bailout, its the end of the world as we know it, jingle, Joni Mitchell, miller lite, R.E.M., vehicularity, youtube