Chevy’s advantage; real or make believe?

Chevy’s newest campaign is a full on assault on the competition. But they chose an odd way of bashing the competition. Normally when you take a shot at the competition, you pick an area where you directly beat them and go after it. If you have more horsepower than your top competitor, you say, “we have more horsepower than you”. It’s clean, it’s concise, and it’s effective.

But what happens when you don’t have an advantage in a meaningful area? Most brands choose not to attack the competition and instead focus on their own good points. Chevy on the other hand attacks the manliness of the competitions features.





In the first spot, Howie Long talks to the driver of a Dodge Ram about his heated steering wheel and manicured nails after being involved in a fender bender. At the very end of the spot, they throw in an EPA estimated 21 miles per gallon on the highway. What in the world does a heated steering wheel have to do with fuel mileage? Does Chevy really believe that making fun of the heated steering wheel on a Dodge makes their truck seem tougher, more manly and therefore more deserving of your hard earned money? Meanwhile a quick look on the EPA’s website reveals that the Dodge Ram gets 20 miles per gallon. Maybe that’s the real reason. One MPG isn’t a big enough advantage so they attack the manliness of the Dodge Ram and its owners.

The second spot is an even worse attack on a make believe advantage. In this spot, Howie Long makes fun of the tailgate step on the Ford F-150. His snide remark about leaving the “man step” down, does nothing to show an advantage that Chevy has over Ford. They cast a short, round, awkward person to use the tailgate, making it seem ineffective. And to top it off, they throw in a 100,000 mile or 5 year warranty at the very end of the spot. Ford has a 60,000 mile or 5 year warranty on its F-150. Why not use this as the basis to your spot. This is a legit advantage. Challenging the manliness of the F-150 and the tailgate step obscures the real advantage they have.

What do you think? Do these Chevy spots work in your mind?

-The Ultimate Account Guy