The Chevy Volt - Brand Monitoring Report #1

The Beginning

Chevy Volt

In November of 2010, GM unveiled its first electric car, the Chevy Volt.  In an attempt to improve the struggling automaker’s image, GM introduced the Volt as their technology flagship.  They wanted to be able to develop a car that could not only compete with the likes of the Toyota Prius, but one that would also improve their image and grab attention in the marketplace. 

The Marketing Plan 

GM planned on marketing the Volt to the average consumer by positioning its product as more car then electric.  They wanted to calm fears about range anxiety for electric cars and educate people on the new technology as well as the features the car has to offer.  In order to do this, the company built a groundswell of support across multiple demographics by having a nationwide tour of the vehicle and creating marketing campaigns on Facebook, YouTube and everything else in between.  They developed a social media site for the Volt (http://www.chevroletvoltage.com/) which contains blogs, photos, videos, tweets, and community chats.  You may have seen their commercial which aired during the Super Bowl?  If not, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJGeNK4d9T0

One interesting approach they took prior to the release of the car was to invite technology blog writers Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, and Leo Laporte to drive the car.  Because the car is tech and gadget heavy, equipped with a smart phone app that enables you to lock, unlock, heat, cool and check the charge status, inviting these tech bloggers, who have large audiences, was a way to create more dialogue around the Volt through social media sites.  These individuals would naturally write about their experience, even if it was just to send a tweet about it.  So, how interested were people in the Volt and what were they saying about it?  I turned to various social media sites to try to find out. 

Social Media Monitoring
Over the past couple of months, I periodically used socialmention.com to monitor consumer engagement around the Volt.  I found that there were increases in strength, sentiment, and passion but not reach.  Reach had decreased slightly.  Here is a snapshot of the findings:



Source:  http://www.socialmention.com/



I also used IceRocket to monitor the number of blogs for the Chevy Volt and a few of its competitors.  I limited my search to the past month and found that the Volt did not have a lot of blogs while the Nissan Leaf had the most with results at 300 and 602 respectively.  I think that one reason there may have been more blogging about the Nissan Leaf was because there were many comments about Nissan having to halt production of the vehicle because of the recent tsunami and earthquake in Japan.  It will be interesting to see the results in future reports.






Source:  http://www.icerocket.com/



The last social media site I reviewed was YouTube.  I wanted to gage how many videos were available for the Chevy Volt compared to the same competitors.  I found that while the Volt did not have the most videos available for viewing, it was second only to the Prius.  The Ford Focus was again at the bottom with only 610 videos available.

Source:  http://www.youtube.com/

So, what are consumers actually saying about the Volt?  Here is a small sampling of some positive and negative reviews:

• why does it have to be so small and cramp. Can the mfg make an electric full size car or truck so the driver can sit comfortably instead of feeling crouched in a box?
• i'm honestly torn, both the Volt & the Leaf are amazing cars. But the look of the Volt (inside and out) is so much sexier. 
• i saw one today on the road, have to say, like it way more than the damn prius, looks cool, i might replace my big suv with it
• As invigorating as a golf cart.

The timing of the release of the Chevy Volt could not have been better for GM, or you would think anyways.  With gas prices at an all time high, and the constant campaigning around the negative effects that fuel has on the environment, it seemed certain they would have success.  The Chevy Volt was even named the 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year, but sales for GM have not been great.  The company has sold only 928 cars to date. 

Although GM said they wanted to educate the public on how their electric car works, they seemed to have failed.  People are confused and leery about purchasing this vehicle.  The Volt's social media site lacks the excitement needed to engage people in the product.   Still, with only 3 months of sales to track, I think it is too soon to tell if the Volt will be a success for GM or not. 

Sources:  http://www.gm-volt.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevy_volt; http://www.cleanfleetreport.com/