Chevrolet News:Chevrolet Gets A New Tagline - Find New Roads

[William Maley]

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By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

January 8, 2013

Back in late December, we reported that the fate of Chevrolet's current tagline, 'Chevy Runs Deep' would be decided within the first quarter of 2013. Today, Chevrolet has officially announced a new tagline, 'Find New Roads'.

The new tagline will become the brand's global advertising message as Chevrolet begins its push to sell vehicles in 140 countries.

“It’s more of an internal mantra as well as our external tagline. A lot of work is going on with our dealerships, a lot of work with our employees. This is just a continuation of that work and really bringing everything under one global vision,” said GM spokeswoman Cristi Vazquez to the Detroit Free Press.

The new tagline will premiere in early February.

Source: Detroit Free Press, General Motors

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Related Story:

Fate Of 'Chevy Runs Deep' To Be Decided In 2013

Press Release is on Page 2

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Chevrolet Will ‘Find New Roads’ as Brand Grows Globally

Aligns around the world behind singular vision

2013-01-08

DETROIT – Chevrolet is the world’s fastest-growing major automotive brand and as it continues to expand its global operations it is aligning its engineering, design and retail operations behind a single vision and communications platform – Find New Roads.

The foundation of this new guiding principle is Chevrolet’s legacy of innovation and commitment to doing the right thing for consumers. Find New Roads will be the touchstone for the brand as it develops new products and technologies for sale in more than 140 markets.

“Find New Roads embraces the spirit of ingenuity that has been in Chevrolet’s DNA since the beginning and it will continue to guide every aspect of our business moving forward,” said Mary Barra, senior vice president of Global Product Development. “We have sold Chevrolets around the world for almost a century, but this is the first time we have aligned behind one global vision.

“As we develop new products our designers and engineers will be empowered to find smarter solutions to address customer needs and make their lives better.”

Since the launch of the Cruze mid-size sedan – the brand’s first truly global vehicle – in 2009, Chevrolet sales have grown about 38 percent.

“This is the right time to launch this initiative with over 20 vehicle launches globally in 2013,” said Alan Batey, vice president, U.S. Sales, Service and Global Marketing. “We are continuing to grow globally, especially in key emerging markets, and Find New Roads will help us drive even more consistency – both internally with our employees and externally with customers.”

Chevrolet’s approach to marketing and the retail experience is already aligning with this new global vision. Last year Chevrolet selected Commonwealth, a newly formed advertising agency, to service Chevrolet advertising around the world. The brand also has launched a program to train dealership personnel to approach every aspect of their business differently to improve the retail experience.

In addition to driving internal consistency for Chevrolet, Find New Roads also will be used in advertising around the world, beginning in the United States this quarter.

“Find New Roads will enable the whole company to rally around a consistent theme for the brand, and at the same time serve as an external message that works in all markets,” said Batey.

“The theme has meaning in mature markets like the U.S. as well as emerging markets like Russia and India, where the potential for continued growth is the greatest.”

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[87Chevette]

I like it better than 'chevy runs deep' but I think there is still room for improvement. Chevy needs a new 'like a rock' - just not as 90s.

[Delta Force79]

zzzzzzzz

[hyperv6]

The key here is they need a program that will meet the needs globally as Base Ball, Apple Pie and Cheverlet will just cut it else where.

Whlile the globalization of Chevy has been a good thing in many areas it will lead to more generic marketing like Honda and Toyota. They keep a basic theme and then do spots locally that connect to the market it is in. It is the local marketing that will be the make or break in this deal.

Not only is the Global marketing not easy the issues also comes into play with building the image of Chevy as a Value Leader but also all thing to all people as in economic transprotation, afforsable performance and luxury. These things cover a lot of area and makes it hard to focus the point of things. Lets face it marketing a Cadillac is much easier and to the point.

Music will be done market to market I would assume since the world has many different taste. In America I hope they stay with a more Classic rock theme as it transends most demo's. The Like a Rock is had to top but they should be able to find something.

One Idea I had for music is to sign a group like Journey and have them do different songs that would match different products and commercial themes. With the response that their music got on Glee has made me hate Don't Stop Believ'in but the public has really taken to it of all ages. They have a lot of other songs that could translate to the screen well.

They also could use the Eagles or several other groups that have been around for years that have a wide appeal with young and old. Just look at what Zeppelin did for Caddy and how it got them noticed.

The way I see it there is a lot of music here and they can do well to dig find that song or songs that everyone never changes the station on.

[balthazar]

Journey is a truly awful suggestion. Awful in the '80s when they were current, awful in hindsight.

Unfortunately for your suggestion, the widest- appeal music these days is sugary pop crapola, but it speaks to a demographic 40 years away (on average) from purchasing a new car.

• • •

IMO, taglines are vastly over-weighted. They change too often, and frankly they've all just about been done already. 100+ years and hundreds of brands later, and there's no new message to tell (not to mention they're all forced, anyway). Auto makers should definitely forgo issuing press releases about them, they're just not newsworthy.

[FAPTurbo]

The Eagles? Journey? Are we selling Park Avenue's here?

I think it'd be a better idea if Chevrolet decided to get with the times and did an ad campaign, using themes that are relevant today. That's what ChryCo did with the 'Imported from Detroit' series and it provoked a response.

I'm no fan of today's music but using something that's from 1983 or '73 screams 'We're stuck in the past.'

At the very least, go with something along the lines of this:

[regfootball]

blah. "find new roads"

punt.

it's sort of ok, it won't cause a rise in sales.

however the part about it also being an internal call is interesting. from that perspective, it's a decent idea.

[Drew Dowdell]

Can you really have a global tag line? Words mean different things in different cultures. "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" just doesn't play well in Saudi Arabia. Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" along with the Eminem song are so distinctly American I wonder if they would have a repulsive effect in say, France.

The only one I can think of who got away with a truly global tag line (twice) was Volkswagen with "Fahrvergnügen" and "Das Auto"

[G. David Felt]

They need a global tag, but one that actually tends to strike home more.

Take one home to the Family!

Choice of Familes around the world!

Exploring New Frontiers!

Chevy, Breaking Barriors!

Cheverlote, Breaking Bounderies!

I think we need to spend some time working on a Global tag line and then submit them to GM.

[pow]

“It’s more of an internal mantra as well as our external tagline. A lot of work is going on with our dealerships, a lot of work with our employees. This is just a continuation of that work and really bringing everything under one global vision,” said GM spokeswoman Cristi Vazquez to the Detroit Free Press.

Hm, where'd we see this before? Oh right, Ford: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dalebuss/2012/06/14/go-further-brand-message-is-aimed-at-fords-employees-too/

The difference is that "Go Further" sends a clear and direct message to strive for the very best, whereas "Find New Roads" implies a company wandering around, dabbling in a bit of everything, without any direction or focus.

Also, as Chevrolet is more of a brand than an organization, it will be difficult to implement this mantra at every level. It might work on the sales and marketing side, but I can't see it being used to motivate the engineering team, since they do work on multiple brands. If they're serious, it should have been a corporation-wide mantra. With Ford, the brand and the organization are one.

Going back to tag lines, GM branding in general is horrible. The Cadillac and Buick websites, in particular, are the worst. The brands always try to reinvent themselves ("we promise, it's different this time!") yet the effort is never sustained.

[G. David Felt]

Find New Roads I can see as an Internal Company wide Mantra to push the engineers to go where they have not gone before. Otherwise I agree for Chevy this is pretty much a DOA mantra.

[hyperv6]

Journey is a truly awful suggestion. Awful in the '80s when they were current, awful in hindsight.

Unfortunately for your suggestion, the widest- appeal music these days is sugary pop crapola, but it speaks to a demographic 40 years away (on average) from purchasing a new car.

• • •

IMO, taglines are vastly over-weighted. They change too often, and frankly they've all just about been done already. 100+ years and hundreds of brands later, and there's no new message to tell (not to mention they're all forced, anyway). Auto makers should definitely forgo issuing press releases about them, they're just not newsworthy.

It was just one of many they could apply. It has worked well for Honda here in this area as in Anyway Way You Want It.

What you consider awful has been playing well with all ages right now. Journey is not my favorite group but they have really reach out again even with the young. My son who is 12 has it on his I pod.

The whole point is you need a song or music that reaches all ages with the message you are promoting. This is something the Black Eye Peas will can not do. On the other hand the Black Keys now have a wider appeal and reach many. They even have law suits out to stop copy cat songs some advetisers are using. I was not a fan till just recently even though they are from here. They get air time from every thing from Pop stations to Niki Sixx on XM. Even Billy GIbbons plays with them now and then.

The kind of song we are looking for is even like Sweet Home Alabama that has sold everything from Chicken to you name it over the years. Like a rock was one that gave good appeal over all groups of buyers and it was a song you could get into your head all day.

[hyperv6]

GM and Chevy are to the point they need to express the global thinking of we are moving ahead and don't look back. We are a new company and not the same mess we were 10 years ago. I would love to see a head well spoken person from GM go public like Lee did for Chrysler and really drive the point home that it is a different ball game.

[balthazar]

The only one I can think of who got away with a truly global tag line (twice) was Volkswagen with "Fahrvergnügen" and "Das Auto"

'Das Auto' = 'the car' = 'Pontiac is car'. Fahrv..... did work well however.