GM Redesigns the Chevrolet Malibu

GM has redesigned the Chevrolet Malibu completely and is about to launch it in the U.S.. General Motors wants to squandor the thoughts of those who believe that Detroit can't make a competitive vehicle. They are tired of the Chevy Malibu seeming like a foreign car in its own country.

There is a three phase approach to their launch and it is said to reach over $150 million by the end of it all. Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich. (the agency heading up the launch) has tagged the campaign with "the car you can't ignore". The challenge will be far from easy though as the target audience is very skeptical about domestic car brands. Kim Kosak (another head of the production) said "We're going to shock the system and get their attention because we're not on their radar screen." With this new launch they hope to generate 5 million new visitors to the chevy.com site everyday. They are launching all over the web along with 172 billboards and of course there are 15 new 15 second commercials.

The second part of the phase will be to bring awareness to what the experts are saying about the car. One quote that will run is "Beware Camry," from Car and Driver Magazine. These quotes will run as print ads all over.

An interesting aspect of this campaign is that they want to increase their female buyers by 10%. They are running the ads on 'Lucky" and in Vogue, Conde Nast and other women's magazines.

The Final phase of the launch is called the "enroll" which will include more tv commercials but GM wont disclose details about it.
All in all I think the Malibu needed a facelift and a new niche in the automotivve world. Frankly Malibu was not even a car I thought about before reading of this but now I'm intrigued. I'll keep a lookout for the new ads and see if it they really do change my mind about the Malibu.