By David Cohen on March 16, 2010 11:38 AM

Chevrolet Drives Interactivity at SXSWi

Chevrolet is driving 30 percent of its advertising commitment for 2010 into digital, and the automaker revealed several examples of its initiative at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, AdAge.com reported.

Among the social-media elements deployed by Chevy at SXSWi: teaming up with Gowalla to have users who check in from the Austin area receive messages and SXSWi offers on their cell phones, such as a free ride from the airport to downtown in an Equinox; QR codes on the hoods of cars that launch microsites with features information when photographed with camera phones; and the iReveal app, which allows users to view three-dimensional, augmented reality models of cars on the streets of Austin, according to AdAge.com.

General Motors director of social media Christopher Barger told AdAge.com:

The reason we’re doing this here is so really smart tech people can make suggestions. This is a place for us to learn. How do we apply this to the rest of the marketing we’ll be doing moving forward?

If really all you’re doing when building a strategy is looking to what others have done, you’re not going to be successful. You need to draw attention to your own brand and find something unique to you.

Barger also spoke with WebNewser sister blog PRNewser prior to SXSWi, and he said:

In the short term, we’re looking at how many times it is being tweeted, how much interaction is taking place, how much it is being mentioned, how many posts or articles are out there. It’s traditional PR measurement.

We don’t look at this as a nine-day campaign and then it’s over. The more relationships and more long-term engagement we can get out of this is what it’s all about.