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Videos: Chevrolet releases new "Duramax & Allison" ad campaign to promote Silverado HD

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:58:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Work, Chevrolet, GM, GMC, Humor, Diesel

Max and Al see eye-to-eye - Click above to watch the videos after the break

General Motors' advertising department has seen quite a shakeup over the past year. GM chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick may have hand-picked San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein and Partners as his ad agency of choice, but the good ol' boys from Campbell-Ewald still have some tricks up their sleeves for Chevy Trucks.

The world may not completely understand how and why Chevy runs deep (to be fair, we're going to give it some time...), but nobody is going to miss the hidden meaning of GM's new "Max and Al" campaign, which features the recognizable faces of Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, Rules of Engagement) as Max, and Craig Robinson (The Office, Last Comic Standing, Hot Tub Time Machine) as Al.

What hidden meaning, you ask? You'll see it clearly when you watch the videos, naturally, but basically what we have here is a message that GM's Duramax diesel V8 engine and Allison transmission is a time-tested and proven combination that is the thinking man's obvious choice in a segment that also includes Ford's Power Stroke and Ram's Cummins series.

There's a website (www.maxandal.com), a series of videos (which you can find after the break along with the press release) an upcoming online game and even a downloadable app that's said to be coming soon to the iPhone App Store. Oh, and what modern-day marketing campaign would be complete without a FaceBook page and a Twitter account? Not this one, that's for sure.

Check out all the facets of this far-reaching HD pickup advertising campaign and let us know what you think of it. Us? Well, let's just say Chevy's got our stamp of approval so far on this one.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading Videos: Chevrolet releases new "Duramax & Allison" ad campaign to promote Silverado HD

Videos: Chevrolet releases new "Duramax & Allison" ad campaign to promote Silverado HD originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chevy challenges Ford to HD towing contest, gets turned down

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:27:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Marketing/Advertising, Work, Chevrolet, Ford, GM, Diesel

Numbers like maximum horsepower, torque and tow ratings are the heart and soul of the full-size heavy duty pickup truck segment. No shocker there. But how much reliance can consumers actually put on figures provided by the manufacturer? And, keeping in mind that the average test drive doesn't include hooking up a ten-ton trailer, how might we all get a proper frame of reference when judging one massive diesel beast with another?

Such questions may soon get an answer... other than this one, decided upon just a few weeks back. It seems that General Motors has issued a pretty straightforward challenge to Ford: a towing duel up mountain grades, followed by a comparison of factory-issued exhaust brakes on the way back down. (Sorry, Ram... guess you're not invited out to play.) Seems simple enough, no?

Here are some relevant statistics: Ford's (reflashed) 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel V8 engine punishes the tarmac with an even 400 horsepower and 800 pound-feet of torque. That's class-leading, as GM's 6.6-liter Duramax pumps out 397 horses and 765 pound-feet. Looking at those numbers, Ford wins... right?

Not so fast, says Chevrolet Silverado Marketing Manager Tony Truelove, "Numbers on paper are fine," he said. "Let's go work these trucks in the mountains, and may the best truck win." To which Ford Trucks spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari replied, "We challenge our trucks against the competition in grueling prove-out tests continually, and the customer gives us the results - sales leadership year after year."

That's right, The Blue Oval plainly and unsurprisingly declined Chevrolet's invitation. But the show must go on, and our friends at Pickuptrucks.com promise to be on hand in their very best black-and-white-striped shirts to serve as referees for the main event. Let's get ready to rumble!

Gallery: PickupTrucks.com Heavy-Duty shootout 2010

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Chevy challenges Ford to HD towing contest, gets turned down originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Drive: 2011 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty technical deep dive

Sam Abuelsamid — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Marketing/Advertising, Technology, Work, Chevrolet, GM, Diesel

2011 GM HD Truck New Technology - Click above for high-res image gallery

At first glance, the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickup trucks don't appear to have changed much compared to their 2010 counterparts. But don't let their familiar faces fool you, because virtually all of the greasy bits have been substantially upgraded or replaced entirely. Like the competitive heavy-duty trucks from Ford and Dodge, General Motors offers its trucks in a huge array of configurations with varying passenger, payload and towing capacities and an array of gasoline and diesel engines.

We drove seven different variants over two days in the Allegheny mountains of western Maryland along with the latest models from Dodge and Ford for comparison's sake. While the sales volume in the heavy-duty truck segment is smaller than it was at its peak a few years ago, it is still hugely profitable and comprises about 25 to 30 percent of all pickup sales. Follow the jump to learn more about what General Motors' truck engineering team has done to help ensure those dollars keep rolling in.

Gallery: 2011 GM HD Trucks New Technology

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty technical deep dive

First Drive: 2011 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty technical deep dive originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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