We invited hundreds of millennials to a focus group where they were shown a fictitious car commercial. Our moderator presented stereotypical images of carefree, tattooed millennials on road trips, dancing in fields and enjoying bonfires on the beach. The participants did not appreciate the pandering efforts, asking, “Is this what everyone thinks of our generation?” and “What does this have to do with the car?” These questions led the moderator to the conclusion that millennials want a car designed for them, not a commercial. He then revealed the all-new Cruze, impressing the millennials with its new design and advanced technology.

Knowing that this audience consumes advertising differently than our typical Chevrolet targets, we did a 180 from our usual broadcast-heavy strategy and focused on a digital approach. We placed a 15-second teaser on millenial-centric sites like POPSUGAR which drove to the full-length video on YouTube.

In September 2016, Chevrolet was ranked 29th on the Business Insider Top 100 Brands for millennials list, beating Honda, BMW, and fan favorite Tesla. This result can be attributed to the success of the Cruze launch and the “Stereotypes” video.