The final game of U.S. Major League Baseball’s World Series is the pinnacle of the season. 2014’s championship was especially fevered, going all the way to seven games. Naturally, the eyes of a nation were on the live-broadcast of the Series’ Most Valuable Player trophy presentation, which included a new truck from Chevrolet as title sponsor. Chevrolet planned the opportunity to set up the launch of its highly anticipated tech-loaded Colorado pickup, which was sparkling on the field for its huge national television debut.

But the moment veered off the road as Chevrolet’s sales manager got a case of nerves. As the time came for him to talk about the truck and its wowing tech features, he swerved: “The all-new 2015…Chevrolet Colorado provides class-leading, youknowuh…technology-and-stuff.”

Instead of running from the moment and a potential crisis, Chevrolet immediately took “technology-and-stuff” and ran with it, creating a highly memorable off-road jumpstart for the Colorado. Chevrolet stepped into the online conversation and took control, using the hashtag #TechnologyAndStuff to own things with humor and drive traffic to its website. It moved up Colorado’s ad launch to feature #TechnologyAndStuff.

Over four days, 24,000 unique conversations claimed #TechnologyAndStuff, delivering 63 million impressions and trending stature. Online engagement revved up 300 percent, and page-views accelerated seven-fold. Chevrolet also captured 70 percent of conversations around trucks and generated $5.2 million in earned exposure. Purchase interest increased 350 percent. Chevrolet won praise for its timely, creative response which serendipitously cast high-beams on technology as the hot competitive feature.

Seeing the moment claimed by the Internet, Chevrolet immediately went into high gear to reclaim it, quickly turning the situation into a powerful opportunistic on- and offline marketing advantage.

Chevrolet’s goal was simple: own the situation in a way that could create favorable conversation and visibility among potential Colorado buyers, using an unexpected turn of events to power engagement leading into a hurried-up launch.

Chevrolet flipped a potential crisis into a truck-sized win. Wide applause for its quick response added to monster social and earned media conversation about the truck itself. And Colorado’s technology – a premier factor in vehicle purchases – got a spontaneous white-hot spotlight.

Over four days, earned conversation volume totaled nearly 24,000 unique #TechnologyAndStuff and #Chevyguy mentions. Both hashtags trended nationally, generating 63 million impressions. @ChevyTrucks captured 70+ percent of Twitter conversation about trucks. Purchase interest in Colorado – not yet for sale -- increased 350 percent.

Through Twitter links, online engagement numbers for @ChevyTrucks were nearly 300 percent above average and contributed to Colorado Model page visits seven times higher than the average daily views.

Earned media in outlets like USA Today and The Washington Post reached millions more potential Chevrolet customers.

A Chicago Tribune headline said it all: “Wilde pitch to Series MVP wins with technology and stuff”

Without waiting for post-Series morning light, @ChevyTrucks entered the conversation at 12:30 a.m. with this promoted tweet, “Truck yeah the 2015 #ChevroletColorado has awesome #TechnologyAndStuff! You know you want a truck.” The post linked to the Colorado Model Overview page on Chevrolet.com.

With a SWAT team assembled to monitor conversation, @ChevyTrucks tweeted and creatively responded, which kept two hashtags -- #TechnologyAndStuff and #ChevyGuy -- trending throughout the day. (“I’m looking into a new Chevrolet; does #TechnologyAndStuff come standard, or do I need to model-up?”) Chevrolet also created quick, sharable content for its dealer network, equipping dealers across the country to join the conversation.

The team worked closely with clients and media buying and creative agencies to extend the play into other digital mediums. Chevrolet’s advertising, scheduled to roll out weeks later, was altered to include #TechnologyAndStuff and launched by close-of- business that day, with paid support for increased traffic.

Baseball’s demographics are a beautiful match with Chevrolet’s trucks. A 2014 World Series title sponsorship paved the road for the introduction of Chevrolet’s highly anticipated Colorado midsize pickup truck to appeal to the market’s insatiable appetite for trucks loaded with tech features.

In the moments following the final game, Chevrolet was poised to present the Series MVP with a new Colorado on live TV to set up the full-scale introduction weeks later. The mangled pitch about Colorado’s cutting-edge features came across as “technology- and- stuff.” The Twitter-sphere lit up with comments and memes that threatened the launch ahead.

Knowing the sharable nature of the moment, Chevrolet’s strategy was to become part of and eventually get ahead of the conversation in zero-to-80 miles-an-hour. In owning and embracing the moment and getting into the flow of conversation with humor, Chevrolet favorably skewed social conversation and set the stage for positive media coverage.

The plan was to pivot off the cringe-worthy quote to turn #TechnologyAndStuff into high-octane fuel for the truck’s paid, earned, social and digital launch that would be moved up in time to fully take advantage of the trending nature of the situation.