brands head for sxswi – chevy’s out front

chevy's social media blockbuster broke through at sxswBrilliant, Watson!

The sticker on the hood of this back from the grave Chevy isn’t a wasabi Rorschach test. It’s a QR code, which, when you snap a shot of same with your ever-present smart phone, will transport you to a mini-site where you can see the exact same vehicle you’re looking at in 3D, only a lot smaller and in 2D.

Not a good trade you say? Ha! Start swapping out options and accessories to get a brain bolt as to just how you’d set up profiling down the boulevard in a ride of your own. That’s what Chevy cooked up for their social media experiment March 12-15th at SXSWi in Austin, TX.

According to AdAge, Chevy equipped teams from around the country with wheels and incentives (using a location-based smart phone app built on a platform from Austin’s own Gowalla) and pointed them in the direction of central Texas. Ready. Set. Tweet. The synergy is simply sublime. Whether the return lives up to the hype remains to be seen, but the early returns have folks wondering out loud if this can be tried at home.

And What About Harley?

Part of the reason we bother to mention is to compare and contrast with TMC’s recent breakthrough announcements designed to breath life into the moribund mark: World’s Longest Jump While Riding A Sportster In New Zealand, Women’s Garage Night Out (Wheee! You’ll Learn How To Pick Up A Bike Thats Fallen Over), more movie placement and Screw It, Lets Ride. zzzz, zzzzz, zzz – huh, whus that? somebody say somethin?