Starting at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) this year, Chevrolet has revealed it will invest 30% of their advertising budget on digital communication in 2010.
The first step is being present at the event with QR codes in vehicles (including content and HotWheels on premiums), augmented reality (an application that displays the 3D models) and geolocation, the Gowalla, a competitor to Foursquare, and eight branded cars taking bloggers and twitterers for a ride in Austin, Texas.
Moreover, Gowalla’s offices are also located in Austin which was in partnership with GM for this event i.e. whoever checks in in certain places defined by Chevrolet, wins special badges.
But one of the most interesting things that happened was for those who checked in with Gowalla at the Austin airport. Randomly, several users were chosen to win a ride at the airport to wherever they want in the city (see the message in the image above).
According to Chevrolet, the SXSW is the point for testing for their new digital strategy. However, this is also a response to Ford, which in recent years has positioned itself as the car brand that’s most active on social networks.