Chevy Marketing HHR Panel
03-31-2007 | 09:41 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: 08-20-2006
Posts: 21,640
From: Hillsdale, Michigan
Chevy Marketing HHR Panel
Chevrolet enlists Detroit students to get new van noticed
March 31, 2007
BY MARK PHELAN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Chevrolet's friendly little HHR retro wagon gets remade as a menacing death's head on wheels this week as the brand taps students from Detroit's College for Creative Studies to crank up its cool quotient.
Top Chevrolet and General Motors executives picked the nasty design, titled "Flaming Skull from Hell" drawn by CCS senior Jim McCammon, to scare kids and attract goths at the New York Auto Show next week.
"It's attitude," McCammon, a Livonia native, said. "Chevrolet is associated with rock and roll and a rebellious youth."
The skull was one of seven HHRs penned by CCS students in Greg Moy's integrated marketing class. Chevrolet sponsored the project. Moy's students, who started work Feb. 12, researched the target market of young people drawn to trendy cars like the Honda Element and Scion xB for about a month, then spent the last two weeks creating unique new looks for the HHR panel van Chevrolet will introduce at the show.
"I particularly like 'Skull from Hell,' which is terrific in its angry, post-apocalyptic detail," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said.
Lutz also praised Will Lee's "Graffiti" for its "clean, simple" design and Keriann Griffin's "Koi" for "its beautiful color combination" and "lovely traditional Japanese graphics."
Chevrolet planned to put only the winning design on an HHR, but the brand's executives were so smitten with the students' work that they now expect to use all seven designs to promote the new panel van.
Chevrolet developed the HHR panel van as a delivery vehicle for florists and salespeople, but some of the brand's executives think it will also attract trendsetting young buyers.
"The designs were right on our cool, funky aspirations for the HHR," Chevrolet general manager Ed Peper said. "We're trying to make our cars and small utilities more hip."
The executives who chose "Flaming Skull from Hell" to test that theory include Lutz, Peper and GM design chief Ed Welburn.
March 31, 2007
BY MARK PHELAN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Chevrolet's friendly little HHR retro wagon gets remade as a menacing death's head on wheels this week as the brand taps students from Detroit's College for Creative Studies to crank up its cool quotient.
Top Chevrolet and General Motors executives picked the nasty design, titled "Flaming Skull from Hell" drawn by CCS senior Jim McCammon, to scare kids and attract goths at the New York Auto Show next week.
"It's attitude," McCammon, a Livonia native, said. "Chevrolet is associated with rock and roll and a rebellious youth."
The skull was one of seven HHRs penned by CCS students in Greg Moy's integrated marketing class. Chevrolet sponsored the project. Moy's students, who started work Feb. 12, researched the target market of young people drawn to trendy cars like the Honda Element and Scion xB for about a month, then spent the last two weeks creating unique new looks for the HHR panel van Chevrolet will introduce at the show.
"I particularly like 'Skull from Hell,' which is terrific in its angry, post-apocalyptic detail," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said.
Lutz also praised Will Lee's "Graffiti" for its "clean, simple" design and Keriann Griffin's "Koi" for "its beautiful color combination" and "lovely traditional Japanese graphics."
Chevrolet planned to put only the winning design on an HHR, but the brand's executives were so smitten with the students' work that they now expect to use all seven designs to promote the new panel van.
Chevrolet developed the HHR panel van as a delivery vehicle for florists and salespeople, but some of the brand's executives think it will also attract trendsetting young buyers.
"The designs were right on our cool, funky aspirations for the HHR," Chevrolet general manager Ed Peper said. "We're trying to make our cars and small utilities more hip."
The executives who chose "Flaming Skull from Hell" to test that theory include Lutz, Peper and GM design chief Ed Welburn.
03-31-2007 | 10:44 AM
#4
Member
Joined: 06-24-2006
Posts: 80
From: US
Pics of the seven entries:
http://fyi.gmblogs.com/2007/03/stude...mized_hhr.html
http://fyi.gmblogs.com/2007/03/stude...mized_hhr.html
03-31-2007 | 07:30 PM
#7
Senior Member
Joined: 04-30-2006
Posts: 9,149
From: Maryland Heights, MO
Alex Furchak's 'Cool Shoe'
Keriann Griffin's 'A Little Koi'
Liz Kerner's 'Light as a Feather'
Wil Lee's 'Graffiti'
Lauren Mack's 'Doodle Fun '
Jim McMammon's 'Skull from Hell'
Linus Parr's 'Essence of Music'
04-01-2007 | 09:06 AM
#8
Senior Member
Joined: 01-13-2006
Posts: 2,999
From: Superior, WI - Over the Hill Warranty Club member
No paint a outdoor scene on the side as in deer by the stream, wandering the woods, ducks blasting into flight from the water, geese... You get where I am thinking but not the complete HHR. It would be a good thing for the rear side panels..
Better yet, A scene of Route 66 with a line of HHRs on it...
Now I can dig that for the panel..
Better yet, A scene of Route 66 with a line of HHRs on it...
Now I can dig that for the panel..
04-01-2007 | 09:15 AM
#9
Senior Member
Joined: 07-21-2006
Posts: 1,708
From: Ft Walton Bch FL
You know, I can imagine a fleet of UPS HHRs running around town. Most of our businesses get small package deliveries. We also have vendors who fill mini mart shelves with potato chips, cookies, and other products. Even the post office could reduce costs by using the HHR over large trucks.
With the price of diesel these days, the HHR is a much better option!
With the price of diesel these days, the HHR is a much better option!