Lula Gardfrey of Detroit gets ready Sunday to test drive a GMC Acadia outside the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. GM partnered with the church to show church-goers exactly what The General has to offer.

A big part of General Motors’ new marketing strategy involves reaching out to potential customers in non-traditional ways. Take, for example, the fleet of GMs that is currently making stops at The General’s vehicle manufacturing facilities throughout North America. Or GM’s program where employees at the Ren Cen have the ability to take out cars for a few days and show them off to friends, neighbors, and family. But GM isn’t stopping there. It’s enhancing its efforts in bringing cars to the public.

GM recently teamed up with the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church and the GM Minority Dealers Association to provide the attendants of the church the opportunity to test drive more than twelve new GM cars and SUVs. Pastor Charles Adams and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, a member of Hartford Memorial, said that the purpose of the initiative was to encourage buying The General’s cars to promote the local economy and support the community.

The test drives elicited positive responses. One church-goer even changed his mind about buying a large, powerful SUV, going instead for a smaller, more efficient Chevy Equinox. The event even had local banks on hand to provide financing information to consumers. Contrary to its approach with the soon-to-be Test Drive Studios, GM made the decision not to offer competitive comparisons at the event.

The GM Authority Take

GM is becoming a lean, mean (creative) marketing machine. Any major automaker can do TV and online ads. But what we see here are grassroots efforts that eventually can lead to a transformation of direct selling and marketing. We’ll watch this one closely, and we suggest you do as well.

[Source: Freep]