Just like Chevy’s MLB-focused The Groundskeeper and The Bat spots, this Chevrolet clip — entitled The Baseball — equates the 2014 Impala to being a testament to craft in all forms… in this case, the (Rawlings) baseball. The video outlines the life of an MLB baseball which, as it turns out, has a very brief lifespan that averages a mere six pitches.
Each ball starts out with a rubberized core, flawlessly tanned leather, and waxed thread that’s hand-sewn using two needles. In fact, the person in charge of sewing the ball has to hit the mark 108 times, every time, demonstrating that creating a baseball is still a matter of expert craftsmanship. So, here’s the very well-told story of what’s at the heart of every game — the baseball:
Like the other videos in the Discover the Craft series, the clip is set to a melody that accentuates the well-read copy, which reads something like this:
Here’s to dual cockpits and well-design control panels, to tailor-made presets and customizable interfaces. This is the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Impala — a testament to craft in all forms.
This is the story of a baseball, and its very brief but bright lifespan. But despite its future, nothing is overlooked, or above scrutiny, including the man armed with two needles drawing waxed thread through flawlessly tanned leather. He has to hit the mark 108 times, every time. Without this precision, there would be no shoulders to ice, no splinters, to strikes. Here, three times of polyblend wool wrap around a rubberized core — all, so in the end, a ball might make it through six pitches. But that’s six chances at greatness, before it finds the stands or hits the ground. Six pitches, before its perfection is ruined. And it all starts over again.
The GM Authority Take
Another awesome spot by Chevy. And with over 130,000 views on YouTube, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to tell that the video has generated at least a decent amount of interest. That said, Chevy’s goal here seems to revolve around recreating the public perception for the new Impala by equating it to the MLB baseball — a product that’s of a high quality and one that is hand-crafted, while speaking to a specific (baseball-loving) audience. Seems like a good strategy to us.
Watch Chevy’s other Discover The Craft videos, including:
Comments
I love the first 15 seconds for GM and the rest I have already caught on How It’s Made on TV.
Sorry but watch baseball getting made do not give me the urge to buy a Chevy. Now if that guy was sewing up my seats I may feel differently.
Another case of an advertising firm over thinking the situation here.
Sell the product not a feel good story on another product. I suspect this may increase sales for Rawlings.
I had the “How It’s Made” thought as well. I’ll never look at a baseball the same way again, but does that lead me to want a Chevy, I don’t know? Maybe they are trying to make up ground for the perception that the details shown in making a baseball got lost in the making of a car-the Malibu for instance.
Or GM could be trying to pull the whole thing together under the old slogan “baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet”.
In that case, they can skip the hotdog factory.
The hotdog factory could have the impala and the silverdo with the lost calf
That’s a good thought as well, I like it.(Grawdaddy)
Scott — I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the efforts here. While I’m not familiar with the specific decision-making process(es) that led to the creation of this series, perhaps I can provide some general insight here.
In modern marketing, there is a somewhat new metric called the “effectiveness score (or factor)”. This score can be applied across many efforts, but it is primarily used in conjunction with conversions, including:
1. Ad air to ad consumption/impression (people actually watch the ad, rather than skip/fast-forward).
2. Ad consumption to purchase consideration
3. Purchase consideration to actual purchase
Between each one of these stages lies a conversion, which is measured in depth by the effectiveness score. Those are the basics… the theory, if you will.
Now, it is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers to achieve item #1 above. With the ability to skip over ads on YouTube pre-roll, completely fast forward ads using a DVR, or just “tune out” from watching a message, it is very difficult today to make someone watch and ad. In other words, the notion of “selling the product” is becoming less and less effective.
Keeping this in mind, highly-targeted and interesting videos such as the ones that are part of this series can be extremely effective in accomplishing item #1. Perhaps not for you, for me, or for anyone else who isn’t a huge baseball enthusiast… but I will bet that the videos are extremely popular and widely discussed among those who care about the game. I’m sure you can figure out the benefits associated with hooking an engaged audience on your videos, without trying to pitch a “hard” sell.
What’s even more intriguing here is that the videos that are part of the series were made by GM/Chevy, but the automaker isn’t paying to play them. Instead, they’re (I imagine) entirely free views, making the only cost associated with them the cost of production. In that regard, I imagine these clips to be very cost-effective. Add in the high engagement levels, and you have a no-brainer marketing move.
They could do one on the Super Sport with Alex Rodriguez. He can show how they do performance enhancments in Baseball like Chevy does with the SS.
Its hard to believe they hand stitch every ball,and it only lasts 6 pitches, wonder how many balls the league uses every season?
typo:
second paragraph – says 180 times
both the video and the subtitles say 108.
just saying
great video though, very interesting
Thanks, bud. Fixed 🙂