Chevrolet’s U.S. vice president of marketing, Paul Edwards, has left the company to pursue other opportunities, a General Motors spokesperson confirmed this week.
Edwards, 51, spent three decades working for GM and held the role of Chevrolet chief marketing officer for the past six years. He helped bring the well-known ‘Real People, Not Actors’ ad campaign to life, which follows a set theme of showing unsuspecting people new Chevrolet vehicles and gauging their reactions. Speaking to Automotive News about the long-running ad campaign in 2017, Edwards said having a consistent theme for a campaign would help people come to know the Chevy brand and its messaging. “They’ve become more familiar with the ingredients such as this whole idea of doing experiments with real people. Ultimately, they become more familiar with the brand,” he said.
Paul Edwards in 2014
Additionally, Edwards received praise when he managed to use a very public flub from a Chevrolet employee to the brand’s advantage. In 2014, Chevrolet regional zone manager Rikk Wilde was tasked with presenting the MLB MVP with a new 2015 Chevrolet Colorado, but his nerves got the better of him during the presentation, leading him to say the truck had “technology and stuff” rather than listing its actual features. Wilde received a ribbing online for the gaffe, but Edwards began using the #TechnologyAndStuff hashtag in the brand’s marketing material, capitalizing on the comedic viral video clip of Wilde’s mistake.
Edwards role will be filled by Steve Majoros, who currently serves as the director of Chevrolet car and crossover marketing. Most recently, Majoros worked on the 2020 Corvette Stingray launch, though he was also heavily involved in direct-to-consumer campaigns for the Chevrolet Bolt EV (ie. products displays, test-drive events etc.). Speaking to AN at this week’s Chicago Auto Show, Majoros said Chevrolet is currently focused on listening to its customers and delivering on their demands, which in turn makes his job of advertising the products a little bit easier.
“If you can anticipate customer needs and expectations and deliver on those, the world’s an easier place and it’s a better place,” he said.
GM has not yet named a replacement for Majoros.
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Source: Automotive News
Comments
As much as I don’t like those commercials, they work on the average Joe.
Nonetheless, I’d still like to see their performance vehicle marketing become more aggressive.
Average Joe here. Those commercials are dumb. There appear to be so many good ad companies out there, especially in insurance. If we’re going to use Paul Edwards as the fall guy for the real people commercials, hopefully they use this opportunity to bring in a new group and get GM advertising on the right track. Fact is, Paul had managers. It’s amazing that nobody in the GM food chain that saw those commercials allowed them to continue.
Some candidates IMO would be the group behind the Dodge Challenger/Charger commercials, whoever is handling the current Army commercials, and whoever did the Walmart Americana commercial during the Superbowl.
YES! About time he left! Time to be daring again!
Good, let’s get some real advertisers on board. GM marketing with the exception of probably Buick/GMC is truly uninspiring and dull.
GM’s advertising is right up there with the truck interiors, they suck!
All he needs now is to have some Sub compact and compact cars to actually market.
Chevrolet’s U.S. vice president of marketing, Paul Edwards probably thought General Motors Board of Directors should have considered him as a viable replacement to CEO Mary Barra.
I am pleased to hear that boring crap is (going with him). I always thought of the GM brand as the one that makes performance a standard. Show the vehicles doing what they do. Work, Play, and transform life styles.
Good, those commercials are so corny I actually feel embarrassed for GM!