(Direct Newsline)—At the North American International Auto Show later this month, Chevrolet will unveil its C6 Corvette—the sixth radically different design since the line was introduced in 1953.

A yearlong marketing campaign culminating in mid-2003 yielded e-mail addresses for 26,000 Corvette enthusiasts, and General Motors is banking that at least a few of them will be plunking down the $50,000 or so it’ll take to drive a C6 (and a basic model at that) off the lot.

The Corvette’s latest iteration marks the first time these names will be solicited since they were initially collected, although at deadline the only thing under tighter wraps than the car’s new design itself was the specific nature of the e-mail campaign.

The names were gathered as part of the Corvette 50th Anniversary Celebration, which started in mid-2002 with a survey of 50 key “Corvette ambassadors”—individuals identified by the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY, as being highly involved with various Corvette enthusiast clubs and functions.

The initial survey was not intended to be a marketing piece. It consisted of a dozen open-ended questions, e-mailed to the ambassadors in mid-2001, regarding the types of events a Corvette enthusiast would like to participate in as part of the line’s anniversary celebration; how far the person would travel to such an event; and what other activities he or she would engage in during a multi-day Corvette rally.

But the survey generated a 700% response rate. Not only did recipients write page-length responses to many of the questions, they were all too eager to forward it on to other Corvette enthusiasts.

“That was when we first felt we were tapping into something that was going to be a big hit,” said Brian Kelley, event marketing manager for Carlson Marketing Group’s Mideast division, which designed the campaign.

Kelley quickly rearranged his priorities. Not only did survey respondents offer their opinions, but 24 months ahead of the yearlong road tour (which was to culminate in a rally in Nashville, TN), they were looking to enroll in the celebration and register for whatever accommodations they would need.

In response, rather than focus on general promotional activity, Kelley’s team turned its energy to launching a Web site (www.corvette50th.com), which was up by April 2002 and able to sell tickets and link to hotels, as well as provide information about the various stops on the road show.

And while direct mail never was going to play a large role, the response Kelley saw convinced him that e-mail could be the campaign’s primary channel.

The campaign is covered in the January issue of Direct.

At the North American International Auto Show later this month, Chevrolet will unveil its C6 Corvette

At the North American International Auto Show later this month, Chevrolet will unveil its C6 Corvette—the sixth radically different design since the line was introduced in 1953.

A yearlong marketing campaign culminating in mid-2003 yielded e-mail addresses for 26,000 Corvette enthusiasts, and General Motors is banking that at least a few of them will be plunking down the $50,000 or so it’ll take to drive a C6 (and a basic model at that) off the lot.

The Corvette’s latest iteration marks the first time these names will be solicited since they were initially collected, although at deadline the only thing under tighter wraps than the car’s new design itself was the specific nature of the e-mail campaign.

The names were gathered as part of the Corvette 50th Anniversary Celebration, which started in mid-2002 with a survey of 50 key “Corvette ambassadors”—individuals identified by the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY as being highly involved with various Corvette enthusiast clubs and functions.

The initial survey was not intended to be a marketing piece. It consisted of a dozen open-ended questions, e-mailed to the ambassadors in mid-2001, regarding the types of events a Corvette enthusiast would like to participate in as part of the line’s anniversary celebration; how far the person would travel to such an event; and what other activities he or she would engage in during a multi-day Corvette rally.

But the survey generated a 700% response rate. Not only did recipients write page-length responses to many of the questions, they were all too eager to forward it on to other Corvette enthusiasts.

“That was when we first felt we were tapping into something that was going to be a big hit,” said Brian Kelley, event marketing manager for Carlson Marketing Group’s Mideast division, which designed the campaign.

Kelley quickly rearranged his priorities. Not only did survey respondents offer their opinions, but 24 months ahead of the yearlong road tour (which was to culminate in a rally in Nashville, TN), they were looking to enroll in the celebration and register for whatever accommodations they would need.

In response, rather than focus on general promotional activity, Kelley’s team turned its energy to launching a Web site (www.corvette50th.com), which was up by April 2002 and able to sell tickets and link to hotels, as well as provide information about the various stops on the road show.

And while direct mail never was going to play a large role, the response Kelley saw convinced him that e-mail could be the campaign’s primary channel.

The campaign is covered in the January issue of Direct.