By Brittnee Anderson, GM Intern
On the second day of my internship they gave us a task: plan and execute a ride and drive event for media interns in the Detroit area. Six weeks later, we pulled it off. Twenty-two interns from a number of media outlets flocked to the Renaissance Center on July 22 to test drive cars from all of GM’s brands.
We are the GM Communications interns: Chad, Jessica and me—Brittnee. They are three former interns working for GM: Adam, Jennie and Lesley. With their guidance we held the first ever GM Intern Ride and Drive.
Here’s how we did it.
We focused the ride and drive on the Chevrolet Sonic because the primary target audience for this vehicle is individuals like me, Chad and Jessica: millennial college students. To kick it up a notch, we designed a presentation featuring two individuals familiar with all things Sonic—Joaquin Nuno-Whelan and Greg B. De Giorgis. Nuno-Whelan is the Vehicle Line Director and Vehicle Chief Engineer for Sonic while Giorgis is a Sonic engineer intern.
While giving the media interns an introduction to the Chevrolet Sonic was important to us, our biggest goal was to positively change their perceptions of GM. Working with the Vehicle Advocate Program we chose eight other vehicles to accompany the Sonic including the Chevrolet Volt, GMC Terrain, Cadillac CTS Coupe and Buick Regal.
On the day of the event, we used Flip cameras, iPads, Twitter and Facebook to document our drive. Attendees updated their online profiles instantly using the hashtag #GMInternDrive. Their reactions and feelings towards the cars, event and GM were videotaped.
Our event was successful, but it wasn’t pulled off without its share of speed bumps. From determining how to transport 12 cars from Warren and Milford to the Renaissance Center, to discovering all four Sonics were missing license plates an hour before the event, there was no shortage of curve balls thrown our way.
In addition to attendees’ thoughts provided in their video footage and on Twitter, two articles were written detailing our event: GM Ride-and-Drive Puts Interns behind the Wheel (Brad Constant, Autoweek) and General Motors Reinvents Detroit (Elizabeth Bastian and Macaela A. Mackenzie, D Business). The latter article proved we had reached our goal with at least two attendees. The authors praised GM saying, “GM’s new innovations are simply symptomatic of the strides that the city itself is making.” They also said, “With this kind of innovation right here in the heart of the city, we can’t go wrong.”
From millennial to millennial, I couldn’t agree more.
