GMC Overtakes Time Square?

GMC is betting big this season on the National Football League. In a PR scheme to attract attention to its American brand, GMC parked more than 30 GMC Sierra pick-up trucks in New York City’s Times Square to bolster the company’s sporting image. The effort drew a large crowd of sports photographers, writers, football players and fans to celebrate the opening of the NFL’s 93rd season which started on September 5.

GMC plans to ride its sports-marketing vehicle hard by embracing different NFL football stars to tell the GMC story. The auto company plans to jump into the social media sector while also building up the company’s image prior to kickoff in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII.

The Times Square stunt included 33 sparkling new GMC Sierra pickups with the NFL team logos for its 32 teams.

In keeping with GMC’s tough sporting theme, Craig Bierley, GMC’s advertising and promotions director, said that GMC and the NFL share the qualities of tough and durable. GMC’s vehicles will showcase the qualities of the NFL in performance and ability, Bierley said in Times Square.

GMC is hitching itself to the NFL star as a dependable advertising platform. Many brands see the NFL and its 181 million fans as a publicity juggernaut that presents incredible branding value.

A New York Times writer characterized this effort as GMC getting ready for some football or kids anxiously waiting for Santa Claus to slide down the chimney.

The GMC brand is again embracing its “Never Say Never” theme. That theme will be continuously threaded through Twitter, GMC’s website and other digital platforms. Fans will see loads of TV commercials featuring GMC trucks. GMC will partner with NFL stars and also give away Monday Night Football tickets. Expect to see Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders relating their “Never Say Never” stories.