Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC Certified Service are using TikTok and Meta Reels to break with category convention.

In the video, a garage morphs into a nightclub-lit space as pulsing music syncs up with the sound of tools and a service professional starts dancing, bouncing a tire to the booming beat.

With automotive service being a “grudge purchase,” it can often be a challenge to capture people’s attention compared to a brand that already has pent-up demand, says Ryan Egan, ECD at Dentsu Creative.

“It feels like a challenge, but there is a lot of opportunity,” Egan says, who tells strategy the shop’s longstanding relationship with the brand spans creative and media. “We’ve been looking for ways to either reach new audiences, or speak to existing audiences in a new and fresh way.”

It’s a decidedly different approach from a traditional digital format or CRM.

The campaign is launching now, ahead of winter tire season.

Through platforms like TikTok and Meta, Egan says it can reach younger consumers, but also older millennials who are in the market for a new car. With TikTok allowing more brash behaviour and and a bolder creative approach, the expectation, he says, is for content that is more fun and entertaining, with a more appealing vibe.

Beyond emphasizing the importance of winter tires, the campaign showcases service technicians as experts at what they do. It also shows that they are not so different from the TikTok users who watch them.

The first video of the campaign focuses on winter tires, with a 30-second spot set to air on TikTok and Meta Reels in Ontario and Western Canada. A second video, centred on brakes, will be supported with paid media in 2024, boosting engagement with other Chevrolet, Buick and GMC Certified Service offerings.

Montreal’s EGS PR is handling communications.