Searching For Mr. Goodwrench
FOR RELEASE: March 17, 2003New Ad Campaign Looks for Mr. Goodwrench in GM Dealerships Everywhere
DETROIT - Mr. Goodwrench is back. And Stephen Colbert, in a new GM Goodwrench advertising campaign launching today, is desperately looking for the revived industry icon in GM dealerships across the country.
The problem for Colbert, a comedian who also plays a correspondent on "The Daily Show," is that he's searching for what he thinks is the one and only Mr. Goodwrench. Along the way he meets an untold number of highly skilled GM dealership technicians - (women as well as men) who actually are "Mr. Goodwrench."
"Mr. Goodwrench is back in our ads, and he's alive and well in the experience and technical expertise of the more than 100,000 professional technicians in more than 7,000 GM dealerships nationwide," said Doug Herberger, GM North America vice president and general manager of Service and Parts Operations. "This new campaign builds on our move in January to make the GM Goodwrench brand available to all GM dealers, making us the largest automotive service network in the country."
Herberger said the Goodwrench brand and Mr. Goodwrench stand for two things: expertise and technology. "Our dealer technicians have undergone more than one million hours of training in just the past year alone," he explained. "And they apply technology through their exclusive link to General Motors, using the latest in diagnostic tools. That, we think, is an unbeatable combination."
The new campaign, titled "Looking for Mr. Goodwrench," takes the skeptical and often-befuddled Colbert on a nationwide odyssey, where he encounters customers as well as GM Goodwrench technicians.
The national campaign is as diverse in scope as the technicians it features with TV, radio, print and Web elements - including the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship and NASCAR racing. Maximum flexibility has been built into the campaign to allow dealer marketing groups to tailor local promotions under the umbrella of the national message. All spots feature the GM Goodwrench URL, Goodwrench.com, to facilitate customer inquiries for additional information, including the location of the nearest GM Goodwrench dealer.
One TV spot, titled "Service Bay," opens with Colbert, clad in a safari vest, standing in a GM dealership service bay and asking, "Mr. Goodwrench - who IS this one and only GM expert?" Then, after encountering three different GM service technicians, all of whom confirm that they are in fact Mr. Goodwrench, the slow-on-the-uptake Colbert grabs a bullhorn and asks if the REAL Mr. Goodwrench will please step forward. The commercial ends, as do all others, with the call to action, "Find Mr. Goodwrench at over 7,000 GM dealerships nationwide."
In a spot called "Mitre Saw," Colbert's character is informed by technicians that GM Goodwrench dealerships are the only place to get genuine GM parts, and that "Mr. Goodwrench" has had more than one million hours of training - to which Colbert says, "Doesn't leave much time for Mrs. Goodwrench now, does it?" Next, Colbert quizzes a technician on what tool Mr. Goodwrench would be if he were a tool. Refusing to accept the obvious answer of "wrench," Colbert says the correct answer is ... "mitre saw."
In "NASCAR Garage," Colbert encounters GM Goodwrench-sponsored NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, who confirms to an incredulous Colbert that Mr. Goodwrench - who's "at the track" as well as at GM dealerships - knows GM cars better than even Harvick does. Later, Harvick has to tell Colbert, who's snuck inside Harvick's No. 29 race car and is playing race driver, to get out.
And in "On the Street" Colbert takes his wayward detective role to the man and woman on the street, asking customers whether Mr. Goodwrench does "root canals" as well as brake work, wheel alignments and diagnostics.
"America first met Mr. Goodwrench in the mid-'70s, back in the days of 'Keep that great GM feeling with genuine GM parts,'" said Kelly O'Neill, advertising manager, GM Parts. "Our research shows there is all sorts of relevant equity in the brand and in the name - including recent positive references on sitcoms, talk shows, etc. - despite the fact we haven't been using Mr. Goodwrench, per se, for a number of years." O'Neill said Mr. Goodwrench is an American icon, along the lines of the Maytag repairman and Charmin's Mr. Whipple. "By combining that long, iconic legacy with the hip, humanizing humor of Steven Colbert, we think we have something that really sets GM dealerships apart from the competition," O'Neill said. "By showcasing GM dealer expertise and genuine GM Parts we let customers know there's really no reason to take their GM vehicles anywhere else."
The "Looking for Mr. Goodwrench" campaign was developed for General Motors by Chemistri, the creative agency formerly known as D'Arcy Detroit. The new campaign had also input from GM's dealers, via GM's Dealer Fixed Operations Advisory Board (DFOAB).
GM Performance Parts is part of GM Service and Parts Operations (SPO). SPO, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Mich., markets automotive replacement parts and accessories worldwide under the GM and ACDelco brand names. For more information, visit the GM Goodwrench web site at goodwrench.com.
General Motors , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and market cars and trucks worldwide, and has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.
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