GM’s viral “230″ campaign for Volt: Sorta shocking

I’ve already spent some time ripping on Government Motor’s god-awful recent ads.  They’re slowly getting better. In fact, I’m giving GM’s latest stealth campaign for the Chevrolet Volt an “A,” at least for effort.

For the past several days, Prius-and-Apple-loving hipsters  tuning into the Daily Show with John Stewart on Hulu have been teased by mysterious ads featuring nothing more than a plain green background, an animated winking electrical outlet, and the numbers “230 8-11″ tuned to an hypnotic electronica beat.

Intriguing.  This is my kind of campaign.

This morning, curiosity got the best of me, and I finally Googled the numbers 230 8-11.  I skimmed several blog posts (does it smell like buzz in here?) and eventually cyber-sleuthed my way to the heart of the mystery: GM’s Website, whatis230.com.

Ahhh, 230 refers to the estimated EPA gas mileage for the Chevy Volt, which will be launched in “late 2010″ according to the fine print at the bottom of the Web page.   Mystery solved.

Very clever, GM. Way to swing for the fences with an audacious number like 230 miles per gallon. (Wussy hybrids get what, 50?)  The Web copy and videos you posted are informative and make a compelling case, although they are blandly plainspoken as a Chevy Malibu.  But–look!–You even added links to social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Nice.

Good job.  You got my attention.  You even “engaged” me as a consumer, as PR and marketing wonks like me like to say.  Thank you for not using Howie Long again to point out your company’s inferiority complex with Honda.  Keep the car rolling, and best of luck with the Volt.  The entire country wants (needs) to see you do a successful job of marketing this one.