Did GM make a big mistake this Spring with their Apprentice commercial competition? Many traditional marketing experts called the outcome a failure. At the same time, GM claimed victory on their FastLane business blog, while anti-SUV pundits claimed they were the victors.

Yet no matter what your viewpoint is on this corporate experiment in generating New Media buzz — there is at least one very valuable lesson you can learn from their experience.

First, a quick 60-day rewind

If you’re not familiar with what happened back in late March and April of this year, here’s a quick thumbnail sketch. It’ll help you put things in context and take away a very valuable lesson from this New Media marketing play.

Earlier this year Chevy launched an online campaign to tie their brand in with the hit show The Apprentice. Chevy invited people to submit their own version of a Chevy Tahoe commercial after building it with GM supplied components. GM provided audio and images that “contestants” could combine with their own screen captions to create their own “unique” commercials.

GM’s plan was to generate some serious word of mouth with their effort. They thought they would get their audience “participating” and bloggers spreading the buzz. But what was intended to look like a graceful swan dive into the New Media marketplace, ended up looking more like a pig in a tutu belly flopping into a kids wading pool.

Why did it end up that way? It wasn’t for a lack of effort …

GM really honestly thought they had it right. They thought they understood how to create buzz with the New Media and blogs. But they confused “participation” with an uncontrolled free-for-all. And that was the root of the flop.

You see, GM’s approach to this attempted word of mouth campaign allowed many of the commercials to be created by environmentalists whose interest was nothing more than to damage the brand. Commercials that were nothing more than anti-SUV attack ads.

GM didn’t pull the ads while the contest was running, and they left the ads up for all to see. OK, so that’s about the only thing GM did right with this non-strategic plunge into the New Media marketplace. They made a decision and took their hits. If they started pulling the ads, bloggers would have had many more negative things to say about GM. (Update: as of this writing, GM has taken down the chevyapprentice.com site and redirects all traffic to the main Tahoe page.)

The whole exercise was touted by GM on their FastLane business blog as a success in getting New Media buzz through participation.

Buzz benefits? Not really … but you can learn from GM’s mis-step

Now with a clear 20/20 view on the final results, there is at least one lesson to be learned here. Chevy mistakenly thought they could run this contest like a regular commercial — to the masses. They thought the open door would create a wider circle of “buzz”, but they totally missed the boat.

Marketing with New Media means focusing on your niche, not the general public.

A much better approach would have been for GM to approach all current owners of Tahoes — from soccer moms to hip-hop artists. They could have asked those loyal fans to create commercials using the same material Chevy provided. Or better yet — GM could have allowed them to use their own videos, images, and music to create truly personalized commercials.

That approach would have built New Media buzz with commercials showing how the Tahoe makes trucking around three kids with a cubic yard of football and soccer gear a breeze. Or maybe MTV-like videos of tricked out Tahoes with 22″ deep dish rims and flat panels in the headrests accompanied by catchy beats.

Commercials like that would have connected with sub niches in the Tahoe owner ranks. And they would have connected with other prospective Tahoe customers to join the club.

By opening the door to the general public, GM opened the door to left-leaning activists who take any opportunity to trash SUVs. But in the end, this exercise in New Media buzz creation really didn’t do much at all.

Anyone into SUVs could care less about the spoof ads. They already know why they’re buying the vehicles. Those people are aware of the Tahoe’s gas mileage, and that’s not why they’re buying them.

What about all the anti-SUV critics you might ask? Who cares there too! Those people will never buy a Tahoe anyway.

So what came out of all this business blogging and New Media buzz campaign?

Well, hopefully it’s that GM (and other big corporations) learned a valuable lesson about marketing with the customer controlled New Media. To adapt a phrase from ol’ Bubba … “it’s the niche stupid!”

If you’re thinking of using blogs and other New Media tools to gain audience participation, attract new customers, or build buzz — keep it built around your target audience. Participation with business blogs and other New Media tools does not have to lead to anarchy when you engage loyal fans of your company, your brand, or you yourself.

Copyright © RPM Success Group Inc. 2002-2006. Other bloggers and journalists are allowed to excerpt and link to posts (as is common with bloggers,) as full credit/attribution is given to AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.

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John-Paul is a published author and weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. As a Click-and-Mortar Business Coach he helps small business owners integrate offline and online influence strategies for rapid, reliable business growth. You can reach J.P. directly via [communicationcommando@gmail.com].