TTAC reader (and former GM employee) Mikey alerted me to this video, which I missed, due to promptly shutting off the TV after the Kansas City Royals lost the World Series.
Chevrolet’s Rikk Wilde (who, a source informs me, is a regional manager, not a Sales and Marketing exec), who is clearly nervous about appearing on national TV, flubs his lines spectacularly when presenting World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner with a brand new Chevrolet Colorado, telling him that it comes “packed with technology and stuff”.
It would be easy to pile on and lambaste Wilde for his performance, and one could argue that as part of his job duties, he should be more comfortable appearing on camera. But as someone who once completely froze and walked out of a room in a cold sweat during a speaking gig, I recognize the rapid breathing and stilted delivery, and can only feel empathy.
I’m not sure it was nervousness so much as resembling of those new obese crash test dummies. There were probably a handful of stairs to get up to that podium.
Healthy lifestyle choices, such as diet and a work out or two can do wonders for your confidence. Perhaps this guy would be more comfortable promoting full size pickups?
You’re a Royals fan? Or just a fan of baseball teams that wear white and blue so you can pretend it’s the Blue Jays?
The latter, plus I like Ventura.
I meet a lot of Canadian baseball fans at Tigers’ games (lots of Jays’ fans but some Tigers’ fans). Baseball seems to be popular in Ontario.
Player or Pontiac?
Yordano not Pontiac.
I was cheering for the Royals for history reasons — 30 years since their first championship — and the fact that I grew up in Kansas. I guess three wins in the past five years is good, but not as good as the above.
Also disappointed my Sounders won’t be in a Cascadia battle with the Whitecaps starting this weekend, but Dallas beef will do.
Go Mariners!
I wrote about these on the forums, and as I said, it is the most awkwardly proportioned vehicle out there.
I’ve seen both, and only one dealer was willing to put it at the front of the lot, I’d be embarrassed as well.
The GMC dealer by my work hides them behind the Sierras and Yukons.
The only reason I knew they were out was b/c of the one Canyon I saw, I started looking at other dealers and found more of them hidden away.
It’s shaping up as a flop, I haven’t even seen advertisement for it.
A friend of mine wanted a cheap truck for his business. We went to the GM dealer and he asked about the lone Canyon sitting on the lot. The dealer steered him to a Silverado W/T, and that’s what he walked out with.
And he made the right choice with the Silverado W/T. I’m driving one this week. It is a perfectly decent truck that can be purchased for a good price.
Stories still circulate around these parts about the wild parties- mainly drinking and smoking pot- that occurred on the line at Chrysler’s Fenton Plant (just southwest of St. Louis).
The building was demo’d a couple of years or so ago. They’ve been trying to sell the large tract of land for quite some time with no success.
Compliance truck?
bball, I’ve got an ’03 Silverado EXT cab with no options except the v8 (if v8 is an option?). It was my dad’s truck.
It’s got 180k, rust in the fenders (bed) and rust along the bottom of the cab.
This truck has been abused for the past ten years (ran along gravel roads in the Ozark Mountains on my family’s property) with virtually no maintenance done, and it runs like a top.
We’ve kicked the living sh*t out of ours. It just keeps going, no leaks, doesn’t smoke, etc. I think it likes being abused.
raresleeper-
I’ve been happy with the stripped down versions of the Silverado and F150 I’ve owned over the years. Always rode hard and put away wet. I’ve had more trouble with Mopar trucks. My first truck was a ’98 Dodge Ram 4×4. I miss having it, but it hated transmissions.
We keep it filthy dirty all the time. Just the way my dad’s kept it. Lol
Growing up, my folks always had Chevys and/or Ford full size trucks. I never could understand the Chevy versus Ford thing, we had ’em both.
Never a Dodge though. Don’t know why. Midwest thing, maybe?
When I do see a Dodge pick up here in Missouri, more than likely it’s a diesel.
Base trucks are the sweet spot. Let those spending $50K keep subsidizing the fun!
I wonder why there were no Mopars. St Louis had assembly plants for each of the Big 3. Wentzville is the only one still open though, and it makes the Colorado. Ford and GM still have stuff in the Kansas City area though.
If they have the Colorado shopper help move some of the Silverado ‘blockers’ out of the way, they at least plant a seed. They start to think, “Why am I buying the Shasta Cola of trucks, when for a few nickels more, I can have the Real Thing?”
The dealer by me has a nice black Z71 right out front, it looks very good. The salesmen were not happy it did not have a V8, that was about it.
Goddam… I hate seeing any vertebrate suffer.
Rikk Wilde is the perfect porn name.
“Comes packed with technology and stuff” is the actual Chevy marketing slogan for the Colorado.
It has replaced “[L]ike a rock.”
How much do you suppose Bob Seger made off that “Like a Rock” ad campaign? That campaign went on for somewhere around ten years. Whenever I hear that song, my mind instantly whisks me back to my parents living room from the 90s and I am watching playoff hockey or basketball while eating square pizza.
That was a great ad campaign and ended too soon. It was during the great GM Piston Slap fiasco. The saying on the street was “Like a Knock!”.
Those were the days when I was hangin’ with college buds, watching Detroit Red Wings & Colorado Avalanche bloody each other in playoffs, seeing Don Cherry’s latest ginormous collared suit on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada – Dun Dun Dun Dun (love you Don Cherry, peace DC) and indeed watching what were possibly the best truck ads ever, the Like A Rock ads.
It was a glorious time
I always thought that was a weird song to go with. Not sure you would want to compare your supposedly mobile vehicle with an immovable object.
Like a rock /
It just sits in my driveway
Like a rock /
Guess it ain’t gonna start today
etc etc
@DW
I do hope you’re kidding about the slogan and stuff. I didn’t know valley girls took over the RenCen, as if.
They hashtagged it everywhere…
This company is just begging for another bankruptcy isn’t it?
28, the Like A Rock Bob Seger GM Truck commercials were much better than Huge Lewis & The News style Chevy Heartbeat commercials.
I wonder what was more intimidating for the guy – being on national TV, standing next to the guy who pitched probably the best World Series in a century, or Erin Andrews.
Bum had just finished a performance that essentially guarantees him $20M+ annually for the next decade. I’m sure he can’t wait to get that Colorado in his garage. I just hope Chevy didn’t cheap out and give him the WT version – it doesn’t come with quite as much technology and stuff.
Why do guys get all in a lather over Erin Andrews? She’s not that hot and she’s no great interviewer.
Danica Patrick is nothing to look at either, sucks at racing, yet all eyes are on her. It’s like being the hottest chick at the Wednesday swapmeet.
i’m not at all sure why folks get so excited about either of them. low maintenance spins my tires – always has.
as for mr wilde’s performance – i’m cutting him some slack. it’s clear he was nervous and that relegated any prepared speech he made to the back of his mind. could i have done better? doubt it.
It would have been funny if Rikk, in the process of handing the keys over, dropped them on the floor, knocked over the trophy and headbutted Erin Andrews on the way back up.
His dad said that he hopes Madison gives the truck to him. Madison may keep it as he has a farm with a number of cattle.
My impression was that Rikk Wilde is definitely very unfit (breathing hard from climbing the stairs) and probably unhealthy. And being out of breath after climbing the podium probably made him nervous as well.
Morbid obesity, mixed with probably high blood pressure, lipids gone wild and if he smokes……………..
If this is Mary Barra’s idea of putting GM’s best foot-in-mouth forward, she’s got some ‘splain’ to do.
Rikk Wilde’s stumbling “performance” was understandable, but who wants to hear so blatant a promotional pitch that long afterwards? Let the vehicle speak for itself. And no Corvette? I’d say Bumgarner was robbed.
being an executive is a tough life.
…its a hard knock life.
Rikk Wilde’s hotel reservations got messed up & he had to sleep in that mid size truck the night before down by the river.
I wish Rikk Wilde looked and talked like Macho Man Randy Savage while still holding his current position.
GM employed Randy Savage (RIP) presenting the MVP award and giving someone the keys to a new GM vehicle would make me want to buy a Colorado.
“This truck will take you straight through the danger zone on your way to becoming the cream of the crop, oooh yeaaah!”
And then he eats a Slim Jim.
GM was too cheap to fly a professional spokesperson from their PR department to the World Series?
Not saying this is kinda like the ignition switch fiasco, but it was a fiasco based on cost analysis versus possible negative exposure. Guy looked and acted as strung out as Rob Ford after a hard night of boozing and hitting the pipe.
This screams of a last minute replacement.
I thought the same thing. Maybe Rikk is normally good public appearances but choked, though I doubt it. Hard to believe GM would put him in that position.
They’re not selling… yet.
Because there’s no cash on the hood… yet.
If you’re not a size-conscious buyer, the ton of rebates on leftover ’14 Silverados makes the new Colorado look like a bad buy.
Give it 6 months, and you’ll be able to buy a base Colorado for $16,999 after rebates. Then they’ll sell.
This guy could use some time with Matt Foley…. down by the river.
He won the world series and they gave him a cheap pickup? Didn’t they give away a Corvette last year or the year before?
It was a great World Series. I agree Bum. deserved a Vette. When I saw the presentation last night I cringed. Watching HLN this morning {Robin Meade, now that lady is hot} anyway they were laughing at this guy.
Really Chevrolet!..Trying to promote a brand new product on national TV, seen around the world! That’s the best you can come up with?
If my former employer is reading this. Please keep the checks coming. If you need a better spokesman, I’ll do it for free.
Any chance GM did this to Rikk on purpose? After all, there are probably more people talking about the Colorado than MadBum’s ridiculous performance.
If he doesn’t FIT you must ACQUIT!
This is actually an accidental success. More people now know about the new Colorado than would have if it was presented by cardboard spokesperson. He kinda reminds me of Chris Farley in Tommy Boy. If GM was smart, they’d find a way of including Rikk Wilde into future marketing campaigns.
they already have… #technologyandstuff
http://www.chevrolet.com/colorado-small-truck.html
This guy will probably be on Letterman in a couple of days.
…He kinda reminds me of Chris Farley in Tommy Boy…
YES. This – exactly this.
Here comes the meat wagon!
I had a 2003 GMC Sonoma. 4cyl, manual, extended cab, 4×2. Pretty basic. It was 68″ wide, 205″ long, 62″ tall, and weighed in at 3198 lbs.
This sucker is 6″ wider, 7″ longer, 8″ taller, and weighs in nearly 900 pounds heavier for a comparable model. Fuel economy went from 19/25 to 19/26. In 2003, a Honda CR-V was rated at 20/26. If they’d kept it on a diet instead of exploding like a middle-aged Val Kilmer, this would probably still match Honda CR-V fuel economy, now 27/34. Good thing fuel is cheaper now؟
Luckily for me, that Sonoma convinced me that I never wanted another truck. I got any desire for solid axles and leaf springs from an Amish buggy out of my system!
What were the capabilities/capacities of the old compared to the new? I also presume you’re comparing apples to apples (ext. cab 4×2 4-cyl. model)?
Wait one minute here – the fact that GM has built something just a smidge smaller than a GMT800 (which got around 13/17) and it now gets 19/26 is pretty stunning.
Lets also remember that you’re comparing pre-2008 updated EPA cycle MPG to post-2008 MPG ratings – if you think the current ratings are fantasy land – the ones before 2008 were total make believe.
I was using the EPA’s site, which has recalculated the older MPG ratings for comparability. The 2003 Sonoma had 22/29 on the Monroney sticker. The CR-V had 23/28.
The current ratings seem a bit pessimistic – I usually hit the old ones pretty accurately, and the new ones are easy to exceed. The one exception was a Jeep Wrangler that was officially rated (old system) at 17/19, and struggled to exceed 15.
On a side note, what ever happened to extended cab jump seats? They used to be side facing and you could squeeze in two actual adults in a pinch. now, the rear seats face forward, and you’d be lucky to get Lieutenant Dan in there!
I just remembered, I met Rikk – close to a decade ago.
He’s a nice guy – and far more articulate than you saw on camera.
As someone who has done some extensive time behind the camera I’ve seen people freeze up before – it’s tough.
I’ll give GM credit where credit is due, their PR machine has done a good job of turning these lemons into lemonade – in the end this has worked out vastly better than if it had been flawless executed. No one would have remembered – heck flawless execution would have gotten Rikk likely labeled a tool.
People are talking about this – everywhere – and with it Chevrolet, Colorado and OnStar.
In marketing – that’s called a win.
>> extensive time behind the camera I’ve seen people freeze up before
I had just started a job and was called up on stage to be introduced by my boss and performed a classic – tripping on the last step.
Final game of the World Series and this is the best guy they could get, a morbidly obese bald man that almost had a heart attack on stage talking to the MVP? Good Lord GM, get your act together. I am surprised he did not ask where the h3ll his Corvette was, I know I sure would.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
That video Is now gone with the message, “This video is not available in your country”.