Watermarks Like a Rock by Jason Breneman

On page thirty-three of the April 2000 edition of Outdoor magazine appears an advertisement for the S-10 model truck produced by Chevrolet. The ad's purpose is to give credibility to the truck's toughness by effectively building a link between it and a member of the elite U.S. Navy SEAL team. This advertisement is appealing because it is creative, straightforward, and original. It also accomplishes its goals on every level it commits to, nothing more, nothing less.

The first noticeable detail of the ad is its more obvious components, primarily its placement. In order to sell effectively its product, Chevrolet must focus on its target audience as effectively as possible. For the S-10, that audience is the young, active, adventurous, American male. This being the case, Chevrolet is to be commended on its choice of Outdoor magazine as a platform for doing business. That target audience is Outdoor's bread and butter. In contrast, the ad may possibly have lost some of its effectiveness confined in the pages of Home and Garden or Cat Fancy. So Chevrolet did well in hitting his customer where he lives, often doing literally so by appearing monthly at his very doorstep.

Once Chevrolet found a suitable vessel for this marketing ploy, it then had to give consideration to the placement of the ad within. The ad in question takes up a full page on the right hand side and is well towards the front, at page thirty-three of one hundred seventy. Chevrolet had to expect that this ad would be seen by virtually all of the magazine's readers. As a bonus, many of those sneaking a flip-through at the magazine stand likely had their thumb stick briefly, dangerously close to the Chevy S-10 symbol on the bottom corner of page thirty-three.

That symbol is a vital part of an intricate color scheme at work in this ad. Notice the use of generally drab colors. The background of the page appears to have the texture and color of wrinkled, dirty parchment. The photographs in the forefront are something of a brown and white, rather than a standard black and white. As a matter of fact, the only thing on the page that isn't brown, black, or white is the Chevrolet logo in the bottom right-hand corner. It is clean and gold, oddly out of place among the otherwise unimpressive colors on the page.

All of these colors serve a distinct purpose. Drab colors generally have the effect of suggesting that both the ad and the product it is hawking aren't trying to be something they're not. It doesn't use flashy colors because it is not attempting to sell a flashy product to flashy people. It is simply advertising a sturdy, dependable vehicle that claims to get the job done. It makes no apologies if it happens to get a little dirty in the process. This appeals to the hikers, campers, and travelers who read Outdoor magazine, because they know well that most of the real world is neither flashy nor clean.

Also important is the gold Chevrolet logo alongside the product name and the brand motto in the bottom right corner. The use of gold is subtle, but it sticks out nonetheless, much like a nugget of the precious metal would in its natural surrounding of the silt and muck of a river bottom. Just as an old frontiersman would upon discovering that very nugget in his pan, the reader is sure to make that gold symbol both the first thing he notices and the last thing he sees. Whether it is realized consciously or unconsciously, this is a virtual guarantee of later brand-name identification.

The subject of the ad involves Carlos Sandoval, Navy SEAL, vouching for the new Chevy S-10. This particular truck is equipped with the "Survival Pak," including air conditioning, automatic transmission, CD player, and aluminum wheels. Chevrolet chose Mr. Sandoval as its spokesperson to lend the credibility of a tough, dependable Navy SEAL to the tough, dependable S-10. And a worthy spokesman he is. The average mid-twenties outdoorsmen is one generally unimpressed by a celebrity spokesman who lends his sponsorship to the highest bidder. He simply wants to know if the product does the job or not. Mr. Sandoval is certainly no celebrity, unless this single ad becomes extremely popular in its own right. He does, however, possess some even more highly valued traits.

Primarily, he has to have been proven both tough and dependable if he is to have made it as a member of the elite SEAL team. SEAL is an acronym for those who "command Sea, Air, and Land," as the text states. These men have a handle on things, and Mr. Sandoval has certainly held his own with them. The word "Veteran" before "Navy SEAL" verifies that he has real experience climbing over obstacles, day in and day out, without the glory bestowed on a baseball or football star. As icing on the cake for Chevrolet, Mr. Sandoval's profession is also considered to be pretty cool by most members of the target audience.

The one trait that really makes Mr. Sandoval an effective spokesman is the one I suspect most important to a Navy SEAL: Honor. That honor is what this whole ad rests on. Without it the ad loses its credibility. Mr. Sandoval's honor is unblemished. He is pictured as if busy during a typical day at work, down and dirty, exuding toughness. He is simply getting the job done with no fanfare, no special treatments. It is his honor that refuses him a choice to fail. And it is that honor that Mr. Sandoval lends to the makers of the S-10.

Readers of the ad know that a Navy SEAL cannot afford to have gear that isn't as dependable as he or his teammates are, and the readers of this magazine can certainly relate to that. Given that most consider themselves to be tougher than average and have spent at least some time outdoors, they likely are familiar with the frustration of having gear fail them at the worst possible time. If Mr. Sandoval stakes his very honor that this truck will do nothing of the sort, it makes for a pretty effective notarization.

Chevrolet also goes to some great lengths to ensure that a clear link between Mr. Sandoval and the S-10 is unmistakable. For example, the words "Carlos Sandoval, Veteran Navy SEAL" and "Chevy S-10" appear in the same rugged, burned-in-looking text. There is even the same brown, dirty smudge over both. But that is, after all, what is being sold.

This connection is true on other levels as well. It is common knowledge that the battlefield of a SEAL often couldn't be more extreme. He must be as equally at home treading through the suffocating steam of a tropical jungle as withstanding the harsh biting cold of an unforgiving mountain range. Here, both man and truck are displayed in the picture as making their way through some of these rather tough environs, but they together seem unaffected, even to the point of enjoying it. Mr. Sandoval seems to say that, in any circumstance he finds himself in, the S-10 is something that even he can depend on to have its limits tested daily and look better for it. Beyond that, the text states that the S-10 is what makes these hardships bearable, with the luxuries included in the Survival Pak. Mr. Sandoval implies that, if a tough, hardy guy like himself can spoil himself a little, certainly the viewer can too.

There is even a carefully placed mnemonic device at work. Note the prominence and order of the letters C and S in the words "Carlos Sandoval" and "Chevy S-10." This deals directly with the reader's subconscious, firmly planting in it the concepts, had Mr. Sandoval been a machine he'd be a Chevy S-10, and had the S-10 been a man it would be Carlos Sandoval. This mnemonic device goes as far as possible in selling all of Mr. Sandoval's inherent traits as if they belonged to the Chevy S-10.

The advertisement then ends with an invitation to go and compare the product with that of the competition, albeit at the company's website. This says to the reader, "If all this is not enough, go ahead and look for yourself." A company's confidence in its own products is comforting, and it reassures a customer that he is really not taking that great a risk. This is a key step to remember when vying for such a large portion of a customer's resources.

This ad is effective in the comparisons it tries to make. Its straightforwardness should be applauded, as it is not common in advertising. It also directly addresses the concerns one in the market for a truck today would likely have: dependability and usefulness of the product. More importantly, even the most cynical among us would find it difficult to discredit the character witness of a man such as Mr. Sandoval, even if he had been no doubt paid quite well for his appearance.

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