Chevrolet goes off-roading, with a woman behind the wheel

A new brand campaign for Chevrolet’s 2023 Silverado ZR2 has something a lot of truck ads lack: a woman.

Developed by Commonwealth//McCann, the “Go Beyond” campaign features much of what you’d expect in truck advertising: opening on a nasty-weather day, a couple loads a snowmobile into the back of the truck before heading out onto the snowy roads.

“It calls you. To a place with no boundaries,” says the sonorous narrator as the truck moves along increasingly precarious tracks—the woman behind the wheel while her male partner rides shotgun. “Where the trail ends, and the beyond begins,” the voiceover continues, by which point the truck is just driving straight up a mountain (Fortress Mountain in the Canadian Rockies).

While most truck ads feature men behind the wheel, and often with their buddies, McCann’s research showed that while most truck owners are men, they are usually married or in a relationship. In other words, those trucks are often being driven by couples, though you’d never guess it from most truck creative.

“The storyline illuminates what’s often missed in truck ads, namely dynamic truck couples,” said Kevin Pfuhl, SVP managing director Commonwealth//McCann. “They like to take on the world, are always up for anything, and like to assert control over the conditions they are driving in. That’s an insight that Chevrolet recognizes in the people who buy and drive trucks today, and how we drive culture forward.”

David Brown