• by Karl Greenberg , July 10, 2013

James Bell, GM’s head of consumer affairs, has crossed the lane into marketing with a raft of short-form videos touting the new 2014 Sierra pickup truck. The videos are aimed at the recreation crowd and -- via a deal with luxury RV maker Airstream -- feature the trailers latched to the back to demonstrate the truck's capabilities. 

The first of four videos was shot at GMC Trailering Academy at the Camarillo, Calif., airport  with Bell doing things like full-throttle acceleration, double-lane change, panic brake application, and trailered parking. Lead trailering engineer Robert Krouse rides in the passenger seat, and the two banter during the tests. 

The overall theme is “glamping” or glamorous camping, for which the Airstreams were chosen to embody the high-end trailering experience, positioning Sierra as an upscale truck, a strategy that helps differentiate it form sibling Chevy Silverado. 

A forthcoming video, shot in Santa Barbara, Calif., at a press event, and another -- the fourth -- has the truck cruising along Highway 101 towing a heavy Airstream trailer, with Bell talking about why the truck can handle any RV. 

The videos tout the truck's V8 engine and its EcoTec3 variable valve timing, direct injection and displacement control.

Bell, who came over to GM from Kelley Blue Book, where he was executive market analyst, says he's done some video content for the automaker but "this is the first time I've really tried this. We have done smaller, less educational versions, more kind of my driving impressions of vehicle or certain technology, but this is probably most extensive, not just touching on vehicle but experiencing it with Airstreams." 

He says the videos are syndicated on a lot of third-party auto verticals like AOL,  Autos, and AutoTrader. "The idea was to do something fun, and offering something a little more non-technical and allow me to interject my owner personal experience with it and candid moments. I didn't want it to be too dry and technical. I wanted to weave in personality with industry-first facts." 

Bell says the Airstream relationship has a side note as GMC also has a relationship with a company called Airstream 2 Go started by former Airstream executive Dickey Riegel. That company runs RV recreational programs by delivering Airstreams to different locations around the country for high-end trips to do things like go fly fishing (without a tent). Airstream provides the trailer, GMC the truck.