Corvette ZR1 Pace Car Crash Nets Millions in Free Exposure

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Mark Reuss’ Corvette ZR1 crash has been the butt of many Internet jokes. But GM is laughing all the way to the bank!

You would certainly think that when Mark Reuss, GM’s Head of Product Development, had to be a little embarrassed (and maybe worried) after he crashed a Corvette ZR1 Pace Car at a recent IndyCar race. First, he tried blaming it on the weather, which was a pretty poor excuse. Then, he simply apologized. Regardless, the Internet had a lot of fun with the incident. And it appears that all that attention also benefited GM financially.

As they say, even bad news is good news. At least in today’s world. It’s why people like Kayne West, Lindsey Lohan, and Britney Spears have maintained their fame even in the worst of times. So it should also come as no surprise that slamming a Corvette ZR1 into a wall on national TV might pay off for a company like GM. And apparently it did, to the tune of $3.47 million in free advertising, according to Apex Marketing Group.

The exposure that @Chevrolet and its Corvette brand got yesterday due to ZR1 pace car crash was more than 70 times’ worth the exposure it got during @DetroitGP‘s race No. 1 Saturday, per Apex Marketing Group (@ApexMGAnalytics).

➖ It generated $3.47M in exposure as of this AM. pic.twitter.com/WtgdA6PGy7

— Adam Stern (@A_S12) June 4, 2018

Yes, it turns out that crashing a Corvette ZR1 is 70 times more interesting than simply driving one around a track at low speed, apparently. Which speaks volumes to the kind of world we live in today. Still, we can’t get over the irony of a GM exec crashing the brand’s new halo machine, while it was supposed to be serving as a safety car. But we’re guessing that after learning about this huge payoff, maybe Reuss is officially off the hook with his employer.

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