Google research has shown that the car buyer of today is time-starved and more discerning than ever. Inconvenient dealership hours, including not being open on Sundays, and unwanted sales pressure, has led 90% of shoppers to start their research online versus at a physical dealership. But that process can be disjointed, confusing and impersonal. We needed to reduce this friction in the car buying experience to make it convenient and delightful to shop for a GM vehicle, transforming how people shop for cars and how GM delivers its customer experience.

The traditional car shopping model doesn’t reflect modern buying behaviour. 
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The traditional model for car shopping was broken. We needed to reimagine how people buy cars and redefine automotive shopping for the modern consumer – who is accustomed to seamless digital commerce experiences in almost every other area of their lives, from buying shoes to ordering dinner. To do this effectively and persuasively, we needed to combine the convenience of technology with the personalization expected when contemplating the second biggest purchase most people make in their lives, in a digitally-enabled experience that put the consumer at the centre, making ownership seamless and enjoyable.  

A revolutionary experience leading the transformation of how we research and shop for cars.  
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One-part personal shopper, one part live interactive digital showroom, GM LIVE is an industry-defining platform that offers people the ability to connect with a knowledgeable, human product specialist from any internet-connected device to shop for a Chevrolet, GMC, Buick or Cadillac vehicle via a live video tour – from anywhere that’s convenient.
 

Shoppers can access Cadillac LIVE, GMC LIVE, Buick LIVE, Chevy LIVE or EV LIVE by visiting a website and taking a one-on-one tour with deeper personalization, or a group tour for those interested in learning in a more passive way. Shoppers can ask any question about any vehicle, and get real-time answers not found on a website or generic, made-for-everyone YouTube video – all without any unwanted sales pressure. GM LIVE connects consumers with Product Specialists equipped with an iPhone, Osmo mobile gimbal and Bluetooth headset, giving shoppers a live one-way video tour with multiple dynamic views of the vehicles so they can explore every detail. 


At the end of a live tour, consumers are given the option to connect with a local dealer to continue their buying journey with a test drive, closing the loop on a shopping journey that brings together intimate human connection with digital innovation. Product Specialists are available Monday through Sunday. 


As the platform evolved, we added an innovative feature that allowed shoppers to take live video tours of future GM vehicles that haven’t yet been built – completely transforming GM’s approach to vehicle launches. The first-of-its-kind virtual reality-enabled experience combined motion tracking technology with an immersive virtual environment and vehicle, so that human product specialists could lead real-time tours of CGI pre-production vehicles.

Cadillac LIVE was a pilot initiative launched in 2019 in Canada in a 10,000 square foot sound studio. General Motors quickly saw the potential for the platform to scale, with all the product specialists and vehicles in one location. Cadillac LIVE expanded to serve the US – more success and rapid scale quickly followed. GM wanted a live experience for Chevrolet, a mass volume brand. In response to increased interest from other GM brands, we redesigned the entire LIVE platform to power the future of GM’s shopping experience.

In 2022, we relocated LIVE to a new space to accommodate the development of live experiences for GMC, Buick and GM EV, and rebuilt the platform on a unified single back-end integrated into GM’s digital infrastructure.

• Over 3.5 million people visited GM LIVE experiences, taking over 200,000 live tours

• Visitors spent an average of over 12 mins. in the live experience.

• Handraisers submitted via LIVE convert over 3x better than through other channels

• GM LIVE has modernized the dealer business model by facilitating sales training, new product immersions and extending business hours

• GM LIVE drove more qualified leads into the pipeline and enabled a seamless handoff dealers