Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge

[RBB]

Thought this was kinda cool. The project seems to have turned at least some of the team's opinion favorably:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...30?OpenDocument

Super competitive: WU team's ad may score in Super Bowl

By Mary Delach Leonard

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

01/24/2007

Three enterprising Washington University seniors could be the brains behind an innovative Chevy commercial that will air during the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.

Or, they might not be.

Shlomo Goltz, Nathan Heigert and Hubert Cheung are finalists in the "Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge," but the students can't divulge whether they won the national competition, or even what their concept was.

"They said, 'You can't tell your mom. You can't tell your dad. You can't tell your dog. You can't tell your fish,'… Cheung said.

And try as we might — woof, woof; glub, glub — they wouldn't tell us, either.

Here is what we do know: The team's concept was among five finalists chosen from several hundred entries, and in October, they were invited to GM headquarters in Detroit, along with students from Elon University in North Carolina, the Savannah College of Art and Design, San Jose State University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The teams spent four hectic days test-driving cars and brain-storming with representatives of the Campbell-Ewald ad agency before presenting their concept — complete with storyboards — to a boardroom of GM execs.

Oh, and did they mention that cameras were filming them the entire time for a series of "webisodes" now being posted on www.ChevyCollegeAd.com?

"We spent four days not sleeping, but I think we pulled it off. Regardless of the outcome, we knew we had done our best possible job," Goltz said.

The only prize for the contest is that the winning commercial will be produced by a professional ad agency and will air during the Super Bowl. But the students add, the chance to hobnob with high-powered auto and ad executives was also a priceless experience that will look good on their résumés.

For the record, the Washington U. students said they knew little about Chevys before the competition. Goltz, 22, of Fort Wayne, Ind., drives a Saturn. Heigert, 21, of Mundelein, Ill., drives his parents' old Honda, and Cheung, 20, of Vancouver, British Columbia, doesn't have a car. Goltz and Heigert are visual communication majors; Cheung is majoring in marketing and international business.

The students said they didn't expect to win and were caught off guard when Chevy contacted them about making it to the finals.

"My first instinct, was, 'Do I owe you money or something?' " Goltz said.

Though they might seem unlikely pitchmen for Chevy, the competition is an outgrowth of the popularity of viral marketing — using consumer-generated advertising to spread the word about a product, said Frank Oros, an associate professor of visual communications at Washington University who served as the team's faculty adviser.

He credits GM with finding an innovative way to connect with the youth market.

"What we're dealing with is a generation that has a growing skepticism about advertising," Oros said.

The students say they used to think of Chevys as "the pickup truck people," but now are sold on them.

"Why wouldn't I consider a Chevy at this point?" Cheung said.

The winning ad will be revealed on Feb. 2 during the CBS special "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials 2007." Until then, the campaign is being promoted on CBS' "The Early Show," and story lines about the teams are unfolding on ChevyCollegeAd.com.

The students acknowledge that the reality TV aspect was unnerving, but it didn't stop them from enjoying the experience.

"I decided, 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I better have fun,'" Goltz said.

Just don't ask him if he won.

Chevy Superbowl College Ad Challenge

-RBB

[Dragon]

Somebody shoulda have entered the idea that as posted here a year or two ago with the Cobalt & Corvette "playing", then backing down when they see that big brother (Camaro) is back in town