Chevy Super Bowl Ad Challenge Draws More Than 820 Teams
A Chevy challenge for college students to submit ideas for a TV commercial and have it brought to life and aired during next year’s Super Bowl game has drawn registrations from more than 820 student teams from 230 schools across the USA.
The challenge was announced in early September (PROMO Xtra Sept. 13, 2006) and allows college students (in teams of up to three) the chance to compete for an opportunity to participate in the creation of one of Chevrolet’s Super Bowl spots. Registration ended Oct. 13.
Of the registrants, 140 teams hail from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, followed by American University in Washington, DC (34 teams) and the University of Florida-Gainesville (28 teams).
“We’re very excited about the response,” said Travis Parman, spokesperson, Chevrolet. “We weren’t exactly sure what to anticipate because nothing like this has been done before.”
But Chevy has been zoning in on the college consumer recently. The ad challenge is one of two marketing campaigns currently targeting the demographic. Earlier this month, Chevy turned heads for its new Aveo with a campus-based competition that required students to stay in continuous contact with the car. Contestants had to persuade their peers to vote for them to qualify for a chance to win the car (PROMO Xtra Oct. 13, 2006).
For this most recent cross-portfolio challenge, “We’re really hoping this is an opportunity to gain insight into [the college] segment because students essentially are producing messages and approaches that should resonate to their same audience,” Parman said. “It’s very peer-to-peer and we should be able to learn from this and apply what we’ve learned when working with this segment in the future.”
Campbell-Ewald, Warren, MI, will develop the ad for Detroit-based Chevrolet, a GM brand. Orinda, CA-based EdVenture Partners and The McGinn Group, Arlington, VA, handled p.r. activities for the ad challenge.
