Indiantelevision.com Team

(20 January 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS and car brand Chevrolet have joined forces to create a multi-platform event about the final stages in the "Chevy Super Bowl College Ad Challenge.

The campaign includes reality webisodes to be featured on CBS.com, a presence in CBS's primetime special Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials 2007 where the winning team from the Challenge will be announced, and culminates with the winning commercial airing during the Network's broadcast of Super Bowl XLI on 4 February 2007.

Chevrolet GM Ed Peper says, "Consumer-generated ads, in the age of the Internet and YouTube, have truly come front and center. Chevy is proud to be a leader in this area. We were thrilled to host the finalists in Detroit and are eager to share what we taught them and what they taught us that weekend with the public through this partnership with CBS".

"TMarketers are looking to creatively engage audiences across multiple platforms, and this deal accomplishes that through online components, network television sponsorship and viewer interaction," said Jo Ann Ross, President, CBS Network Sales. "This is a unique package that taps into many different audiences while delivering great value for the client, and is an exciting way to engage both viewers and advertisers."

The online component of the campaign is comprised of eight Chevy-sponsored webisodes which premiere on 22 January 2007 on CBS.com. The webisodes will take viewers behind the scenes of the challenge, in which more than 820 college teams registered for the opportunity to have their ad concept made into one of Chevrolet's Super Bowl commercials.

The webisodes, produced by Juma Entertainment, will range from three to eight minutes in length, and follow the five finalist teams as they travel from their hometowns to Detroit to make "the pitch." The webisodes will show them driving the Chevy vehicles featured in their ads -- the Aveo, Cobalt, Equinox, and HHR, refining their presentations with Chevy's advertising agency Campbell-Ewald, and presenting their ad concepts to Chevy executives.

The challenge then goes primetime in CBS' annual Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials 2007 special which airs on 2, February. The winning team of the Chevy College Challenge will be revealed during the special and viewers will be able to see more behind the scenes footage of the competition. Chevy is the exclusive automotive sponsor of the special.

And two days after the winning team is revealed -- their concept will be seen by roughly 90 million viewers during one of the commercials Chevy has created for Super Bowl XLI.

The final two webisodes, showing the actual process of the making of the commercial, as well as other behind-the-scenes footage from the competition, will air following the primetime show and Super Bowl, on CBS.com.