After wading through video entries submitted by 820 teams from 230 schools, Chevrolet selected five teams totaling only 11 students to come to Detroit in late October. The candidates would have the chance to sharpen their advertising skills and work with industry professionals before presenting their final commercial submissions for Chevy's Super Bowl ad contest. When all the votes were in, 19-year old Katie Crabb from North Prairie, Wisconsin was the winner. Katie was the youngest participant in the competition, as well as the only solo finalist
Crabb, who entered the contest as an assignment for her freshman journalism class at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, will see her commercial run during tonight's Super Bowl telecast. The cost to run the 30-second commercial is somewhere around $2.6 million dollars. This is a big deal for Katie, as her work is being debuted during an event that's often watched as much for the commercials as it is for the actual game.
As a part of her prize, Katie will intern at Chevrolet's ad agency, Campbell-Ewald, but she says she will also keep her job at Applebee's until she graduates. At that point, Campbell-Ewald gave her a standing offer to start full-time with the firm, but Crabb says she'll just have to see what happens.
See the entire video after the jump!
Thanks for the tip Nellie Lide
[Source: Palm Beach Post via AP]
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
Volkswagen unveiling two-door Elise fighter in LA, new sports car
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
In The Autoblog Garage: 2008 Mercedes SLK55 AMG
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jonathan A @ Feb 4th 2007 4:28PM
Worst commercial evar.
Bob the Builder @ Feb 4th 2007 4:36PM
Wow it really takes a genius to think of an ad that is solely comprised of shirtless men washing a car.
B-NOIT @ Feb 4th 2007 4:41PM
This is a joke, right? 820 teams couldn't come up with anything better than this? Eesh.
Mike @ Feb 4th 2007 4:41PM
I'm going out on a limb here, but I don't think that grinding, shirtless men are really what the Superbowl demographic wants to see. I'm not a big fan of the commercial in the first place, but it seems especially poorly suited to Superbowl Sunday.
Matt @ Feb 4th 2007 4:48PM
If I ever meet a guy who "loves" the HHR, remind me to PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE.
Experiment Jon @ Feb 4th 2007 4:52PM
Wow. I have to say that this commercial is quite the strange one. The shock value is definitly there, but for some reason, I'm not too big on the old shirtless man...or any of those other guys, for that matter coming up to my car on the street giving me a carwash. Naturally, this ad is geared towards women, but then again, in comparison to men, how many women are actually watching the game? Interesting though...
RC @ Feb 4th 2007 5:14PM
its clever but the super bowl target is mostly men, so why would you have men with their shirts off?
Real men like the HHR? atleast make it for the siverado. It also seems to suggest that the men are gay.
Stretch @ Feb 4th 2007 7:39PM
I second #5. HHR is one ugly car.
5 Watt @ Feb 4th 2007 8:03PM
Its better than man kissing, but not by much
quagmire @ Feb 4th 2007 8:18PM
Ok, just swap out the women in the car with men and swap the shirtless men with bikini wearing women( Wish this was in Europe as they would allow topless women. Damn FCC. lol) then this would be less creepy. The person who did it was female so I guess it makes sense why there are shirtless men instead of bikini women washing the car. But, she needs to learn who is the target audience here. In this case with the Super Bowl, it is men. And men don't generally want to see men stripping and washing a car.
Ryan @ Feb 4th 2007 8:19PM
It's amazing that Chevy would put this out there. Who are they targeting with this ad? Guys buying the HHR? Please. If anything they should use the Super Bowl time to show a Vette, not half naked men humping an SUV starter kit.
gryhrt @ Feb 4th 2007 8:30PM
Um, it's a parody, folks. You know, a play on the overtired "bikini car wash" theme?
I think it's pretty funny, though I agree that the Super Bowl may not be the best airtime for it.
Big jim @ Feb 4th 2007 9:26PM
to weird
AK @ Feb 4th 2007 9:26PM
Worst execution of a commercial EVER.
HotRodzNKustoms @ Feb 4th 2007 10:12PM
When I saw this commercial today during the superbowl I laghed so hard. It was a properly funny commercial targeting both men and women. They could have used muscle men ripped out to the 9's but the decided to use a skinny old man and guys who look like the average man. It was just funny.
P to the C @ Feb 5th 2007 8:24AM
When the ad shows the girl with her eyes closed saying "Tell me when it's over" I looked over at my wide who was doing the exact same thing. Yes, please tell me when it's over. I don't mean to be a hater though, it was about as clever and interesting as any of the other crap thrown out during the Superbowl.
laserwizard @ Feb 5th 2007 8:32AM
All of the GM commercials were awful. I couldn't believe how much money GM through away on commercials that were so pointless.
bill @ Feb 5th 2007 2:09PM
This commercial was hilarious I couldn't stop laughing after i saw it yesterday. Besides it beats those phony toyota commercials. You gotta be stupid to buy a toyota truck. Plus that other Chevy commercial showed just how many different types of people buy Chevy's. I'd rather drive a Chevy than a toyota any day.
Mama J @ Feb 5th 2007 4:16PM
I must say that this commercial was the talk of the office - mostly women, who DO watch the Superbowl, thank you very much. (Though I have to say that last night neither the game nor the commercials were up to snuff - the humor of what the application of water to a pro football game does to the performance was amusing, however.)
And, yes, turn the half-naked guys into bikini-clad women and I'll bet a good 90% of the complainers on here wouldn't complain at all, or find it in the least bit "weird". The genius was in taking the expected and making it the unexpected, I think.
Mike i-lik-it @ Feb 5th 2007 6:30PM
Are you guys for real. I mean you guys can't be Hairy, Knuckle Dragging Cavemen can you? About 90 million watched Super Bowl. Let say 1/3 more or less Kids, 1/3 or more Men and guess what I/3 or less women. Now this ad just targeted those women and some men using an old but amusing premise. This spot did what it was suppose too, it hopefully grabbed attention of female audience and obviously grab some male attention, if at least to those wonder like some of you here, as to why it being aired during Super Bowl. Ad has people talking and hopefully thinking about Chevy. Money well spent.