Working with Los Angeles-based digital studio Fullerene, the agency produced seven 15-second music-driven Flash spots, three for the Pontiac Sunfire, four for the Chevrolet Cavalier. Six years into advertising these models, the idea of using TV spots animated in a way that would easily translate to the Web seemed the perfect solution to keeping the brands fresh, and integrated the broadcast and interactive advertising for the two cars.

"The interesting thing here was the pulling together of the creative idea with the strategy," says client services head Doug Turney.

Taking their lead from Fullerene's music promo work for the likes of Duran Duran, Beck and Ben Harper, from animation references such as "Yellow Submarine" and the work of Terry Gilliam, the spots appeal to an audience wider than just Web heads. The Sunfire spots, "Cop Show," "50-Foot Woman" and "Girls" use dramatic motion graphics and music to convey the car's so-called "edgier" status, while the Cavalier spots "Boxer," "Route 66," "Jazz Legends" and "Surfing Legends" draw on retro graphic references, palettes and design aesthetics to convey a more "tried and true" identity.

"On the Chevy side we tried to use cultural icons that had the stature of historical icons, while on the Sunfire, it was more about pop culture, such as Starsky and Hutch for "Cops," says creative director David Kelso.

Carlos Garavito, creative director of the agency's interactive arm is a veteran of Toronto's Extend Media; he says the link between interactive and traditional advertising will only tighten, pointing to another upcoming GM campaign. The commercials themselves all direct viewers to specially tailored Web sites, which showcase the spots, and, in the style of interactive TV commercials, allow interested browsers to stop the spots to delve deeper into a particular automotive feature.

"We go into a bit of a non-linear flow. Since each commercial has embedded tags, people watching the commercials online can see the benefits featured in the spots, extending the time well beyond 15 seconds on TV," says Garavito.

"And, because of budget considerations, we had to be smart about leveraging the assets. Fullerene created 30 FPS, TV quality commercials, which we optimized for the Web. We ended up with something fluid and precise for that medium."

Webfiles:

Fullerene> http://www.fullerene.com
MacLaren McCann> http://www.maclaren.com
Sunfire> http://www.sunfiredeals.com
Cavalier> http://www.cavalierdeals.com