Saturday, October 28, 2006

Just another day -- except for the omnipresent cameras

A typical day, when you're a finalist in a national advertising competition, and being filmed for a reality TV show, begins with getting mic'd:



Then, it was for a briefing on the Chevrolet brand by Bill Ludwig, head of Campbell-Ewald, the advertising agency that handles the Chevy account, in the "war room":



The Chevrolet war room at Campbell-Ewald is very hip. And the CBS camera crew is everywhere. That's Marie Standing, our producer, on the left, with the clipboard. Marie has been with us since last Tuesday's press conference at SJSU. She met us at the airport. She does everything but sleep in our rooms at the Marriott — and that's only because there wasn't room for her at this hotel (she's at the Marriott Courtyard down the road) because of the World Series and the junior hockey tournament happening this weekend.



LouLou, Kelly, and Anna present their ideas to executives from Campbell-Ewald at what's called the "creative enhancement" meeting. They're here to get input and suggestions, to help them develop their ideas tomorrow, for their final presentation on Monday. We saw the other teams' presentations, too. They're good, but they're not as good as Team SJSU's!



After Anna, Kelly, and LouLou present their ideas, the cameras focus on reaction comments from Bill Ludwig and Andrea Wells, of Campbell-Ewald.



Next, Kelly O'Neill, national advertising manager for Chevrolet at General Motors, ushers the five finalist teams outside for a "ride and drive."



What's a ride and drive you ask? The teams examine each of the four new Chevrolets: the Aveo, the Equinox, the Cobalt, and the HHR. Then they drive each one around the parking lot — which has been cleared of all parked cars. Of course, the CBS camera crew films every moment:



Next, a photoshoot:



It's been a long, but productive day, and tomorrow begins at 7:00.



More tomorrow...

2 comments:

cecelia baldwin said...

This is all so exciting!!!! Can't wait to hear what's in store for tomorrow! (and I also can't wait to hear your ideas/presentation!) You are all amazing!!

Cecelia

M Sanouvong said...

Just wanted to say CONGRATS to Team SJSU. GO TEAM GO!