Yesterday, during the press conference revealing the ad campaign for the 2007 Chevrolet Silverado, we asked a question about some images we'd seen in one of the spots — titled "Anthem." Specifically, we asked if "the imagery used in the 'Anthem' piece was finalized." The response we received from Kim Kosak, Chevrolet's general director of advertising and sales promotions, was that they were "99% final." It's amazing then that the ad we received this morning titled "Anthem" and described by a Chevy PR staffer as:
"an excerpt from Anthem (the final version) and the second is the final birthplace spot"
would seem to indicate that what Chevy showed us yesterday was anything but "99% final". As you can see above in the "excerpt from Anthem (the final version)", it's completely devoid of the mushroom cloud and 9/11 imagery we reported on (today's NYT piece by Nick Bunkley backs us up on the 9/11 images) earlier this morning. Instead, the images consist of the warm n' fuzzy stuff we already saw, all with John Mellencamp strumming his guitar in the background. Because Chevy's PR staff's using a word like "excerpt," we've no idea if this ad, which is set to hit the air on Saturday, is just a sanitized version for us press types — or if it is the actual ad. What we do know is that when a PR person says "99% final" — it's got a helluva different meaning than what we're used to. The second spot's called "Birthplace" and we've got a 99% certainty it's below the jump. But we've no idea if it's going to be the real one used either.
Related:
America, Truck Yeah! Chevrolet Drops "Our Country, Our Truck" Silverado Marketing Campaign Like A Nuclear Bomb [internal]