OAK PARK, MI - Ringside Creative (www.ringsidecreative.com) recently teamed with Detroit ad agency Campbell Ewald on a project for Chevrolet that combines traditional advertising with branded entertainment. Ringside provided creative editorial and graphics design for the multi-dimensional project that targets fans of hip hop music.
Chevrolet purchased :90 of air time on Def on Demand, a video-on-demand service created by hip hop pioneer Russell Simmons. The agency initially intended to fill the slot with an extended music video-style spot featuring footage of Chevy vehicles, cut to an existing hip hop track. The project began to take on added dimension when the agency's creative team contacted Ringside?s Chris Chynoweth about editing the piece.
"Chris suggested that, for very little extra cost, we might be able to do it as a real video," recalls Campbell Ewald senior art director Tim McElmeel. "He proposed a director, Avalon Films' Anthony Garth, whom he had worked with on other video and commercial projects. Anthony, in turn, connected us with the hip hop group."
The group, Slum Village, was immediately interested and quickly wrote new lyrics for "Ez Up," a track from an album they were about to release on Barak Records. "We played the track for our senior creatives and they loved it. Our clients loved it too. So, we shot the video," says McElmeel. "It happened that fast."
Garth shot a performance by Slum Village on a stage and recorded location footage at various familiar spots around the Detroit area. Chevy vehicles, such as the new HHR, were incorporated into every shot. Chynoweth edited the piece on an Avid Adrenaline 2.1 system, and Ringside creative director Jeff Dobrow designed the graphics.
The graphics that Dobrow created include an animated version of the Chevy logo that appears at the end of the spot. It, too, has a hip hop-inspired aesthetic.
Final post work was completed at GTN. The spot employs the tag line, "The Golden Era is Back."
In addition to the :90 spot for Def on Demand, Chynoweth also cut a full-length video for distribution as a pure entertainment piece. He also prepared a number of :30 spots for distribution to Chevy dealers for airing in local markets. Chevy gave away copies of the full-length video, loaded onto jump drives, at the recent Vibe Music Awards in Los Angeles.