Pontiac “Game Changing Performance” ads and contest micro-site

Define

Pontiac had successful NCAA video contest with ESPN (“Game Changing Performance”) and wanted to extend into HS football with test in Chicago Dealer Group market (Illinois, NW Indiana and SE Wisconsin. Billups Design was asked to assist in defining the viability of a video-based contest in the Chicagoland 9-county area.

Discovery

After careful consideration of the market exigencies and high school student desires, it was established that there exists a strong connection between Pontiac’s campaign tagline ‘Peak Performance’ and high school sports athletics. The resulting messaging that would drive the contest became ‘Peak Performance of the Month’. This would drive the creation of a monthly video submission and voting contest on HighSchoolSports.net’s site and culminate in a prize award to the school with the ‘highest vote-getting’ athlete video highlight. Because the audience was also younger, stakeholders agreed the contest site interface must be brand-consistent but also youthful and edgy.

Design

Billups Design created a Microsite with video UX that would allow users to upload their favorite highlight videos, vote on those and other videos, share and track tallies. The interface was co-branded to promote primarily Pontiac and secondarily HighSchoolSports.net. Next, promotional ads were designed, developed and trafficked to drive increased monthly participation and increase awareness of the Pontiac brand.

Delivery

High schools across the 9 county dealer group uploaded hundreds of videos over the next 4 months, and monthly vote tallies alone for those videos exceeded 66,000! Winning high schools received a visit from Pontiac representatives who awarded $1,000 to their athletic programs. The contest’s successful outcome for Pontiac was indisputable, with its parent company, General Motors, considering taking the program to Chevrolet National LMG.