Hi, night-swimming millennials. Chevrolet wants you to know the Sonic is the car for you.
A new spot from the General Motors brand and director Jason Reitman features a gang of age-ambiguous young couples—are they teens? twentysomethings?—arriving in their ride at some middle-of-nowhere lake, where they strip to their skivvies and dash into the water. After a playful bout of splashing and holding hands, etc., they emerge, shivering, to discover that the driver has accidentally locked his keys in the car. Panic? Nope. Chevy's mobile app lets him use his smartphone as a backup remote, popping open the doors by tapping his touch screen. "From close call to best night ever," assures the voiceover. Crisis averted.
It's an efficient and mostly credible piece of advertising from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners that extends the agency's slew of youth-oriented messaging over the past year or so for the new Sonic. The soundtrack, Iron & Wine's "Each Coming Night," maintains the campaign's effective use of music to set a Gen-Y-friendly tone. The story's resolution telegraphs that Chevy is tech savvy in service of real utility: A little carelessness in anticipation of a flirtatious and mildly rebellious moment is a pretty reasonable likelihood for the target demo, and Chevy is helping them get away with the misstep. That's a wink, at the same time, to the parents who are probably footing the bill for the car. They know their kids are going to get themselves in a little trouble. Hopefully, they can get themselves out, too. Chevy is playing guardian angel.
That's assuming the driver doesn't leave his phone in the car, too.
CREDITS
Client: Chevrolet
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
CD/Co Chairman: Jeff Goodby
ECD/ Partner: Jamie Barrett
ECD/ Associate Partner: Hunter Hindman
Associate Creative Director: Andrew Bancroft
Writer: Trey Tyler
Art Director: Susan Land
Director of Production/ Associate Partner: Cindy Fluitt
Executive Producer: Hilary Coate
Producer: Sara Krider
Agency Music Supervisor: Todd Porter
Account Director: Melissa Nelson/Grace Kao
Account Manager: Julie Evans
Assistant Account Manager: Noah Polsky
Production Company: Bob Industries
Director: Jason Reitman
Executive Producer: T.K. Knowles
Head of Production: John O'Grady
DP: Eric Steelberg
Production Designer: Steve Sacklad
Line Producer: Bart Lipton
Editorial Company: Arcade Edit
Editor: Kim Bica Executive
Producer: Deanne Mehling
Producer: Ali Reed
Assistant Editors: Nick Rondeau, Luke McIntosh
Color: Airship Post
Colorist: Shane Reed
Producer: Lisa English
Smoke Assistant: Rob Ufer
Music – Iron & Wine "Each Coming Night"
Post Production/VFX Company: Airship Post
VFX Producer: Lisa English
Lead Smoke Artist: Chris Homel
Recording Studio: Lime
Mixer: Rohan Young