You can be in a car ad

Des Fenner, Brand Manager for Chevrolet at General Motors South Africa was very excited when he announced, "Do you have what it takes? Can you look the camera in the eye and say what you mean? Mean what you say? Sê jou sê? If so, you may be one of the many people Chevrolet are looking for to star in their new TV commercial."

A spin-off from the successful overseas version, 'Code of the Road' South Africa aims to generate footage from the public in order to compile a new Chevrolet Brand Television advertisement for the South African market.

"A unique concept to South Africa, public involvement in advertising has grown in recent years as a way of interacting more effectively with consumers and increasing brand awareness and interest," added Fenner.

The challenge for 'Code of the Road' is to become part of a uniquely South African version of the ad, showing true South Africans across the board, standing in front of Chevrolets with magnificent backdrops and each delivering lines from the script e.g. 'dink voor jy praat', 'jungaze ukhalaze', 'always be your word' etc.

"The Chevrolet team is looking for people who are beautiful to downright weird. Give them the 'okes with boeps', the young girls hanging around in packs, the old guys without their two front teeth, the traditional Zulu warriors, the models, the students, the Drakensberg Boys Choir, the bikers, the Indian auntie, the young married couple, the rugby players, the business tycoons, the fishermen. Furthermore, for every clip used, that person automatically wins R5000," continued Fenner.

Fenner has oulined the following rules and requirements:

"You must record yourself, your friend, dad, uncle, ouma etc saying at least three of the lines of the script. You are, of course, allowed to recite the whole script as your chances will thus improve to feature in the ad. The footage you submit must be no longer than three minutes," he said.

"We want real South African places e.g. the waves of Jeffrey's Bay, the Karoo dorpies, Benoni suburbs, on stage at the theatre etc, as well as Chevrolets to be part of the shots. Featuring a Chevrolet is not a pre-requisite, but it will count in your favour," he added.

Fenner says that any language can be used and that participants should consider being fun and eye catching.

Fenner says, "The tone of 'Code of the Road' is fun, vibrant, spirited, colourful, attention grabbing and fast-moving. Any language can be used and should a local language clip be submitted, it should be accompanied by a translation into English."

So, if you think you've got what it takes to be a local star, go to www.codeoftheroad.co.za to enter. Chevrolet has put together a local version of the advert, to give you an idea of what they want, so be sure not to miss it.