The Camaro concept car unveiled at last year’s Detroit auto show captured the imagination of Pontiac fan Kevin Morgan. He created a rendering of an ’09 Trans Am from the Camaro concept shape and his illustrations have created quite a buzz among hobbyists and on the Internet. His drawings have even appeared in national car magazines.
It is Pontiac owners and enthusiasts like Morgan that the Pontiac Division of General Motors and Yahoo, Inc! had in mind when they launched an online destination called Pontiac Underground last week. Pontiacunderground.com combines social media content from Yahoo! including Flickr photos, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo!Video and Yahoo! Groups with consumer-created Pontiac content from hundreds of Pontiac fan communities throughout the Web.
Designed in partnership with Boston-based interactive agency Digitas, the site features “Pontiac Informer,” where users can see the latest articles, links and information from other sites about Pontiac, submit their own directly and rate them up or down. Morgan was one of the first to contribute to the online conversation, asking others to help him generate interest in bringing back the Trans Am. He invites people to visit his MySpace page, e-mail him or buy the T-shirt he designed featuring his concept car.
Also on the site, users can view and add to galleries of Pontiac videos and photos of cars. There’s also a place for knowledge sharing. Leveraging the knowledge base of Yahoo! Answers, Pontiac Underground provides a place for users to get the answers they are looking for, as well as share their knowledge with the community.
Pontiac will use the “Inside Track” blog as its primary means of communication with its enthusiast audience. The blog features exclusive news and images directly from Pontiac.
Among the other features on the site is an aggregated list of Pontiac clubs and events, allowing users to connect offline as well.
The site is a key component of Pontiac’s broad community-marketing initiatives for 2007. According to a recent Yahoo! Autos study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, consumer-generated content is in high demand among car buyers. The vast majority–94 percent–of car buyers who use the web believe consumer-generated content is an important source of information to use when deciding between vehicles. The study’s findings highlight the importance of delivering social media offerings for consumers and automakers alike.
That being said, the new site is poised to be a win-win for Pontiac and consumers. “With Yahoo!’s leading social media platform, it’s exciting to finally be able to bring our GTO fans, G6 fans, Solstice fans, old Firebird or Chief fans, Vibe fans–all Pontiac online communities together,” said Pontiac marketing director Mark-Hans Richer in a statement. “Pontiac Underground is almost all consumer-generated–it’s their community, we’re just trying to add to it.”
Gravy Films Signs Director Victoria Rivera
Gravy Films has added director Victoria Rivera to its roster. A Colombian filmmaker based in New York City, Rivera directs in both English and Spanish. Her emotionally resonant work has earned multiple Vimeo Staff Picks and premieres at top-tier film festivals. Her commercial work includes the AICP-nominated “Los Viejitos” for McDonald’s and the powerful Gold Telly Award-winning PSA “More Donors More Hope” for the HRSA, which encourages Hispanic communities to donate so that they can find life-saving genetic matches. Her adaptable skillset and emotive directorial sensibilities have been tapped by brands like Verizon, Google, NHTSA, Johnson & Johnson, Lysol, Neuriva, Blueprint Medicines, and The New Yorker to bring their commercial films to life. Prior to joining Gravy Films, Rivera had most recently been with SLMBR PRTY for commercial representation. Masterfully telling empathetic and powerful stories that center on young people, Rivera has turned out work such as the short film Night Swim which portrays a teen friend group’s night out, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Lucia, the short film that tells the story of a seven-year-old girl in foster care, debuted at the Austin Film Festival and premiered on Short of the Week. Rivera’s other shorts include the narrative film Verde, the commissioned short The Longest Breath for Hulu and Disney+’s Bite Size Halloween series, the public service film Together We Rise for Vital Voices, as well as documentaries such as Amma, Skull + Bone, and Mapelo: An Expedition. “I’ve always believed the best work comes from curiosity, openness, and a deep love for the medium,” remarked Rivera. “My process is rooted... Read More