New Yorker wins Chevy's contest to make Super Bowl ad

By Greg Gardner/USA TODAY and Detroit Free Press

A 26-year-old aspiring filmmaker from Long Island, N.Y., won the contest to create one of Chevrolet's Super Bowl ads. His film, above, shows a new high school graduate who thinks mistakenly his parents gave him a new Camaro only to have a neighbor drive it off in it.

Chevrolet marketers launched the Route 66 ad contest last September and received 198 films, which they narrowed to 33 finalists in December.

The winner was Zach Borst of Florham Park, N.Y., who used his hometown as the backdrop for 30 and 60-second spots capturing vignettes from his youth. Chevy is paying him $25,000 and will use his film in one of the the four 30-second ad slots General Motors has bought in the Feb.5 Big Game.

"My Dad was a cop and worked real hard to be able to buy his kids their first cars. They were used, but mine meant the world to me," Borst said. "Then I wondered what it would look like if I got a brand new Camaro?"

Chevrolet is still considering whether it will air the spot more times after the Super Bowl, said Andrew Dinsdale, the brand's assistant director for digital marketing. "This was a great way to get ads that were about real people and real situations," Dinsdale said.

Also for the Super Bowl, Chevy has developed a mobile app that allows Super Bowl viewers to tweet, participate in polls and win one of 20 Chevolets or other prizes. The app for Android or Apple device can be downloaded free beginning Jan. 22.

Chevy hopes it will drive attention, even during the game. "The way people watch TV has changed with smartphones and tablets helping viewers interact while in front of the screen," said Joel Ewanick, GM's global head of marketing.