Day Six: Elimination round

Team SpongeBaoBao's Jiahao Yan presents to Class C. Photo: Tanner Evans

Teams were working overtime as they faced cuts by mentors judging the best work from each classroom. Three out of the four MSU-based teams were selected to enter the final round at the One Show festival.

Tension built in the classrooms as lines of sleep-deprived and caffeine-fueled students filed into their seats. Over in Class C, mentor Jeremy Guo delivered calming words to a crowd of uncertainty.

“Be proud of your work, be proud of what you’ve done at the workshop,” Guo said.

Speaking to approximately 60 people per classroom, each team elected a member to deliver the presentation in Chinese and win over their two mentors. Tomorrow, teams who survived the cut will present their campaign in front of all conference attendees and a panel of judges. The results for the four MSU-based teams are as follows.

Team SpongeBaoBao: Advancing to finals

One of two MSU teams in Class C to make it to finals, Team SpongeBaoBao built their Chevy campaign around empowering women. In China, sexism plagues many aspects of life, especially driving. At some shopping center parking lots, spaces “reserved” for women are larger to accommodate for the stereotype of them being poor drivers and parkers.

So, in their concept, the team used Chevy to change the culture around women drivers. Videos show powerful interactions between a mother and a son reading sexist messages he shared online. A redesigned logo crosses the gender symbol for women with Chevy’s iconic cross, paired with a new slogan: “Driving women.” 

Team Mosaic 6+1: Deferred, then cut

Team Mosaic 6+1 pulled an all-nighter to hammer out the final details of their campaign, only to be deferred in the first round of cuts in Class C. Their mentors initially elected three teams, including Team SpongeBaoBao, before granting a few more hours for the remaining teams to reevaluate their material and compete for a fourth spot.

This gave the team a bit more time to refine their idea, which was built around their new slogan, “Where you can be you.” Model commercials included an elderly man shuffling to his car and jamming to The Sugar Hill Gang when he got inside. In another, a ballerina finishes her exercises and rocks out to Drowning Pool in the privacy of her Chevy.

Arriving for the second round of cuts, Team Mosaic 6+1 was only one of three teams to show up – the other three remaining teams forfeited their second chance. Unfortunately, a second evaluation elected a different team to finals and Team Mosaic 6+1 was cut from the competition.

Team CC: Advancing to finals

Playing off of the country’s love for video games, Team CC invented a virtual reality game where people can race holographic cars across the nighttime Shanghai skyline. Their pitch included partnerships with Nintendo to market gaming controllers shaped after Chevy’s logo, coming in colors inspired by classic Nintendo characters.

Team CC’s catering to one of China’s greatest pastimes paid off – they’ll be going to finals.

Team Green Teeth: Advancing to finals

Team Green Teeth used the same inspiration found on American roads to implement their Chevy campaign in China. Clever animations aided the group in marketing ideas that beautified disgusting public restrooms and encouraged drivers to mix the thrill of driving with their favorite music.

The result was a campaign built on American ideas but adapted for an audience that doesn’t feel the same romanticism for hitting the open road for an unknown destination.