Thanks for reading. Well for one of my classes this semester we have to make a commercial and act as an marketing/advertisment firm. And the product happens to be an electric car made by GM under the Chevy brand name. I want to use a song that has something dealing with electricity, environment, or change etc that would apeal to the baby boomer generation.

Also if anyone has any ideas for a name for the car or commercials please discuss. We are allowed to get outsourced ideas, artwork, production, etc as long as we list them under our budget as an expense. Just like a real advertising firm.

If it's a yellow car, use Mellow Yellow by Donovan. I love the part about Electrical Banana

or

We gonna' rock down to Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant.

Sam Cooke, "Change is Gonna Come" might work for you.

Pretty fast thinking... The car can be many different colors. However using the term banana could be used as a sexual subliminal message

Exactly

Sex sells!!!

How about "Electricity" by OMD?

-matt

There's always that Electric Slide song that Boomers eat up at wedding receptions. ("It's electric - boogie woogie woogie"). Not sure who does it.

And, not an 80's song, but David Bowie's "Changes" may appeal to that target market.*

REM's "Fall On Me" is about the environment, but that's probably too much of a downer. Better go with something like "Superman."


*wow - I finally used a marketing term. Guess my degree didn't go to waste!

What's on your Mind - the information society

I just remember that they kept saying "Pure Energy" in the chorus

wow, thanks for all the quick responses and ideas. please keep them coming and if you have any ideas for a name for the car or commercials please discuss.

most people want these as a second car, if that help spur any ideas

For the car, if you want to combine patriotism and sex...

The Star Spangled Rammer

(courtesy of The Onion)

For the song in the commercial, use "Get Down, Make Love" by Queen.

Here is another idea:

Show a picture of a 4x4 pickup going off road, and getting hopelessly stuck. Then show your car driving by with the Beatles song ""Why Don't We Do It in the Road" (from the White Album) in the background.

Another idea:

Call the car the Chevy Radar.

For the commercial, show a guy driving late at night (show him from the outside, you see him tapping the steering wheel but can't hear what he is listening to). He passes by some closed gasoline stations. You see him shifting and then you hear the song, coming in with the lyrics "and he's shifting gears. He's got a thing, and it's called radar love" [Radar Love by Golden Earring, of course] fade the camera back as the announcer says "The New Chevy Radar, it doesn't suck as bad as the Corsica" (or "The New Chevy Radar, with 69 mpg highway mileage, will get you where you need to go.") (fade back into the music, then to the end of the commercial).

The OMD song is a great idea. There's also "Electrical Language" by Be-Bop Deluxe. It's from 1978 but it definitely has the right mood and content you're looking for.

Massive Attack: Blue Lines - Hymn of the Big Wheel
Fishbone: Truth and Soul - Change
The Clash: Combat Rock - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

THE LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING: by DEPECHE MODE

The landscape is changing
The landscape is crying
Thousands of acres of forest are dying
Carbon copies from the hills above the forest line
Acid streams are flowing ill across the countryside

'Cause I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world

I've always wanted to see a car commercial like this (though I doubt that it would go well for your class).

Have the car in a secluded area. For the whole commercial, show a guy on top of a girl doing you know what (have some moaning). For the whole 30 seconds.

After 20 seconds, have a voice over: "The New Chevrolet Electro. Women dig it."

Here is another more viable option:

Have the car (let's call it the Chevrolet Electro again) at a starting line with a Chevrolet Corvet. At the flag, the Corvet speeds off, of course, leaving the Electro in its dust. Show the Corvet driver as being real serious, with a helmet, etc. Show the Electro driver as being some college guy, in a T-shirt and maybe a dog in the passenger seat, listing to some mellow rock from the 70s. Have him look at his watch as the Corvet takes off, then have him look at his gas gage (which will be full).

Flash forward in time, have him pass by the Corvet which is now stuck on the side of the road, out of gas. Have the Electro driver stop and get a gas can out of his trunk, giving it to the Corvet driver, while saying "Here, you need this more than I do". Flash back to the Electro gas gage, which is 3/4 full. Have the guy get back in and keep driving.

thanks for all the responses i am "listening" in to them. Heat thanks for your ideas. I hope others will add some too?

Aw dude, it's gotta be Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant; though I've always thought the Polecats' Make a Circuit With Me would be an awesome car commercial song.

And just for all the gary numan fans out there (all three of them including me ):

Cars. Or better yet, "Are Friends Electric" which is a song most 80s music fans would recognize even if they don't know the name or artist (gary numan again).

Debbie Gibson-"Electric Youth"

Wait. Mllefoo. Me. And, um, who's the other one?

Here are a couple more ideas:

Have the car driving down a rural road with a couple college age guys. Have some modern music (not 80s) playing in the car. Have them pass by an oil field, and the driver says “hey, watch this”, then honk his horn and wave at the oil rig worker. The oil rig worker starts to wave back, then realizes that it is the new Chevy Electric Car, he gets a scowl on his face and shakes his fist at it, saying something like “dang Chevy Electric Car, trying to put me out of business.” (as the Chevy drives off down the dusty road).

Have the car being driven by a college age couple in a national park (though you see no animals). For music, be playing something mellow (I still think modern music would be better. Have the girl tell the guy “let’s take some pictures of some wildlife”, the guy says “sure, no problem”. He parks the car and honks the horn. At the sound of the horn, wildlife (“friendly” ones like rabbits, deer, robins, etc) come out of the woods to take a closer look at the car. The girl is happily taking pictures of the animals as the voice over says simply “The New Chevrolet Electro”. (as a possible addition, have one of the animals taking pictures of the car at the same time.)

two songs more for ya to listen to both from the 80s
not sure how they fit in exactly

giorgio moroder's - electric dreams (from some movie can't remember right now)
icehouse - electric blue

Pass It On Down - Alabama
<small>We live in the land of plenty
But many things aren't plenty anymore
Like the water from our sink
They say's not safe to drink
You gotta go and buy it at the store
Now we're told there's a hole in the ozone
Look what's washing on the beach
And Lord, I believe, from the heavens to the seas
We're bringing Mother Nature to her knees

Chorus:
So let's leave some blue up above us
Let's leave some green on the ground
It's only ours to borrow, let's save some for tomorrow
Leave it and pass it on down

Well there's a change taking place way on the mountains
Acid rain is falling on the leaves
And down in Brazil, the fires are burning still
How we gonna breathe without them trees

Repeat chorus

There's a place where I live called the Canyon
Where Daddy taught me to swim
And that water, it's so pure
And I'm gonna make sure
Daddy's grandkids can swim there like him

Now we all oughta feel just a little bit guilty
When we look into the eyes of our kids
'Cause brothers it's a fact, if we take and don't put back
They'll have to pay for all we did

Repeat chorus (4 times)

Tag:
Leave it and pass it on down</small>
<HR>
Song of the South - Alabama
<small>Chorus
Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.
Gone, gone with the wind.
There ain't nobody looking back again.

Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch.
We all picked the cotton but we never got rich.
Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat.
They oughta get a rich man to vote like that.

Sing it...
Chorus

Well somebody told us Wall Street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn't tell.
Cotton was short and the weeds were tall
But Mr. Roosevelt's a gonna save us all.

Well momma got sick and daddy got down.
The county got the farm and they moved to town.
Pappa got a job with the TVA
He bought a washing machine and then a Chevrolet.

Sing it...
Chorus

Play it...

Sing it...
Chorus

Song, song of the south...
Gone, gone with the wind...

Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.
Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

Sing it...
Chorus 2X

Thanks for all the songs everyone. This is really a BIG help. Thank you so much.

A little more about the car if anyone is interested in helping me come up with ideas for print, tv, or radio advertising. Here are some fact about the car and some facts on research that I have done:

The car is priced at $25,000. Out of the range for many college students and probably not "hip" enough.

It can go a 400 mile round trip without charge(I know not very true to life but I didn't make it up, talk to the professor)

Over 1/3 of new car buyers say that they are interested in buying an electric car

Most electric car buyers see electric cars as comparable to golf carts

Most consumers who want an electric car drive a lot or would like it as a SECOND car

It's quiet, pretty fast, and can seat up to 4 people

No oil changes, tune up's etc...

All these factors must be considered when positioning your prodcut. That is why we as a group choose late generation xer's and baby boomers as the greatest potential and not seniors and college kids. Also we have to make people see that electric cars are not golf carts

The Fatboy Slim song "Right Here, Right Now" can always make a good intro.

"I used to think I was so cool
Riding around on fossil fuel;
Now I know all I was doin'
Was driving us down the road to ruin."

Damn That Traffic Jam
James Taylor

(Of course, we all know that an electric car is still powered by fossil fuel.)