Microsite.com

Before getting into the most unsightly yet hottest trend in Microsite content today, let’s review two relevant events from the past:

First, last spring, Chevy Tahoe invited people to create their own commercial messages online about the SUV. These consumer-generated ads could be easily posted to YouTube or anywhere else. Chevy supplied the video clips and music. Users could then mix and match the material and add their own captions. The contest ran for four weeks and drew more than 30,000 entries. Some of them, however, were not so nice, referencing global warming, social irresponsibility, war in Iraq, and the psychosexual connotations of extremely large cars. (See the Chevy spoof ads for yourself).

Second, in December, OfficeMax launched the “ElfYourself” Microsite that asked viewers to superimpose images of their faces on to the body of a dancing elf. This bizarre, mismatched spectacle created a destination that became the most visited Microsite of all time.

chevy_carwash_micrositeNow, merge these two concepts and you have Chevy’s newest Microsite, “Car Wash.” It seems Chevy tried to prevent the troubles of the past while borrowing from the best.

The “Car Wash” Microsite is based on Chevy’s Super Bowl College Ad Challenge – which was promoted on another Microsite, chevycollegead.com. Similar to “ElfYourself,” the Chevy site invites visitors to upload headshots of themselves and their friends then superimpose them on to the head of a dancing elf. Sorry, strike that, I mean on to one of the characters from the Chevy Super Bowl commercial. Unlike “ElfYourself,” visitors can change a character’s hairstyle or add sunglasses or a hat. There’s also the obligatory send-to-an-unfortunate-friend button, or post it to a blog or MySpace page.

Personiva, a San Francisco-based media company, provides the technology behind the site, which is able to recognize and silhouette the facial features to place on the bodies. The technology seems cool and it certainly… uploading… wor… uploading… ks. Even though it may be a bit slow.

According to Kelly O’Neill, Chevy advertising manager, “[The Microsite] is really designed to change opinions of Chevrolet.” She went on to tell the Chicago Tribune the company wanted to show that “Chevy’s far out, always trying to be unique and different and reflect what is cool and hip.”

Well, the Microsite certainly does reinforce Chevy’s image. And it ain’t cool and hip. Umm, it’s not even far out. It’s more of a, oh, I don’t know, poor replica of someone else’s great – or at least unique and different – idea. “ElfYourself” had that weird, never-really-seen-before, but-can’t-quite-turn-away quality. The Chevy Microsite has the just-saw-it-two-months-ago-and-it-was-much-funnier-then quality.

CareerBuilder’s new Microsite Age-O-Matic.com – which allows people to alter their ages by 50 years and email it to friends emphasizing the stresses of a bad job – is unique and different. That’s how you’re supposed to steal an idea. You see something good. You tweak it a little, and you call it your own. Hell, that’s how advertising is done.

But I guess in Detroit, it’s, “Here’s an idea that’s been done before. How can we water it down, make it lame, and have it under perform?”

I could make the obvious parallel to Detroit’s overall performance or a snide remark about Chevy’s borrowed, overpromising tagline, but, honestly, the whole thing is just kind of depressing.

On a much brighter note, tomorrow, I’ll review a nearly identical execution that does pull it off from a company located about 2,000 miles away geographically, but light years away marketing-cally. (Read the blog about HP’s Microsite using identical technology.)