GM got into the CGA waters with a contest to create the best Chevy Tahoe ad that consumers could cobble together from elements provided by the company. According to the rules, every entry had to contain five or more clips from the “provided assets,” including at least one clip from the categories “Responsible,” “Capable,” and “Refined.” There also had to be text and a soundtrack.

Chevy closed the contest on April 10, 2006 with thousands of entries from the United States and from Canada, and it invited consumers to come back to the site on April 27 for the unveiling of the winners:

Strategic Note: Chevy was careful in this CGA program to circumscribe the creativity allowed its customer base. The company sanctioned only the assembly of advertisements from pre-approved elements. In fact, it required the inclusion of specified numbers of those elements from particular categories.

It’s very much like asking kids to color by numbers, to follow the numbers using an extremely limited palette, and also to stay inside the lines.

This approach guarantees Chevy a useful advertisement, but sacrifices most of the opportunity for breakthrough creativity or messaging, as well as emotional authenticity.