The Power of an Idea
Since Katie created her storyboard for a class that taught advertising and other writing only, her storyboard was artistically simple. At a real agency, artists would likely create the storyboard for her.
In Detroit, the advertising gurus at Cambell-Ewald advised Katie not to change her charming but basic storyboard. They said that it spoke to the power of an idea. In advertising, the concept is everything. Katie's storyboard was elegant in its simplicity: It captured the essence of her idea. In fact, it's remarkable how similar her original storyboard is to the professional storyboard and the ad itself.
Katie wanted to take the cliched, sexualized image of women at car washes and turn it on its head to appeal more to the younger audience, which is more attuned to and not threatened by issues of gender equality. Super Bowl advertising, car advertisements, and car wash advertising scenes in particular have normally featured sexualized women (think: Paris Hilton and hamburgers). Chevy's tag-line is the American Revolution. Katie saw her ad as a light-hearted play on the Sexual Revolution, which is part of the American Revolution. And what better scene to use than a car wash, which is in many ways an American scene?
But Katie's ad was designed to be humor-based and use "real men", so that it would also appeal to men. Katie argued that, to men of her generation, the sexual revolution is accepted and non-threatening. Men are equally empowered in it as women are. She wanted the car wash ad to convey that belief and be fun for all viewers. For example, Katie's real uncle Murray is the basis for the balding character at the top right.
