What is SeeItNext.com? I saw a commercial for the website when I watched American Gladiators tonight (btw, AG is a great show and it brings back so many memories). I went to the site, and it has an aerial photo of Chicago at night (the Citicorp Center, One and Two Prudential Plaza, and the AON Center give it away), as well as showing the video seen in the commercial. The commercial reveals a clue: In the general’s north chamber the future is revealed. A Google search for the phrase reveals a couple of interesting nuggets of information, including a digg item linking to an eBay auction of DVDs that includes the phrase in the description. The DVDs don’t jump out at me, but then again I have only seen the Friends season finale (when it was originally aired).
Do you have any ideas as to what this all means? The website says, "The future will be revealed on February 4th." Hopefully I’ll know what’s going on before then.
Update: Signs are leaning toward the Chicago Auto Show theories being correct. But we have just over a week left until we find out. In the meantime, here are the two videos posted by YouTube user seeitnext:
That was the first video posted on the SeeItNext.com website. Here is the second video posted on the site:
That creepy-looking kid in the photograph doesn’t really give me a clue as to what is going on, but a forum post at GMInsideNews tries to link this all to the new Chevy Traverse. I guess we still have to keep on guessing.
Well, it’s clearly an ARG, though whether it’s just a viral playing at being an ARG or a full-fledged ARG is anybody’s guess. I do like that it appears to be based in Chicago. This makes it faintly feasible that I could participate in any real-world challenges it offers.
Theories espoused online so far: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=461088#461120
(it is a viral ad for a GM contest, w/ “North Chamber” being the location of the Auto Show in McCormick Center)
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23524#460936
(the marked buildings on the front page of the site are the Smurfit-Stone Building and the Aon Center… a chamber in one of these that overlooks Grant Park?)
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=461088#461088
(the bandshell thing at the north end of Millennium Park (an extension of Grant Park))
Personally, I think whatever the structure is on the east side of Columbus St. (which is more properly Grant Park than Millennium Park) has a better chance of being the “general’s north chamber” than the bandshell. I think Grant Park is a good start, anyway.
Here’s an article about last year’s Auto Show and GM’s contest, but this year, the show’s supposed to start no earlier than the 6th, and that’s for the Media Preview… the public doesn’t get in ’til the 8th, so I doubt that’s the big reveal that’s being spoken of… :\
I believe it’s an ad for the Chicago Auto Show from GM. The “General’s North Chamber” may be a referral to where in GM’s diorama the reveal will be. I believe they may reveal either the GM Volt at this time as a “Plug In” Hybrid since it’s planned for production in 2010. I heard they have a Hydrogen vehicle planned for production by 2020 as well. Guess I’ll have to wait until 2/4 to be certain.
gotta be an arg
I just saw a new ad, anyone else see it too? Now it seems like somebody’s after that girl, plus a picture of some sort of demon kid!!! I’m in
I think it is a think about the future logo. I think it is something new that will help something that relates in the future, such as Go Green, Global Warming, hmmmmmm we will jut have to see!!!!!
The commercial shows a women on a Motorola cell phone. Gee…I wonder if it has anything do with that? Either that, or I say auto show.
I saw the commercial today…I saw a man that creepy kid showed up again…was that the one…and yes I do agree they were after her or her car keys for the auto show…LOL sorry…the sign…looks like a double arrow sign >> but beneath it…what do you think
I checked the whois registry and the registrant is elemental detroit based in troy michigan. It’s probably related to the auto show. the auto show opens to the media on February 6 and to the public Feb 8-17. So knowing something by the 4th seems to make sense… it’s probably for a stupid car, who are they kidding? the car industry is in shambles, they’re treating cars like the gimmick for cloverfield would work on it right now.
Grrr…I don’t want a stupid car…I want a show to knock my socks off…~whispers~ like “LOST”…I guess this means I’ll have to write my own screen play…
OK kids…If it is about the auto show…why show a creepy child???
Trust me , it is about the Chicago Auto show , people have been talking about this in the office of the Chicago newspapers.
I also can not inderstand what the creppy kid is all about , is he supposed to be injured? Maybe the new car is going to have some kind of new child seat.
It has been said that the North chamber is the end of the chicago auto show that shows the new cars.
Yes I noticed the Motorola phone in it aswell it showed that very clearly. So I say thats a possibility but my big guess is the car show and this makes me even more willing to beleive it i found out that Elemental Detroit has this commercial running and they have done GM and other car commercials before http://www.elementaldetroit.com
I saw a guy on the Michigan Av bridge with the triangles on friday around 4pm.
@Mark: I saw that guy in a commercial during Thursday night’s Chuck (I just watched it today). Was he in a green jacket?
I was also thinking that, while many signs point to this being a GM ad campaign for the CAS, there are elements of the ad campaign that just don’t make sense for it to be an automotive campaign, like the creepy factor and the picture of the boy with the symbol scrawled on it. Any thoughts on that?
http://www.gmnext.com/ I found a link to this on another website discussing this topic. In the top left corner, you’ll see the symbol and of course, associated with GM implying that this is all hinting at their car show. But while that may be a let down, the third commercial with the cell phone call has the keywords “curtain” and “trailhead”. In the description of an ARG, the curtain is what is used to seperate the puppet master from the public, and the trailhead is what starts the whole ARG chaos. So while this has thus far only hinted at the auto show, it’s showing hope that it is indeed an ARG… I’d like to know what happens at the auto show… maybe we’ll find more hints for more ARG madness?
@Dan: Good find! I did hear something about GM getting into social networking and user generated content, and it looks like GMnext is just that. Looking at the FAQ, GM will be doing special reveals and events during the next 11 months, starting the second century of GM.
On the unfiction unforum, there are several replies to the OP talking about things like the Escalade Hybrid and the sub-$2000 Tata nano from India. I’ve been following Fast Lane Daily, Autoblog, Car & Driver, etc. for the past few months, and I haven’t heard anything about GM’s super special CAS exhibit. Of course, if any of them know what’s going on, they might be under a press embargo and can’t publish anything until February 4th.
There are only eight more days until the truth comes out.
It’s so lame how they play with our minds. i’m not exactly into giving them my email address. The best message back to this advertiser is to feed them on their website the following email addresses:
1) lameexcusetogetmyemailaddress@seeitnext.com
2) AreYouBringingBackThePontiacAztek@seeitnext.com
3) HypeAboutSomethingThatMustBeSoLameYouHaveToBuildBuzzAroundIt@seeitnext.com
4) NotAnotherStupidCarFromGM@seeitnext.com
5) DidIWinTheMaybachSedan@seeitnext.com
Feel Free to be Creative!
Here are a couple more, and pay close attention to #7:
6) ItIsNotExactlyTheBuickEnclave@seeitnext.com
7) ItIsJustAsUglyAsTheEnclaveButTheyCallItTheChevyTraverse@seeitnext.com
Feel Free to be Creative!
If its an ad for a car show then why are they showing this on network tv. I live on the West Coast and could care less about some silly car show in Chicago.. I think that it has something to do with either Motorola or the network………..we will see on Feb 4,2008
@Lynn Mullins: I am not sure that it is for the Chicago Auto Show itself, rather for something being unveiled at the CAS. You may be on to something about it being for the network. I have only seen the ads on NBC, during American Gladiators and Chuck. Since I watch those shows on DVR, I sometimes see the SeeItNext.com ads as I skip past the commercials. I haven’t been watching much else on TV, so I have not seen the ads on other stations. I have heard the ads on the radio, though. When the ad abruptly ends, the radio host just goes along as if nothing weird was in the ad. However, the radio host usually says something about a strange ad if he hears one. That makes me wonder if the media is under an embargo not to talk about the ads. I’m rambling, so I’ll finish up here.
No cars kids, it’s going to be the big release for the new 2-way service from your friends at Sprint/Nextel!
That still does not answer what the creepy kid is all about
hmm… i guess i win
It looks like the GM promotion is a win, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Sprint/Nextel. I am curious as to why the ad was seen on the coast, since the 10 cars in 10 days giveaway is void outside of the WMAQ (NBC) and WSNS (Telemundo) broadcast area. In fact, you must be a permanent resident of specific counties in Illinois or Indiana to participate in the contest.
Surprisingly, the e-mail I received this morning did not mention anything about GMNext.com specifically, just that there is something called GMNext that is going to be big.
Overall, the marketing on this thing was pretty bad. The ad campaign did not make any sense even after you see the disappointing payoff. What the hell was all of the creepy stuff about? The e-mail I received unveiling the contest doesn’t even mention the creepy stuff, like the people following “Sarah” or the weird photos and printouts she received. It just says, “Ok, I was pretty scared, but this thing is big.” That line sounds like something out of a porn flick, not an ARG or an ad campaign for a car manufacturer.
Also, on at least a couple of search engines, this blog post appears higher in the search results for “seeitnext.com” than the site itself! Next year, when GM does a promotion for the CAS, they should skip any lame attempts at viral marketing, or invite bloggers and journalists to be in on it from the start. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
What in the world was that creepy kid all about ! All I can think of that maybe there is going to be new child seats in the car, but why such an ugly kid?
And why the reference to cell service being knocked out?
What does that, the creepy kid and all the scary stuff have to do with buying a car.
Don’t attend the Chicago Autoshow because you will loose cell service, creepy people will follow you around and there will be a guy telling you to “get out of there!!”
So why go?
Because that is *exactly* what I look for in an autoshow.
Hmmm…makes me wonder if it is about a cell phone and Creepy Kid…gets hurt…perhaps the phone will act like a On-Star???
DUH me and that auto show…I just saw seeitnext.com….why would they twink our minds over an auto show…Grrrrrrr…I’m going to bed…Sweet dreams everyone!!!