Ripped from the "30 Millionth Pontiac Wentzville Assembly GM Bonneville SSEi UAW 2250" page on Facebook; all credit for finding and researching this gem goes to them. I'm upping it here in hopes that someone is able to eventually remaster the audio for better clarity. The original description on their page is as follows: ---- There are other versions of the 1988 Ride Pontiac Ride extended commercial similar to this on youtube and testdrivejunkie, but I have not come across the complete 2:32 version like this one. For the 1988 model year, Pontiac unveiled one of the strongest line-ups it had offered in many years. Finally almost every model was aligned with the Pontiac image as documented in the image statement (see post - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=179043175453938&l;=cb4447b618 ). The Fiero suspension had been re-designed, the new FWD Grand Prix was about to be selected Motor Trend Car of the Year, the new Bonneville SSE was introduced, and I could go on and on. Pontiac knew this was the right time to invest in a significant new marketing promotion, so the folks over at the Pontiac advertising agency, D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan came up with the "Ride Pontiac Ride" campaign. Art Director Mark Zapico working under Executive Creative Director Steve Kopcha and Creative Director Noel Nauber, decided they needed an original theme song for the Pontiac commercials. The song was composed by songwriter Mark Vieha who was co-partner along with Jay Kennedy in the Studio City California based music house, LA-NY Music. Vieha and Kennedy are also known for the Taco Bell theme song, "make a run for the border" and Vieha also composed original music for movie soundtracks. For the jingle "get on your Pontiac and ride" Vieha recalled he was at a barbecue and just started humming the song. This extended commercial was a signifant piece in the Ride Pontiac Ride campaign. Many of the scenes, like of the band performing and people interacting with Pontiac cars as the backdrop, were shot in and around Toronto Canada for about a month in the fall of 1987, by Director Bob Canning who was a Canadian and Director of Photography Oliver Wood. Other DMB & B folks that might have been involved are Don Massey who worked with Noel Nauber, Bruce Duffey and Rob Torz. The lead singer of the scenes that appear in this commercial of the band performing is Mark Campbell and the female lead is Canadian singer Alannah Myles. The campaign was a huge success. Dealers included the phrase "ride Pontiac ride" in their newspaper and print media advertisements. The campaign not only caught the attention of the car buying public, it also invigorated the dealers and motivated the entire Pontiac Division and propelled Pontiac to 1988 US annual model year sales of 740,928 vehicles which was good enough for 3rd place and represented 7.1% of the US market and accounted for 20% of GM sales.The last time Pontiac had been in 3rd place was 1973. The success of the campaign continue for annual model year 1989 with US sales of 734,658 vehicles which was again good enough for 3rd place and represented 7.2% of the US market. Note: the annual model year is the 12 month period from October 1 to September 30 so it generally reflects current model year sales but includes a bit of the prior model year that sell late and a bit of the next model year that sell early and excludes the current model year that sells late.

• published: 08 Sep 2013
• views: 12