Today in the United States there are more opportunities than ever for consumers to tune out traditional advertising -- even for beloved brands. But what about a company that was embroiled in a serious image crisis? At the time, General Motors was making national headlines for recalling over 63 million vehicles worldwide after the CEO was unceremoniously grilled before Congress. In many consumers’ minds, Cadillac was the poster child of a big, unlikeable corporation, which only recently took a massive federal bailout to stay afloat. Suffice it to say, the majority of the conversation surrounding Cadillac was overwhelmingly negative. As the news cycle progressed, it became increasingly clear it was going to take something extraordinary to disrupt the negative feeding frenzy and encourage people to see Cadillac in a positive light again.

While the Spike Lee Joint “A Promise to Rose” ultimately lived on Cadillac’s YouTube channel, it was introduced to the world through an exclusive partnership with ABC’s Good Morning America, which featured Teddy, Rose and the pink Cadillac on the widely popular morning show. The story was immediately picked up by dozens of news networks, including ESPN which ran the story throughout their draft coverage, and aired the 7 and ½ minute film in its entirety on Sports Center 3 times in a single day. Online, the documentary was picked up by hundreds of major news sites and popular blogs.

Teddy and Rose’s story was immediately embraced by the public. Within 24 hours of being introduced, “A Promise To Rose” was picked up by dozens of major news and entertainment networks, including the sports juggernaut, ESPN, which featured the story throughout their NFL draft coverage, and aired the 7 and ½ minute documentary in its entirety on Sports Center 3 times in a single day. All told, we earned a total of over 10 million TV impressions. Online “A Promise to Rose” generated over 870 news articles, opinion pieces and blog posts, and over one million social actions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And although he was not contractually obligated to do so, Teddy Bridgewater went on to personally thank Cadillac at the NFL draft on live TV moments after he was signed by the Minnesota Vikings. Where in the days leading up to our launch the news was filled with negative stories about General Motors, now all people seemed to be talking about was a pink Cadillac and Teddy Bridgewater’s remarkable gesture.