Cadillac’s “Road to Success” won the Commercial Closet Association’s award for Outstanding U.S. TV Campaign for the LGBT Market: Cadillac and its “Road to Success” campaign, the organization announced.

“So, when you turn on your car, does it return the favor?” asked Travis Parman, General Motors’ LGBT media relations manager, in a speech accepting the award last week, referring to the current Cadillac ad campaign.

He continued, “Such recognition for our LGBT advertising certainly has us turned on. On behalf of General Motors, the team at Cadillac and our friends at Logo, thank you. This the first time that General Motors has produced LGBT-specific TV commercials and I guess this means we did a pretty good job. We’re very proud that we were able to work with the incredible producers at Logo to tell these powerful stories in less than a couple of minutes.” [Logo is the parent company of 365gay.com]

As part of a first-ever partnership, General Motors launched the campaign late last year on Logo. The ads feature the stories of gay and lesbian individuals and their path to personal and professional success.

The Road to Success spots are the carmaker’s first partnership with a LGBT broadcast media entity and feature individuals whose life experiences and accomplishments are emblematic of Cadillac’s current “Life. Liberty. And the Pursuit” advertising campaign. The four individuals represent a diverse range of professions and experiences:

* Linda Villarosa – Founder of Essence Magazine, who now is a contributor to the New York Times covering HIV/AIDS issues. Watch it HERE

* Anita Lo – Entrepreneur and chef at Annisa, which she opened in 2000. Watch it HERE

* Rubin Singer – A fashion designer whose family emigrated from Russia. Watch it HERE

* Jeffrey Seller – Broadway producer of Rent, Avenue Q, La Boheme and his new play In the Heights. Watch it HERE

Other nominees in the category included: Levi Strauss – Levi’s; American Airlines; Subaru; and Harrah’s – Paris Las Vegas.

Saab was also nominated for Outstanding Interactive Campaign – LGBT Market for its “Because Not All Roads Are Straight” online ad for the 9-3 that is shown in Canada.

Ads were nominated by Commercial Closet Association’s executive director Michael Wilke and finalists were selected by CCA’s Advisory Board. A complete list of nominees is available at www.commercialcoset.org/nominees along with 85 years of positive and negative GLBT images in advertising.

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