• by David Kaplan , April 14, 2005

Don't call it an infomercial: starting this month, General Motors' wireless communication service provider OnStar will expand its "real stories" advertising campaign to include its second 30-minute documercial.

The first "documercial" saw limited release last fall. The current campaign will air in 48 local markets, and will air on Saturday nights between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

"Technically, you could say that this is an infomercial, since this is paid time on broadcast running longer than a 30-second spot," acknowledged Tim Conner, advertising manager for OnStar, which has over 3 million subscribers in both the United States and Canada. "But most infomercials typically run late at night. We had originally approached a number of cable channels, but there were no appealing time slots available to us. And we didn't feel there was much value at showing this series at four in the morning."

So OnStar instructed its ad agency, Campbell-Ewald, to see if any channels would cede a half-hour at a time when more people would be watching (or at least be awake). It was local broadcasters that had Saturdays between the evening news and prime time fairly open across the country, Conner said. The show will air at least twice in each market between now and June.

Titled "Out of the Blue," the documercial is narrated by John Tesh, the former co-host of "Entertainment Tonight," New Age composer, and also an OnStar subscriber. The spot features subscribers' tales of rescue and danger, and features all the technological components associated with OnStar.

A third documercial, focusing on subscribers who have witnessed accidents and used OnStar to contact help, is slated to air in July.