At the recent Oscar awards, Audi released two interesting "Identity Theft series" ads for the newly launched Q5 SUV. Check out the ads below :
Parking Deck
School
Both ads were clearly poking fun at the Lexus RX - the best selling premium SUV in USA. The ads were made by Audi of America's San Francisco based creative agency Venables Bell & Partners.
Audi of America is not new to controversial ads. There have been numerous other ads which pokes fun at their competitor models.
When Lexus launched its LS460L with Park Assist (video below), Audi took the opportunity to release a new ad for the A4 with the theme "The Luxury Car For People Who Can Park Themselves."
Notice that the car in front the Audi is a Lexus LS.
Of course, potential A4 buyers don't cross shop with a Lexus LS. Audi of America is just feeling a little mischievous and wants to pick a fight with the established luxury automotive brands hierarchy in America (Lexus is not that big outside US, not even in Japan). A very adolescent like behaviour, but it still makes the market a lot more interesting.
Last year, they introduced a viral marketing campaign "Meet the Beckers" (video below), which again pokes fun at other luxury auto brands. This time including Audi's own German brethren. See what is the message that you get from Audi on Mercedes, BMW and Lexus drivers.
In 2007, Audi intentionally destroyed a perfectly working brand new Audi TT by submerging the car in the water for a photoshoot with some leggy model.
Automotive blogs and forums were posting many heated discussions about how Audi destroyed a perfect working example of a wonderful car. But the objective of the ad campaign has been achieved - it placed the Audi brand back as a discussion topic among people.
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2 comments:
I was actually hoping the end of that Audi TT vid would be them turning it on and seeing all indicators light up.
Why does submersing a car destroy it? Assuming electronics and electricals are replace, it seem plausible that the car would be able to turn on after drying out.
In short, it's a legal liability issue. Cars are not subjected to "water submerge" test in their development.
So even in theory is fine if you replace all the electronics and wire harness, there is no guarantee that everything, especially critical vehicle control and safety functions will work 100%.
The car must be destroyed or not be sold at all. There is a chance of anyone getting hurt in the car in the future could sue the company.
Besides, there are issues with lubricants mixing with water and also water getting clogged in the drainage holes throughout the car body. They are meant to channel rain water, not pressure from a pool.
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