Audi is currently running a fun spot where some grizzled old man in a tow truck, or whatever it is, is telling stories about the fleeting appearances of the legendary abominable Quattro (I think that’s what they’re doing here, anyway). It’s really cute, making the car seem like this specter of the night: a phantom car of the snow haunting him but never willing to show itself to the people he’s telling about it (until now, I guess).
But this guy must be some sort of a novice here. If he really wanted to catch this automotive apparition, he could totally lay some spike strips out, just under the snow, and I’ll bet that would stop the car pretty quick. Or, if he didn’t want to harm it, he could set up a “trap” for it (a radar speed trap), and if they wanted to make a campaign out of this idea of the legendary snow beast car, they could show him waiting with the speed trap, and the Audi Quattro blasts past with a gust of wind, disappearing into the white snowy fog of dusk. And he’s with some park rangers or something (who are operating the Doppler radar gun), and they look down just for an instant to grab a cup of coffee or something, and for that brief moment, the Audi Quattro comes whizzing past, and by the time the rangers look back up, it’s gone. And so the guy tells them it just went by, and they don’t believe him. And so the guy rants and raves on about the legendary car, like a zephyr in the night, tormenting him on and on…
Anyway, I love this idea, if I’m reading it right, and I think this idea of how to keep the campaign going (that I've laid out above) would be a lot of fun, too. (Not the spike strip, but the speed “trap” idea. Actually, in a following ad, they could show the guy lay down a spike strip to catch the car, frustrated that no-one will believe him about it, but because the Audi Quattro has 4-wheel drive, it could drive around or just beside the area with the spike strip, and the frustrated guy jumps in his truck to chase it, and then he drives over his own spike strip, like Wile E. Coyote might do, ending his chase.)
Kudos, Audi, on a really fun commercial in what can be a really stale genre (car commercials)! This is my favorite car ad for quite some time! Great job all around, guys! I wish I had thought of it!
And here it is! It’s called “Ahab”, although that surprises me: I thought it was more about the abominable snowman than Moby Dick, and acting more like he’s an amateur paranormal monster hunter than Captain Ahab. But whatever; it’s great! And this is it:
BTW: I just saw the second half of this ad on TV during the NFL playoff game, and it so struck me as great that I decided to write about it right then and there. So the above is my first reaction to the ad, without even having seen the whole thing. Even after finding it online and seeing the whole thing, I still felt like my initial reaction to the spot was much more interesting than reacting to it after knowing more, so that’s why I’m posting it “as is”, and with the actual name of the ad incorrectly stated. I just like the idea of the abominable snowman specter haunting the tow truck guy better than the Ahab/Moby Dick reference, and I think it fits better, too. Because the guy’s not trying to kill the car; he’s just sort of haunted by it. And I think that works better anyway. And they are in the snow, after all.
