Ad Watch: Land Rover Defender Passport

The clever minds over at RKCR/Y&R, a UK-based advertising agency, have created this new print campaign called ‘Passport’ for Land Rover’s rugged Defender 4x4. The ad shows an open passport with the airport stamps outlining the shape of the short-wheelbase Defender. Without using any words, the ad clearly conveys the message that the original Land Rover model is a vehicle aimed at adventurous travelers. Very clever indeed. Read more »

BMW and Cundari Produce the World’s Longest Internet Ad

In what’s either a clever bit of marketing or an epic jumping the shark moment, Canadian ad firm Cundari has produced what it claims to be the longest banner ad ever for the BMW X3.

The ad, which measures 300 by 18,000 pixels (!) when fully extended, contains some 5,500 words of text and just goes on and on and on. So much so that I just skimmed through, trying to figure out if there was a point to it. It certainly didn’t make me want to buy an X3, but maybe that’s not what Cundari was trying to achieve.

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Did Audi Import Its New A6 Avant Commercial from Detroit? Chrysler Thinks So

It’s not uncommon these days for certain companies to reproduce (or at least try to) the styling and/or the available technology features of Germany’s finest carmakers but this time we have a story that turns the tables the other way around. In mid-May, Audi aired a new commercial for the just launched A6 Avant in its home market. The ad shows the executive station wagon model cruising through streets of a German city as a version of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" song plays in the background.

If you watch the commercial in the video after the jump and it reminds you of Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” ad for the new 200 sedan from this year's Super Bowl event, rest assured you are not alone.

"It is absolutely shocking," said Joel Martin, manager of Eight Mile Style, the company that handles the song licensing for Eminem. "We believe Audi not only used 'Lose Yourself' to sell their product without permission, but their spot actually feels inspired by elements of Chrysler's commercial campaign,” Martin added.

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Ad Watch: Renault Wind Roadster and Lexus CT 200h Hybrid

Selling a car through advertising isn’t as easy as you might think. What good is it showing your product nimbly taking on Alpine twists and turns when your competitors are doing the same thing? Here are two ads that don’t really break the mould, but try something a little different. Read more »

New Nissan Leaf Commercial Mocks the Chevy Volt for Using Gasoline

Electric carmakers are trying hard to promote their products, with the environmentally friendly nature of these vehicles being their most exploited feature in advertising. Nissan is going down the same path with a new campaign for the fully-electric Leaf entitled “Gas Powered Everything”, in which the company mocks the internal combustion engine by imagining a strange world where all appliances run on gas.

The result is a funny commercial in which people have to put up with gas-powered alarm-clocks, microwave ovens, computers and many more appliances. Even the Chevrolet Volt becomes a subject of joke for being a gas-electric hybrid. But we can't help but wonder: isn't Nissan's approach a little hypocritical? It's not like their range includes electric cars alone...

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Hoon Crackdown: Two Anti-Hooning Ads from Different Ends of the Spectrum

In Australia and New Zealand, “hooning” is a term applied to any anti-social and often dangerous behavior behind the wheel of a car. Burnouts, car surfing and illegal street racing all fall under this rather broad definition. And it’s an ever-growing problem. Each year there are more reports like, “Hoons kill innocent driver in Dandenong, say police” and, “Man killed in Burwood Highway 'hoon' crash.”

So it’s obvious that cracking down on hooning is very important to the governments of both nations. Here we have two adverts, one from Oz and one from Kiwiland, that use tactics both old and new to get their message across. The Aussie one plays on that, “If you hoon, you’ll lose your car” message while the NZ one plays on the, “If you hoon, you’ll lose your life” vibe. Who knew that New Zealand’s roads were covered with hidden landmines?

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Chrysler Tones it Down a Notch with its New Imported from Detroit Campaign for the 2011 Town and Country

The refreshed 2011 Town and Country minivan is the point of focus in the latest commercial in Chrysler’s “Imported from Detroit” campaign. The new TV spot is called “The Quiet Ones” and it takes us to Michigan and the state’s 2011 hockey champions, the Novi Wildcats, featuring one of the team members, Mason Pew. Read more »

VW Salesman Likes to Bang and Jump on Doors

As the adage goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and it is better to be reviled and even mocked at than to be ignored. In the case of Larry Roesch Volkswagon (that’s how the name of the German automaker is spelled on the dealer’s Youtube account), making the automotive ridiculist was intentional to grab some media and customer attention. And since we’re here talking about it, you could say that their goal has been achieved…

The VW dealer has published a series of intentionally cheap and corny commercials starring one of the company’s salesmen, Nick Pontarelli. In two of the videos, Pontarelli abuses a Volkswagen Golf GTI and a Jetta by forcefully shutting and climbing onto the doors to prove the cars' ‘German’ strength and quality. His final statement is “try that with a Hyundai or a Honda”. Watch the clips after the break.

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Hilarious Honda Malaysia Ad Mocks Independent Service Centers

As car owners, most of us have had bad experiences with auto service stations, either official or independent. Of course, carmakers don't like competition from independent units, so here's what Honda of Malaysia thinks of these stations. In a commercial for the local market, Honda mocks an independent garage called “HONDI” which, as you may have already assumed, offers bad service for big bucks.

A beautiful young woman, owner of a Honda Civic, is shown taking her car to the Hondi service center, where all sorts of strange things happen, with the personnel doing a crappy job while singing their own version of the famous “YMCA” song. If only service stations were such a blast... Follow the jump to watch the ad.

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Subaru Targets Young Asian American Buyers with New Sweet Tomorrow Campaign

Subaru’s American division is taking audience segmentation a step further with the release of a new advertising campaign for the 2011 Legacy that specifically targets the Chinese-American market. The campaign has been produced in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, and can be seen across a wide variety of media placements including TV, print, online and out-of-home running.

The television spot is called “Sweet Tomorrow” and it shows a young Chinese American couple preparing for the birth of their first child. The advert is scheduled to air through October 2011.

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Some Like it Very Hot: Fiat’s New Campaign for 500 by Gucci

Russian model Natalya Sergeyevna Polevshchikova, more commonly known as Natasha Poly, is the new face (and legs…) of Fiat’s advertising campaign for the limited edition 500 by Gucci. The blonde temptress from the land of hot spies, beautiful ballets and Vodka, is dressed in a one-of-a-kind black leather ensemble and is all over the 500’s ultra compact body [sic...].

The campaign was imagined by Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini, who was also responsible for the design of the special edition 500. Fiat said the single and double-page advertisements will appear in publications throughout the year.

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Audi Challenges BMW, Mercedes and Lexus with new Ad Campaign

Audi of America has launched a new advertising campaign that will most likely generate a similar response from the competition in the premium segment. Under the tagline “Car Carrier”, the two Audi commercials feature a BMW owner that goes nuts when he sees a truck full of brand new automotive metal from Ingolstadt.

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Beatboxing with the Polo GTI: New TV Spot from Singapore

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a huge fan of beatboxing. It’s something me and my friends were big into in junior high, but I’ve since outgrown it. Others have not. In a recent TV spot promoting the latest-generation Volkswagen Polo GTI, the Singapore arm of global marketing agency Tribal DDB brought in local beatboxing talent Dharni Ng to lay down some slick beats.

The result is...interesting, I guess. I’m not really in much of a position to judge beatboxing, so it’s hard to tell if this is good or merely average. You can check out the full ad below and an additional clip of Ng “rehearsing” while being driven about in the Veedub. Oh, and don’t forget to leave a comment in the section below.

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Chrysler’s Latest Imported from Detroit Ad Featuring Designer John Varvatos

The next chapter of the Chrysler Group’s much talked about 'Imported from Detroit' campaign brings us yet another native of America’s Motor City who made it big, renowned fashion designer and entrepreneur, John Varvatos. The TV spot is named ‘Attitude’ and centers on the new 2011 Chrysler 300 sedan (notice the new Mopar grille?) playing on Varvatos’ sense of style, and according to the ad, his “Detroit blue-collar attitude” when it comes to work.

The latest commercial in Chrysler's ‘Imported from Detroit’ series follows the ads with rapper Eminem for the 200 sedan and more recently, the Homecoming spot starring Detroit Lions rookie, Ndamukong Suh, again for the 300 sedan. The US automaker also plans to air a commercial featuring artist, producer, label head and entrepreneur, Dr. Dre in the all-new 2012 Chrysler 300S. Watch the spot with John Varvatos in the video after the jump.

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Land Rover Ad Suggests you can get Away with Anything Inside an LR4

Land Rover vehicles are known for offering a high level of security to their occupants, but does that apply only to traffic accidents? Well, if we are to believe a new U.S. campaign for the LR4/Discovery SUV, the feeling of safety inspired by a Land Rover vehicle goes well beyond road accidents. Read more »

VIDEO: Oprah Hands Out New 2012 VW Beetle to One of her Fans

Last November, Oprah Winfrey gave us our first tease of the spanking new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle during one of her daily shows by revealing the car’s silhouette. Now, being that the show reaches millions of American viewers, and as everybody knows, Oprah has that special Midas touch when it comes to promoting products; Volkswagen had no problem to donate a brand new 2012 Beetle to each of the 275 audience members.

Fast forward to today, the German have already unwrapped the third generation Beetle at the 2011 New York and Shanghai motor shows in April, so it’s time for Volkswagen to create some buzz around the car with the release of a video showing Oprah handing the keys to one of the lucky audience members. You can watch it right after the jump.

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BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” Slogan Returns in Ferrari-Emulating Commercial

Back in 1997, Ferrari and Shell released a stunning commercial shot in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California, featuring a Formula 1 car being refueled by a Shell airplane. Fast forward to 2011 and BMW USA has remade the famous ad, albeit in a slightly different manner. Read more »

Audi USA Promotes its Pre-Owned Program with Two New Commercials

Imagine buying a new car and being annoyed constantly by the car's next owners telling you not to do this or that in order to keep the vehicle in top shape. Not a very nice image, but thats exactly what Audi portrays in a series of commercials that promote the brand’s Certified pre-owned program. Read more »

Chrysler Hires NFL Rookie of the Year for New ‘Imported from Detroit’ Campaign

Unless you’re a fan of the NFL, chances are you’ve never heard of the new face of Chrysler’s ‘Imported from Detroit’ campaign, Ndamukong Suh. For those of you whom the name doesn’t ring a bell, Suh is a young football player who was recently named Defensive Rookie of the Year. In the summer of 2010, the 24-year old signed a five-year contract with the Detroit Lions worth $68,000,000 with $40,000,000 guaranteed – no, we got the zeros right….

Even though the Ford family is signing his checks, Suh is the star of Chrysler’s latest ‘Detroit’ ad for the new 300 sedan titled “Homecoming”. The commercial plays up the values of humble beginnings and hard work ethics with Suh putting up a face that makes you ask “why so serious?” Hit the break to watch the advert.

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Chrysler’s Ram Truck Brand to Debut New ‘Guts. Glory. Ram.’ Tagline

Following in the footsteps of its sister brands Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep, the Chrysler LLC Group’s Ram Truck division is relaunching its marketing strategy with a new tag line that will make its official debut during this weekend’s TV broadcast of the Kentucky Derby racing event, which the company is an official sponsor.

The firm’s new motto is ‘Guts. Glory. Ram’ and according to the Auburn Hills-based group, it pays homage to the history of Ram Truck Brand and “represents the hard work and dedication placed in the design, engineering and production of each and every Ram truck”.

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