Audi commercials that appeal to emotions.
Nowadays, the media noise is so high that advertisers need very carefully thought-out and crafted advertisements to get their message across to consumers. For the buyer to retain the product, the manufacturer or even just the feeling in their mind, the advertisement must be creative, simple, and very precisely positioned, (of course, all within a maximum of 30 seconds).
For me, Audi's advertisements stand out because they appeal to emotions, address current topics, and do all this very elegantly. Their message embodies the promise of the future, technical innovations, environmental protection, family, safety, strength, and freedom.
One of my favorite advertisements is the Audi R8 2018 spot, „Drive,” which unfortunately did not make it to Hungarian TV commercials and can only be found on YouTube.
In the first few seconds, we see a futuristic future before us, with several dozen-story skyscrapers, rooftop gardens, and in the second second, the protagonist appears.
The man in the film perfectly fits one of Audi's personas. A senior executive, a businessman in his 40s, with refined taste, who is sitting and working in his office in the late afternoon. The self-driving car appears, and our protagonist begins to converse with the artificial intelligence present in the car. The car's interior is sleek, featuring the same materials found in luxury vehicles already on the market. The brown color evokes safety and a pleasant atmosphere, while the light blue LED line represents technology. To top off the luxury and comfort, it even offers the passenger a cup of hot coffee.
I think it's important to highlight that our protagonist addresses the artificial intelligence as Clara, and later the software also calls our protagonist by name. This also shows how personalized our lives already are, and what we can expect in the future. Through voice and facial recognition, David only needs to say that he wants to go home, but he doesn't need to provide a specific address.
Clara kindly inquires about what is on David's mind during the journey home. At this point, we see memories of his younger self, as he is on the road with his friends, pondering how much his life has changed. He mentions that there was a time when he was still in the driver's seat. When the goal was not just to get from point A to point B, but to enjoy the journey as well. I believe this is the main key thought in the advertisement. Many people think of the car merely as an object whose main purpose is to take us from somewhere to somewhere else. Audi values its vehicles much more than that. In David's case, the car represents freedom, adventure, and the experience he could share with his friends.
It is sunset by the time David arrives home. The environment here perfectly realizes where the buyers of Audi's luxury cars can live. A location outside the city, a modern house with modern furnishings, and a beautiful panorama. Clara is also present here, so the conversation continues. At this point, David realizes that the problem is that he is living his gray everyday life and is missing something. In the garage beneath the house is the product itself, the Audi R8, and sitting in it, we can already see the smile on David's face that reveals what that missing something is.
The product itself is visible for about ten seconds in the one minute and ten second video, but with the cut footage, the sound of the engine, and the background music, that ten seconds is perfectly enough for us to understand what the R8 represents.
For me, the short film is thought-provoking, as we really tend to become jaded in our gray everyday lives. The video shows that work and other obligations take up a large part of our time, so sometimes we need to stop and focus on what is important to us and makes us happy. Sometimes we need to get into our car, hit the road, feel the speed, the power, the control, and for that, nothing is better than the 540 horsepower, 60 million forint wonder machine itself.
Source of images: youtube
