Audi softens theme for £3m A6 Avant push

By Alex Brownsell, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 08:30AM

Audi has created a fantasy realm for its £3m campaign for the A6 Avant estate, to promote the car's light and agile properties.

Audi: readies first campaign under Dominic Chambers, the new UK head of marketing

The campaign, the first to be overseen by new UK head of marketing, Dominic Chambers, moves away from a more realistic style of animation used in campaigns for its A7 Sportback and to promote its Le Mans driver Allan McNish.

In its place, the new campaign for A6 Avant, by BBH, depicts a fantasy world featuring a metallic "Audi hummingbird", which is able to nimbly fly among trees, flowers and fauna made from petrol pumps, road signs and traffic cones.

The campaign aims to emphasise the advantages of the model's new "ultra-lightweight" construction.

The TV ad, directed by Oscar-nominated Daniel Barber, will be accompanied by the soundtrack of Johann Strauss' 'Open Road', sung by American baritone John Charles Thomas.

Activity launches on 1 October with a 60-second version screening during the Rugby World Cup match between England v Scotland on ITV1. Media planning is by Mediacom

Chambers said: "The ad challenges the normal conventions of automotive marketing and engages consumers with a charming animation that highlights Audi innovation.

"The animation is entertaining and enchanting, and effortlessly gets over the key message that the lighter you are, the more agile you become."

Former Vodafone and LG marketer Chambers joined the manufacturer in July. Chambers, who left LG at the end of last year, replaced Peter Duffy, who departed to become marketing director at easyJet.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk