It looks as though documentary campaigns are going to give VR a run for its money as the #1 ad-trend of 2016. Dirt vs Road is the documentary for Mercedes-Benz Vito, in which Dirt Wars UK champion, Daryl Brown, a mountain biker, takes on the sport of British Cycling Elite World Series champion, Yanto Barker, a road cyclist – and vice versa.
It is the hero film in the campaign by The&Partnership’s content agency partner, AllTogetherNow.
The idea is to highlight the versatility of the new Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport, which plays a role in the film and is given a credit at its end in the form of a statement, Mercedes-Benz Vans. Born to Run.
The agency also hopes to engage a broader audience of 25 to 55 year old sports lovers than would otherwise consider a Mercedes van.
The film, that was shot in the countryside of Kent, follows road cyclist Barker as he tries down-hill mountain biking for the first time, taking on trails, jumps downhill dirt tracks at Penshurst Off-Road Cycling, to match the prowess of Dirt Wars Champion Brown. Barker then takes Brown to York’s Hill, one of the UK’s ten steepest hills, for his first hill-climbing attempt. The pair work on breaking the five minute, 27 second record for the hill’s fastest ever ascent. Ultimately Barker does so by 17 seconds.
The campaign will continue through to July and will includes a series of two short films, how to videos, bite-size edits, teaser content, behind-the-scenes imagery and GoPro footage that will be released across Mercedes-Benz Vans’ Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages. All content will direct users to the Mercedes-Benz Vans website, where they can learn more about the product.
Daniel Evans, creative director at AllTogetherNow, noted, “Dirt vs Road is a great evolution of our previous extreme-sports content for Mercedes-Benz Vans. The unscripted narrative between Yanto and Daryl, and the juxtaposition of the two journeys they take together – following each other out of their comfort zones – is a beautifully authentic way of raising awareness of the versatility of the new Vito Sport.”
The campaign was created by Craig Priestley at AllTogetherNow, and directed by Patrick Schulenberg through Oliver’s Island.
