The first presidential debate went to air on Monday, September 26. Audi (Venables Bell & Partners) and Tecate Beer (Saatchi & Saatchi New York) have to get top marks for making the most of that huge (approximately 80 million people) audience opportunity.
Audi’s commercial, Duel, aired during the telecast. It’s a stunningly filmed, Hollywood blockbuster style, action-packed man vs woman battle – viewed backwards. Viewed backwards so that the prize for which they are fighting is revealed last. It turns out that the pair are valets and the prize is driving an Audi RS 7.
The end title reads, Beautiful things are worth fighting for. Choose the next driver wisely.
The ad was directed by Rattling Stick director, Ringan Ledwidge, a recent recipient of the Chairman’s Award at the British Arrows, the #1 ranking as UK’s No1 Director by Campaign Magazine (for the third time) and the #2 Most Awarded Director in the world by the Gunn Report.
The spot will air during all three presidential debates.
Audi has definitely been giving its competitors something to worry about with its strikingly different ad campaigns this past month.
Audi & Airbnb: Is the Nevada Desert your ultimate getaway weekend?
Credits
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Founder & chairman: Paul Venables
Partner & executive creative director: Will McGinness
Creative directors: Justin Moore & Erich Pfeifer
Associate creative directors: Matt Keats (copywriter) & Matt Miller (art director)
Director of integrated production: Craig Allen
Senior producer: Matt Flaker
Producer: Gabby Gardner
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Ringan Ledwidge
DoP: Greig Fraser
Head of production: Richard McIntosh
Executive producers: Joe Biggins & Jeff Shupe
Line producer: Greg Haggart
Stunt coordinator: Robert Alonzo
Production designer: K.K. Barrett
Editing: Work Editorial
Music: Woodwork Music
Sound Design & Final Mix: The Sound Lab at Technicolor
VFX: The Mill
Saatchi & Saatchi New York’s work for Tecate beer is not an epic production, but it does involved an epic wall.
The voiceover kicks off the ad with the proclamation, The time has come for a wall, a tremendous wall. The Tecate Beer Wall is a parody of Trump’s wall. It’s knee high – just the right height for placing your Tecate beer on. It’s meant to bring together people on both sides of it.
The tactical ad is part of Tecate’s Born Bold campaign and was shot outside Tecate, Mexico, the border town that was the beer’s birthplace in 1955.
Tecate Beer Wall went to air on Fox News, Univision and Telemundo during the coverage of the presidential debate. The ad is Tecate’s first effort to expand beyond its core Hispanic audience by targeting a more general market.
Jeep is also airing a “united America” ad. Its ad, Free To Be, by McGarryBowen features diverse Americans and two 2017 Jeep models (Grand Cherokee Summit and Trailhawk), and ends with the message, “what unites us is stronger than what divides us.” The ad uses the song, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, to underline its message – that was recorded by Yusuf when he was Cat Stevens. The ad made its debut on The Big Bang Theory on CBS before it ran again during the post-debate coverage on Fox News and MSNBC.
