What happens if an umbrella and the Škoda Enyaq are dropped in a vacuum chamber at the same time?
They fall slowly together at the same pace, land together intact, and the commercial has its audience’s attention. You see, the Škoda Enyaq is one of the most aerodynamic SUVs in the world and FCB London found a visually arresting way to impress people with the importance of that. The real world isn’t a vacuum. Air gets in the way.
The film’s drama was created by ProdCo directors, Ian Pons Jewell & Yukihiro Shoda, and finessed by FreeFolk’s post-production. The truthfulness of its message was endorsed by science. FCB London took great steps to ensure the experiment was as authentic as possible, even speaking with ex-NASA engineers to understand the exact physics behind it.
The team built a CGI replica of the biggest vacuum chamber in the world, the NASA Space Power Facility in Ohio, United States, and plugged in all of its calculations to see how the Enyaq and the umbrella would realistically fall in that environment.
Owen Lee, chief creative officer at FCB London, added, “Car advertising is full of clichés. Stunningly good-looking people driving on stunning coastal roads. Instead, we took our inspiration from science experiments we all remember from our childhoods. The result? A truly innovative car campaign that cuts through.”
Meredith Kelly, head of global marketing at Škoda, stated, “The new Škoda Enyaq is one of the most aerodynamic SUVs in the world, and we wanted to show people that in a bold, disruptive way that stays true to our spirit of curiosity and exploration.”
Ian Pons Jewel & Yukihiro Shoda, commented, “When we first got the brief, we were blown away by the concept, dropping a car into a vacuum chamber. Ian and my intent was to make it feel real, so we met with an ex-NASA engineer to understand how vacuum chambers work. That research shaped everything, from the air-draining pipes to the rigs and monitoring devices on the walls. The atmosphere on set was incredibly openl everyone, from the crew to the agency to the client, was sharing ideas and building together. It created this beautiful rhythm. I think you can feel that energy in the final film. I’m really grateful to the Škoda team for their trust, and to FCB London for the collaboration throughout the entire process.”
The campaign will run globally for two years across TV, print, digital, social and out of home.
The commercial will run in 60-, 30-, 15-, and 6-second versions with multiple formats for press, OOH and social media.
Credits:
Creative Agency: FCB London
Chief Creative Officer: Owen Lee Creative
Directors: Rob Farren & Ben Perez Usher
Managing Partner: Joe Pirrie Global
Business Director: Kelly St Lawrence
Account Director: Tom Taylor
Account Manager: Nikita Ghai
Director of Production: Nikki Chapman
Executive Producer: Catherine Long
Chief Strategy Officer: Ben Jaffe
Production Company: Prod Co
Directors: Ian Pons Jewell & Yukihiro Shoda
Producer: Amy Appleton
DoP: Octavio Arias
Post Production: Freefolk
Creative Director: Jason Watts
Executive Producer: Fi Kilroe
Producer: Robyn Guthrie
Photographer: Manuel Nagel
Producer: Dawn Moretti
