All the sleek, polished visual elements of luxury car launches. But this commercial promoting the “next disruptor in luxury travel” isn’t for a car. It’s for rail. Mekanism has used the tropes of premium car culture – including the modern, percussive score providing high-energy swagger and tech-forward visual effects to animate the story – to introduce Amtrak’s NextGen Acela to an audience stuck on using cars.  

The commercial, directed by Warner Shaw and produced by Stept Studios, opens on a figure in all black traversing a vast salt flat, set to a tech-heavy hip-hop score, mirroring performance car ads. As the beat builds, the environment comes alive with ethereal, sparkling particles that begin to materialize into the sleek components of the train, literally constructing the NextGen Acela around the character in real-time.

As the track drops, the film uses the high-gloss language of a luxury vehicle reveal, with a narrator highlighting “electrifying speed” and the “smoothest ride on the road.” It is only in the final frames that this next gen vehicle is revealed as a train, pivoting from the traditional automotive “road” narrative to the efficiency of the rails.

The campaign, The Build, aims to alter the “car-first” mentality of the US Northeast with its high-gloss, high-contrast environment, presenting the NextGen Acela as the ultimate solution to the headaches of tolls, parking, potholes, and traffic. 

Built from real technical specs and brought to life through VFX, the film keeps the integrity of the train’s design while spotlighting its engineering innovation. Amtrak partnered with VFX company, Artjail, to ensure that the engineering and technology behind the real trains came to life in the film, all without the use of AI.

The partnership marks Mekanism’s third year as Amtrak’s creative AOR, and is the second major brand push since the Retrain Travel launch in October 2024, positioning Amtrak as an innovative leader and premium travel choice. Since the platform’s inception, Amtrak has seen record-breaking ridership and revenue throughout 2025 and is on track to break those records in 2026.

The first spot aired on May 2 during the Kentucky Derby, with the full campaign live May 4 across linear TV (NBA playoffs and other live sporting events), programmatic CTV/OLV (Netflix, HBO, Hulu), programmatic audio, Meta, Reddit, digital display, and various in-station displays across the Northeast. 

“All of the premium elements and benefits of our NextGen Acela fleet are reflected in The Build to highlight what makes train travel so great,” said Amtrak executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Eliot Hamlisch. “We want this spot to remind customers that there’s a better way to travel between Washington, DC and Boston when ‘The Build’ invites and inspires customers that they can safely and comfortably speed past the cars stuck in traffic on I-95 and embrace some time for themselves.”

“In our third year as Amtrak’s creative partner, we wanted to do something more than just show a new train,” added Jason Harris, CEO of Mekanism. “We wanted to reframe the visual elements of the ultimate competitor: the car. The NextGen Acela is more than a transit update, and this campaign mirrors that sleek, disruptive energy.”