Fiat’s Abarth 500 “Too Fast to Follow” on Twitter

Fiat Abarth 500 - Too Fast to Follow on Twitter

While certainly not the most important metric of social media success, increasing the number of followers is an important pursuit for a lot of Twitter users and brands. Some Twitter users have even gone to the social media black market to buy large blocks of fake users to increase their follower number.

It’s quite the opposite strategy with Fiat Germany, who aren’t interested in follower numbers at all for the Fiat Abarth 500 Twitter profile. To reinforce the messaging that the car is “Too Fast to Follow”, (top speed is 205 km/h) and contravening everything about the way social media should work, you cannot even follow the account. Yes, you can press the ‘follow’ button, but in moments you will be blocked keeping their follower account steady at “0”.

[via Mdelmas]

Germany

Actress Surprised When Toyota RAV-4 Test-Drive Goes Off-Road

Toyota Belgium Takes Actress on Offroad Test Drive

It looks like the use of prank videos in online advertising rages on. Here’s yet another example, this time created by Brussels agency Happiness for Toyota Belgium.

One difference is this clip does disclose up front that the woman is an actress, but that she was told that she would be recording a normal testimonial of a test drive with a Toyota RAV4. Shortly after the test drive gets underway, the driver veers off the cobblestone streets into a construction site for an off-road test of the RAV-4’s performance, handling and suspension abilities.

Despite the quick edits and the reactions of the actress to make things look exciting, the whole production comes off as safe.

[via Creative Guerilla Marketing]

Belgium

MINI Mexico Shocks Women With Bathroom Airbag Stunt

MINI Mexico - Makeup Crash Stunt

The stakes keep rising in the competition to attract people’s attention online. Agencies around the world continue to release videos featuring (supposedly) unsuspecting people reacting to elaborately orchestrated pranks.

In this example created by Publicis for MINI Mexico, they hope to raise awareness of the danger of distracted drivers, particularly among women who apply makeup while driving. Women who stopped to freshen their makeup, screamed in shock when an airbag exploded out of the specially rigged soap dispenser.

The clip attempts to make a tenuous connection between data like “6 out of 10 women wouldn’t dream of going to work without makeup” and “1 out of 4 believe that not wearing makeup could cost them a promotion” to make the conclusion that that is why some women apply makeup while driving. Or maybe it’s not such a far-fetched thought, as a 2009 UK study found that more than 1 in 5 women drivers admitted to having applied cosmetics while driving.

[via Design Taxi]

Mexico

Maserati Quattroporte Powers New Collection of Tracks from Producer Howie B

Maserati Seven Notes World Tour with Howie B

Luxury Italian car-maker Maserati has partnered up with British loudspeaker company Bowers & Wilkins to promote the new Quattroporte. The Quattroporte, which starts at USD $125,000, is the first to feature an integrated Bowers & Wilkins audio system.

Producer Howie B recorded the sounds of the car’s engine at seven different RPM settings. He then went to work to at the legendary Abbey Road Studios to combine the engine sounds with more traditional instruments and the vocals of Liverpool-based All We Are to create ‘Seven Notes’, a collection of audio tracks available to download at SevenNotes.com.

Maserati is bringing the car and a ‘Seven Notes’ interactive music installation along for a tour around the world starting in Dubai on May 24, before heading on to Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, before wrapping up in London on July 17. Each stop on the tour will feature a live performance of the Seven Notes tracks by Howie B with the support of a local DJ.

Seven Notes World Tour

Seven Notes: Perfection of design

[via The Drum]

UK

Audi Pits New Spock Against Classic Spock in “The Challenge”

Audi America - Spock vs Spock Challenge

While Mazda may have the official tie-in with the new Star Trek movie Into Darkness, it’s Audi — apparently not satisfied to be Tony Stark’s commuting vehicle — that may have Trekkies hot and bothered by pitting “newbie Spock” Zachary Quinto against “classic Spock” Leonard Nimoy in a new spot dubbed ‘The Challenge’.

In the clip Quinto challenges Nimoy to a round of golf, and whoever arrives at the club last, gets stuck buying lunch. The video unfolds as a “not-so-subtle” comparison of Quinto’s Audi S7 versus Spock’s Mercedes. Nimoy even sings along to a few lines from his 1967 recording of “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” on the way.

The ad was directed by comedy team Paul W. Downs & Lucia Aniello, aka Paulilu — the creative team behind the Dollar Shave Club ad – and produced by PMK*BNC.

[via Ad Age]

USA

Parkour Athletes Twist and Tumble In Land Rover-less Ad

Land Rover - Above and Beyond - Parkour

The new ad for Land Rover doesn’t show even a glimpse of any of the carmaker’s off-road vehicles. Instead, it features the skills of four parkour athletes from Tempest Free Running demonstrating through their agility how the Land Rover can overcome the challenges of rugged terrain.

The ad was created by Young & Rubicam, New York, and directed by Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks. As AdWeek pointed out, Murro produced a similarly inspired ad for Saturn in 2002 titled ‘Sheet Metal‘, in which humans took the place of cars.

USA

Nissan Brings Electric-Vehicle Charging Stations to SimCity

Nissan LEAF Simcity EV Charging Stations

Electronic Arts’ SimCity has partnered with Nissan to bring LEAF Electric Vehicle Charging Stations to the virtual streets of it’s players’ towns.

Players are free to download and install up to five of the branded charging stations for the next six months. The Charging Stations provide ‘happiness’ to the Sims and nearby businesses.

“Nissan remains committed to finding innovative ways to promote the development of EV infrastructure and to bringing practical, affordable electric vehicles to markets throughout the United States,” said Jon Brancheau, VP of marketing, Nissan North America.

[via CarScoops]

USA

Innocean and Hyundai Draw Scorn for Using Suicide Attempt in Car Ad

Hyundai Pipe Job

Last week when I first saw the Hyundai ad titled “Pipe Job” (embedded below), I bookmarked it and put it aside with the thought of looking up more details later.

I thought that somehow this had to be some kind of terrible inside joke, and not a “real” ad. Who would even think to try to sell the car’s primary selling feature of 100% water emissions by showing a man failing to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Was it “edgy”? Was it shocking? Yes and yes. Did it make my stomach turn? Oh, hell yes!

Maybe the agency’s creative minds were sparked by the scene in Mad Men when Lane Pryce planned suicide failed due to the unreliability of the Jaguar’s ignition. Or maybe they just totally swiped the whole idea from Citroën’s 2002 suicide ad (thanks AdLand for re-referencing).

Or, was this another terribly misguided creative exercise like JWT India’s Ford Figo mockups, showing women bound and gagged in the back of a car?

While it’s conceivable that the idea may have popped up in a brainstorming meeting (I’ve been in enough of those), it’s tough to imagine it being worked into a pitch, being approved by the client and working it’s way through an expensive production process without somebody throwing up their arms and going, “What in holy freaking fuck are we doing here?”

Outrage over the ad rose to a whole new level today with a heartbreaking blog post titled “An open letter to Innocean and Hyundai“, by London freelance copywriter Holly Brockwell. Holly wrote of her reaction to the ad, and how it brought back the terrible memories surrounding her own father’s suicide in a car.

She went on to write, “As an advertising creative, I would like to congratulate you on achieving the visceral reaction we all hope for. On prompting me to share it on my Twitter page and my blog. I would not like to congratulate you on making me cry for my dad.” Ending with, “My dad never drove a Hyundai. Thanks to you, neither will I.”

A Hyundai spokesman was quoted in an article on The Independent as saying, “There’s no plan to use [the advert] in any of our advertising or marketing and it has been taken down.”

As with anything posted on the web, the ad had already been reposted on dozens of YouTube channels.

Hanna-Barbera’s ‘Wacky Races’ Brought to Life in Ad for Peugeot 208

Peugeot Brazil - Wacky Races

Since 1956, the animation studios of Hanna-Barbera has produced dozens of classic animated cartoon series such as Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby Doo and dozens more. In 1968 the studio produced ‘Wacky Races‘, a cartoon series featuring 11 different race teams competing for the title of “World’s Wackiest Racer.”

From the dragster-styled ‘Turbo Terrific’ driven by Peter Perfect, to the #00 Mean Machine driven by Dick Dastardly, each one of the 11 vehicles was created with it’s own unique style and extra features.

The wacky vehicles featured in the show are brought to life in a new TV commercial playing in Brazil for the Peugeot 206. In the ad the driver of the Peugeot uses the car features to avoid the mayhem caused by the wacky race teams, eventually arriving to offer timely aid to Penelope Pitstop.

The ad conceived by Young & Rubican, was filmed in Spain and directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet for Partizan.

Brazil

Octopus Bonds with Boy in Quirky Mitsubishi Brazil TV Spot

Mitsubishi ASX Octopus

In a quirky new spot for the Mitsubishi Brazil, ad agency Africa and director Martin Hodara follows the story of a boy who grows up with an octopus attached to his head.

The story follows the boy through his teen years to adulthood, until one day the octopus spots a Mitsubishi ASX and makes the leap, leaving the man with a great head of hair somehow (no suction prints). I’m thinking he’ll regret the hasty decision in a few miles.

[via Ads of the World]

Brazil