Whatever happened to the old adage of “win races on sundays, sell cars on monday.” Audi has invested so much money in Le Mans – and with excellent results – it makes one wonder why it did not use that to its advantage? How about merging images of the R8 and R10 Le Mans winning cars with the street versions of R8 (S4, S5, etc.) revving about town, diplaying their shapes, handling, and engine notes? Tell people that you make fast, winning, race cars. After all, the street R8 is named after the legendary R8 of Le Mans lore, and yet no one from my Super Bowl party even knew about it.

I’m thinking of something similar to the Ferrari/Shell commercial from last year. Now, that’s a commercial. I still have it saved on my PC.

Sure, they have Bentley. All part of the same company.

The Bridgestone ads were well received. While people were relieved the squirrel was spared, there was considerable grumbling about missing Richard Simmons.

To me, it seems as if there is no air of humility or cheekiness that might make their campaign palatable. Audi has decided to declare themselves the “New Luxury” and then hubristically buy that market position by blowing money like a 19 year old Russian new money oligarch. Ok, so this whole thing might appeal to tasteless 20 and 30 something hedge fund managers, but there aren’t enough of them to matter, Audi doesn’t really make enough products to serve them and that class of individual has very little crossover appeal to a wider audience.

I think someone took a rejected concept from Bentley’s marketing people across the hall to Audi. This commercial would work spectacularly for the Continental GT or Flying Spur – a car that is priced for and appeals to the plutocrats who don’t mind looking down a little bit on the proles. As it stands, it is going to be very difficult to fit Audi’s target image across a product line that spans from the R8 to the A3.

the conclusion is obvious though — it’s a good car and it sells itself, audi. a 30 second spot of the car driving around with no other BS would probably have hit it out of the park.

My wife is over 29 and completely did not get the reference even having seen the movie. Nope, it’s not that good of a commercial. It is not well tied together at all.

I suspect they are going after older people if they were targeting people who would remember The Godfather.

Most advertising is aimed at the average idiot, but that guy cannot afford one of these cars. A person into classic stuff like the movie would rather have a more classic design. I say they missed it bad, REAL bad.

Also, the R8 is a sports car, right? They aren’t supposed to be luxury. They’re supposed to be fast and handle well, which the R8 already does.

It’s aimed at “new money” types that have the money, but not the “pedigree” to be called “wealthy” rather than “rich”…and have heard it enough times to not give a damn anymore. It works for the target audience.

Godfather references are a bit overdone…but at least they didn’t do what every other advertiser has done this year and use an animal of some sort…if I see another effin’ squirrel commercial….

Technik is an abbreviated form of Technologie – and does mean engineering or technology.
But in the German language families Vorsprung unequivocally means a competitive advantage or edge.

I just watched the interview mentioned above, through the Truth through Engineering website. Having worked with large corporations and being quite familiar with their absolute fear of ever not saying only positive things about themselves I could only sense that this was a quite rehearsed bit of truth …

But – to be honest – I feel that Audi has done an enormous job of turning things around and that they are giving both Mercedes and BMW a cold, hard stare.
Only wish they’d figure out what exactly it is they should do with the brand itself. This commercial is down market.

BTW – Audi have a spectacularly effective behind-the-scenes e-marketing programme to select customers in the US. And they have been extremely sensible when it comes to selecting which regions/cities to focus on.

My German is sorely limited, but from what I know:

-”Technik” can translate as either “engineering” or “technology”, but in this context, probably translates more closely as “engineering.” (If the focus was on technology, they could have said “Vorsprung durch Technologie.”)

-”Vorsprung” translates most closely as “advantage,” “head start”, or “progress”, but there are nuances that don’t allow for a direct English equivalent. I gather that “Vorsprung” is a bit loftier than the English-language terms here, hence the use of “truth” as a synonym. Of course, “truth” could be stretching things a bit…

In the UK they didn’t bother with translating the German tag. Audi spots out of Bartle, Bogle & Hegarty would all end with “Vorsprung durch Technik as the Germans say” pronounced in a most un-German manner.

Audis have improved significantly. I was sorely tempted before opting for my Alfa Romeo. But they did manage to disappoint a lot of customers during the 90s, and are paying a price for it still.
When I told my friend I was thinking of an Audi, he launched into an invective filled retelling of all his woes – and his was the top model back then.

I actually laughed out loud at the S5 one. Nice!

Looks to me like: RR Corniche header panel and headlamps, 1960’s Jag Mark XI grille.

1. Scene opens on a smoldering, destroyed M3 next to a toll booth. Camera pans out to show a bunch of RS4s surrounding the blown-out BMW. The RS4s slowly roll away on the fade-out.

2. Scene opens on a guy holding his Lexus key fob in the morning. He walks on to his garage to see that his car is gone, and only a bent Lexus emblem wrapped in a damp newspaper remains. Cut to outside the house as a Q7 speeds away.

3. Scene opens on a guy with a S5 and a CLK on a transport ship. He talks to no one in particular (or maybe to the cars themselves) about how the CLK had given him troubles in the past, but since it was his first luxury car, he decided to forgive and keep the car. He pats the Audi as he walks away into the cabin area of the ship. The commercial then just shows the man’s face through a window as a splash is heard. The scene cuts back to the deck where only the S5 remains.

Audi: Leave the gun…. Take the Quattro.

Audi’s “truth in engineering” slogan is a rough translation of “Vorsprung durch Technik”, which is the slogan that Audi uses in both German- and other English-speaking countries.

As a side note, I don’t understand why they believe that Americans are in need of an English-language slogan, when other English speaking countries don’t get one. If anything, it would communicate the message that this is a German car, and one that has technology. If VAG could explain to VW buyers what “Fahrvergnügen” was, then surely they could explain another German slogan to a more upscale audience of buyers. Perhaps they believe that American buyers of German cars aren’t so smart?

If you want to see an automaker ripping off TTAC, then check out Ford’s webpage “The Truth About Trucks.” Argh.

CONTENT WARNING! In spite of the name, it’s an Audi web site. What role explaining marketing schtick plays in “truth in engineering” (or truth in anything else, for that matter) escapes me completely.

I think I should expand on my thought. What I meant was that the website explains and expands on the brand they’re trying to create. More of an explanation.

I’m very much into online technical detail in web design, so I have to admit that they half win me on presentation alone.

:)

Yep, a friend had one…caught fire in the driveway. After he and his wife finally doused the flames with the garden hose, the wife questioned, “so, we put it out…why?”.

P.S.: If Audi is ripping off the TTAC name for its web site, it shows TTAC must be getting some traction.