It seems that all those rumours about Elvis being alive is true. Naa just joking with ya. It's an Elvis fan which certainly needs lessons in driving as he doesn't know there is a clutch you have to press before changing gears.
The ad was created in the famous Cape somewhere around the mountains and desert there for the international market (devised by Saatchi & Saatchi Frankfurt)which apparently has received a huge response and demand over a certain "toy" in the ad. Here's a quick breakdown of it. The fan is driving along listening to his great hits tape and enjoying his little Elvis man stuck to the windscreen and whenever he changed gears, no sorry, ripped through from 4th to 5th the little Elvis shook his pelvis and this delighted Elvis-wannabe until his gear box went bag and he had to pull over to the side of the road where he later luckily got a lift from a lady in her new Audi A4. You can tell it's the Cape and not Natal as if it was then it would have been an advert for a new taxi! The lady then welcomes his music and he sticks his little man to the window and waits to get all shook up over his response to the gear changes but nothing happens as it's Audi's new seamless automatic transmission which doesn't cause any whip-lashings from the gears. The fan then looks rather upset over getting into the Audi and thinks he should've waited for a taxi and risked it but when the lady notices his sad face and taps little Elvis' belly which makes the fan happy once again and gets him back into the rocking routine. If you want to see the advert right now or if you haven't paid your TV license go to www.audi.co.za and view it there.
Apparently the toy has made many fans of the advert (and I'm sure of Elvis) go crazy over it and has formed a sort of cult following in Germany. They queued outside Audi's headquarters wanting a little Elvis to stick on their cars, hopefully not for their new Audi as then there will be a rise in road accidents as one hand will always have to be off the wheel to tap little Elvis' belly. What I last heard was that Audi is now manufacturing the little guy to be sold soon.
Overall the advert is great and places the humour in the right spot including the music they chose. I've sure sales will go up for their new seamless transmission cars including a double whammy with the little toy.
The ad gets the message across perfectly and certainly has people talking about it. Great job guys and girls, the ad also won the following:
Cannes Lions - International Advertisng Festival, 2001 (Silver Lion)
The Cresta Awards, 2001 (Grand Prix).
Rating: 9/10
