seducing the uk

Let’s back up to 2014. Audi had overtaken BMW and roared their way into first place for sales. They were selling more cars than anyone else. But they weren’t making as much money and there were some early warning signs as brand desire and tech perceptions lost their shine. We needed a new strategy to fuel brand and business transformation.

Focus on selling higher-specification models. Sell ‘more car’, not just more cars.

A diamond panther was leaping into life in ‘L'Odyssée de Cartier’; chef Massimo Bottura was purposefully plating crushed lemon tarts and Spike Jonze was getting freaky for Kenzo with a woman’s crazed dance out of boring luxury. Modern luxury food, fashion and fragrance brands were getting more playful, creative and thrilling.

We took a leaf out of their playbook, and undid Audi’s top button. We chose our shiniest jewels - the fastest cars with the most intelligent technology - to tell the story of beautiful cars with amazing brains.

First, the beauty. We told the story of Audi’s R8, RS6 and RS3 and dramatised the poetry of performance. Instead of ‘pedal to the metal’, it was anticipation, precision and calm with ads like Birth, Spin and Cooling Down.

Then, onto the brains. The tech that keeps drivers safe, entertained and relaxed needed to feel like magic. We wanted jaws to drop, eyes to widen and breath to be taken away so we did a series of emotional product demonstrations with playful twists, like Supermarket, React, Clowns and Escape.

So, did it work?

Clowns. They’re out there. Everywhere. ‘Replying all’ on email chains. Taking up both armrests. Worse, they’re driving cars. Speeding blindly downhill in reverse. Running red lights. Cutting up traffic. 85% of people insist that they’re better than average drivers. It’s everyone else they’re worried about. So, we sent in the clowns to illustrate Audi’s many clever safety technologies.

By 2017, the UK car market growth had slowed. We needed to sell ‘more car’, not just ‘more cars’ by making Audi’s intelligent tech add-ons feel desirable, distinctive and worth splashing out on. We started with the safety features.

Boring technical demos that felt like public service announcements.

A silly approach to the serious.

Digging into drivers’ attitudes showed that they were willing to pay more for tech that would keep them safe. So we wondered - what’s the most dangerous thing on the roads? The answer: other drivers.

So we sent in the clowns and positioned Audi’s add-ons as the antidote to their careless driving. Audi’s Technology made you ‘Clown proof.’ A simple idea that brought a little magic to the metal.

In a film by award-winning director Ringan Ledwidge, an assortment of clowns navigate the roads with disastrous consequences. Two colourful madcaps blindly speed downhill in reverse. A harlequin cuts up traffic in a lipstick related rear-view mirror incident. Cars collapse. Sparks Fly. General mayhem ensues. All to our reimagined version of ‘Send in the Clowns’ by Stephen Sondheim.