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To celebrate the feel good season of the holidays, Audi of America has come forth with a gift to fans – a commercial spot laden with heritage, animated in stop motion and laid down over a soundtrack of exhaust notes and Andy Williams’ rendition of It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Skipping the more easily produced and likely predictable and ubiquitous medium of A.I. is notable here. Honestly, how many shorts do we need of Santa jumping up and down on top of fill-in-the-blank car as he tries to jam it down a random chimney?
Audi describes their stop motion creation as “made with love” – like a prized family cookies recipe perhaps. In this case, it’s painstaking placement to capture each one of those shots and that family cookie recipe includes an impressive depth of brand lore – from obscure cars such as the 100 Coupé S to recreating the 1986 Audi Ski Jump commercial in gingerbread.
The creative team used a mix 1:64 scale models (largely Hot Wheels) with more detailed 1:43 scale models. Scale nerds will note that it’s artfully done. You don’t really notice the shift from one to the other.
Emphasizing the stop motion theme is also the appearance of a reindeer that looks a lot like the Clarice character from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the iconic Christmas special also made with stop motion..
It’s worth noting, there are two versions of this commercial (31 seconds and 1 minute 43 seconds) and that’s likely prioritized for paid placement with limited length, and YouTube channel version that shares no run time restrictions. It also includes a lot more incredible shots like the quattro A2 rally car jump shot seen above.
Chatting unofficially over lunch with some friends from Audi recently, I was given a hint that something was coming though they wouldn’t divulge what it was. What they would share was that they were excited for the underlying theme of authenticity on display.
Having watched the commercial now, I understand their excitement. Of course, this is a Christmas themed spot but the easter eggs are everywhere and I’m guessing enthusiasts are fine with that.
PHOTO GALLERY
