— AUTOMOTIVE CAMPAIGN

Audi Dimension R8

Online campaign for the worldwide
launch of AUDI’s first super sportscar R8.

— CORE INFO

Date2006
ClientAUDI AG
agencyARGONAUTEN G2

TASKS
ART DIRECTION / LEAD DESIGN
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

 — PROJECT DESCRIPTION

One of the most successful project I ever worked on: The online campaign for the 2006 launch of the new AUDI R8. While working at Argonauten G2, Berlin, we had the chance to pitch for that mouth-watering project. We won the pitch by following the same strategy as we did forthe final launch version. The strategy: No long copies, no complex structure of the site – just the focus on the Beauty in form of a interactive movie.

Since we weren’t delivered with any campaign material this time, we had to generate our own. RTT – a CGI firm specialized in realistic carrendering – was deeply involved in the storyline and put their best staff on the schedule. As always, timing was short, so we needed to make sure, that parallel working would seamlessly be possible. The amazing soundtrack made the whole experince complete.

All started by scripting a cinematic plot around the car, driving a few fictive scenarios representing the DNA of the car: it’s racing heritage, design, performance. A TV-comercial with a shattered view on a city gave us the initial idea to seamlessly combine the different locations and it’s looks. We also insited to play with speed and time. This resulted in the so called “bullet-time” transitions, where the user has the option to pause the movie and to dive into deeper information.

As the client AUDI always insist on an accurate and realistic apperance of their car, the CGI output was quite a challenge. Of course, all final rendering processes require a very long time. Therefore we worked with a sequence of single shots, a so called animatic. This gave us the possibility not only to get all the coordination with the client and product maketing done, but also to start flash production and programming at the same time.

 — FINAL SCREENS

 — PROJECT INSIGHT

NAILING IT.
OR: HOW TO WIN A PITCH WITHIN 1.5 MINUTES

I can still vividly recall the first reaction of the Audi client during the pitch presentation: "Where the hell did you get the 3D car model from?" (in a heavy Bavarian dialect) followed by  "Can I see this again?"

A strong field of agency competitors lined up, we really wanted to win this pitch and took full risk : No long copy, no complex website structure – only pure single focus on the product in its full beauty of form –realized through an interactive film clip.

Making a virtue out of necessity: as the car was still in development at this point of time and we had no campaign material we could use, we  had to create all content ourselves. We took a 99$ 3D stock model of the LeMans car model study and developed an interactive motion design dummy, which got the client hooked.

The unique mix of mystical artificial look, the interplay of speed, time and the energetic soundtrack hit the mark.
Looking at the astonished face of the client, I could tell: We nailed it!

My insight: Always stick to a strong idea with a great visual impact  (even when it is "just" a movie, like in this case...)
Try to prototype your conceptual vision the best you can and pay  attention to all the little details.

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