Yesterday, Chad went into full berserker mode over the Paul Harvey voiced Ram “farmer” commercial during the Super Bowl. I think I shared the same reaction as many other people by being emotionally moved by the two minute spot. I was first enthralled with Harvey’s iconic tones and imagery the ad presented. After it was over, I marveled at the creativity of the ad agency. I envisioned someone, maybe a younger person with some sense of cultural knowledge and history pitching a powerful Paul Harvey voice over contrasted with archetypal images of American farmers. I was proud of whoever that young buck was. Then it came to light that this was basically an upscale version of a million hit YouTube video made by an organization that supports American farmers.

To be clear, my disappointment wasn’t centered around the farmers being ripped off as they apparently consented to this being done or are at least reaping some benefit from it. I was super disappointed that this powerful, moving piece of work was nothing but a frigging retread. It also made me immediately appreciate what is actually the best automotive ad of the Super Bowl and that was the Audi “prom” spot that ran in the first quarter. Why was it the best? Firstly because it was 100% original. Secondly because it spoke to how cars speak to us on a very different level than any other machine we interact with on a daily basis. Thirdly because it told a great story and was entertaining.

I have to imagine that during the days of Jim Wangers and others, people would have been thrown out of buildings at GM and Chrysler if their biggest, most expensive piece of creative advertising for the year was derived from a filmstrip their kid watched at a 4H meeting. After all, it was Pontiac who aired the famous “Humbler” ad during Super Bowl IV that showed a Pontiac GTO equipped with factory installed vacuum operated exhaust cut outs trolling a drive in restaurant for a street race. The ad really pissed off GM executives who found it to be over the top and feared backlash from an insurance industry they were already battling with over muscle cars. The ad was pulled and only 260 or so GTOs left the factory with the vacuum cutouts.

Believe it or not, that GTO ad and the Audi ad share a ton of similarities. Firstly in the Audi ad, there is some great imagery and sound. When the kid pops the headlights on in the garage we get a quick look at the bad ass LED lights on the front of the car and that menacing look sets the tone. We see the lights again when he pulls to a stoplight. After his moment of glory at the prom we hear the car’s aggressive exhaust tone as he’s drives down an empty highway and belts out a rebel yell. The overall message is pretty clear here. Drive an S6 and get your mojo working. Guess what the message was in the GTO ad? Drive a “Humbler” and be a bad ass. Same story, same message, same guttural feelings that make us love cars and love driving cars.  The best part is that the whole thing was actually created from scratch, not gleaned from a well intentioned YouTube video. I’ll save my opinions about what Harvey would have thought about the two films (Ok I won’t. I bet he would have loved the YouTube version and disliked the Ram version).

The greatest automotive ad of all time ran just once in 1915. It was an ad for Cadillac cars and it was penned by Theodore MacManus. The ad did not mention Cadillac once, it was a full page of text with the title, “The Penalty of Leadership”. It is in many ways the best creative ad of all time. It does all the things the Ram ad did but it did so on its own merits. Nothing was sampled. Nothing was repurposed. Just the opposite. This thing has been referenced, sampled, and rewritten hundreds of times over the years.

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  I am sure that there was lots of back slapping, clinking champagne glasses, and expensive cigars smoked by the team that made the Ram truck ad. Were they consumed in celebration of a job well done, a gag well played, or a check easily cashed? That’s something we’ll never know. The men and women at the agency that created the Audi ad came away with something to celebrate. A great piece of short film making that told a story that was funny, poignant, memorable, and connected to the viewer at a basic emotional level. Also, they reached me, an enthusiast driver on a great level because I understood that the S6 looks mean, sounds bad ass, and will activate all those mental pleasure centers gearheads get off on behind the wheel.

Paul Harvey’s voice instantly triggered fond childhood memories of my grandmother and grandfather. When I was little, I remember eating canned spaghetti with bread and butter for lunch and listen to the guy with the quirky voice read the news at noon. When I grew old enough to spend some time working with my dad and grandfather, I remember sitting on a bundle of 2x4s and eating my lunch as we all quietly listened to Paul Harvey’s daily broadcast on WBZ-AM radio. Grandpa sipping his hot chocolate out of a thermos during the winter months and dad munching a sandwich.

I can almost hear Harvey’s voice with an amused tone, telling the story of the Ram ad and how its acclaimed originality and spirit were the groundwork of someone else. Those were the kind of stories he loved to tell.

…..Good day.

                                              PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE AUDI PROM SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL