Venables Bell + Partners’ “Always On” campaign for Audi of America includes this spot, “Previous Owner,” directed by Sam Pilling of Pulse Films.
“Previous Owner” offers up a distinct Audi take on the current pandemic-fueled luxury housing boom, with a twist on the haunted house genre. A young couple shopping for a new home are willing to overlook some serious red flags when they discover the impressive RS Q8 parked in the garage and learn that the house “comes with everything you see.”
This campaign additionally marks the launch of the new voice of Audi for all marketing efforts in the U.S., actress Nkeki Obi-Melekwe.
Credits
Client Audi of America Agency Venables Bell + Partners Paul Venables, founder, chairman; Will McGinness, partner, executive creative director; Matt Miller, Matt Keats, creative directors; Allie Nordstrom, Elliot Nordstrom, associate creative directors; Lachlan Palmer Hubbard, sr. art director; Jake Reilly, sr. copywriter; Hilary Coate, director of integrated production; Melanie Fedunok, executive producer; Zach Zutler, producer; Mike Riley, group strategy director; Cody Levin, strategy director; Gabi Levi, sr. strategist. Production Pulse Films Sam Pilling, director; Davud Karbassioun, global president of commercials; Hillary Rogers, managing director/exec producer; Nick Fuller, head of production; Adriana Debada Mora, producer; Pat Scola, DP; Chris Jones, production designer; Jennifer Johnson, costume designer. Editorial Exile Shane Reid, editor; Ersin Dogruer, assistant editor; CL Kumpata, exec producer; Jennifer Locke, head of production; Michael Miller, sr. producer. VFX, Color Grade & Finish Blacksmith Gavin Miljkovich, shoot supervisor; Iwan Zwarts, lead compositor; Mikey Pehanich, colorist; Ashley Goodwin, VFX producer; Charlotte Arnold, exec producer. Sound Design Gus Koven, sound designer. Audio Post Matt Keith, mixer; Brad Beasley, assistant mixer.
Apple’s holiday ad--“Heartstrings,” launched ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities--introduces us to a father with mild-moderate hearing loss. But thanks to the clinical grade Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2, he can now hear his daughter playing the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young classic “Our House” on her new guitar, just unwrapped on Christmas morning.
The breakthrough ability to hear clearly is all the more impactful in that it comes after we journey with the dad down memory lane as he recalls his daughter’s first guitar, her birthday, her first day of school--though the sound of his flashbacks is muffled. But once he activates the Hearing Aid feature, dad can properly hear his daughter in the present--and with that even the memories can be heard clearly.
“Heartstrings” was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of production house SMUGGLER for TBWAMedia Arts Lab Los Angeles, with sound design by three-time Oscar winner Paul N.J. Ottoson who helps us experience the father’s hearing loss and then its restoration. (Ottoson won two Oscars for The Hurt Locker--for best sound mixing and best sound mixing--and another for best sound editing for Zero Dark Thirty.) Read More
