Have your eyeballs been popping out of their sockets lately? Is steam pouring out of your ears? No? Just wait till you see Mercedes-Benz’s new C-Class. According to "Aaooga," one of three new ads trumpeting the 2001 model, things get pretty cartoonish when the C-Class passes by.
Created by agency Merkley Newman Harty (MNH), New York, and directed by Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), the :60 blends elegant live action sequences with whimsical, Tex Avery-inspired animation. As a Mercedes sedan drives through town, onlookers reveal their longing in a variety of cel and CG ways. The ad, which broke on September 15, is paired with a re-recording of Charles Trenet’s "Tombe du Ciel," an orchestral piece originally recorded in 1947.
"Aaooga" opens as a stylish woman glimpses the car’s reflection in her compact mirror. As she watches the sedan move slowly along the street, the pupils of her eyes morph into heart shapes. Then the car passes a gentleman who swoons and floats up in the air, Cupid-like, ears wiggling. Even inanimate objects are not immune, as a smitten parking meter sways toward the passing car, then releases a medley of coins.
As the sedan passes a store’s display window, a dozen teapots dance, steam and whistle. The ears of three Dalmatians stand on end, and their owner, clad in a polka-dot skirt, watches as the dots turn into hearts and drift up toward the sky. As the sedan rolls past a café, a sophisticated couple’s eyes pop out of their sockets as if on springs, then a traffic cop’s face reddens and steam pours from his ears. Finally, a row of fire hydrants burst one after another, releasing tall sprays of water. The tag ("The new C. Live. A lot.") is followed by the Mercedes logo and a supered notice that the starting price is around $30,000.
"It’s a stunning car and we wanted to communicate that," explained MNH copywriter Scott Zacaroli. "But we also wanted to be a little un-Mercedes, because the C-Class is going to appeal to the non-typical Mercedes driver. It’s very reasonably priced, but it’s a bona fide Mercedes."
To test the concept of mixing elegance and classic animation, explained MNH art director Bryan Burlison, on a computer they overlaid some photographs by legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon with Tex Avery animation sequences. "We wanted to make it like an elegant romantic comedy," he said.
Garcia was drawn to that contrast. "I like the basic concept of mixing Tex Avery and Richard Avedon, fashion and animation, the elegant image and the exaggerated animation," the director explained. According to MNH producer Chris Ott, the agency knew it had found the right helmer when staffers came across "Sensations," a Jaguar spot that Garcia directed for Ogilvy & Mather, New York. "We saw so many effect-y reels that were kind of commercial looking," recounted Ott. "But then we saw this Jaguar stuff; it has beautiful effects, but they were elegant and sophisticated. We knew that was the way to go. Originally we were going to go more campy [with the effects], but we decided this [understatement] felt better."
The creative team originally planned to shoot in New York. But because of the actors’ strike against the ad industry, Ott said they began exploring other locations and ended up in Prague. "It’s an incredibly beautiful city," she said. Added Zacaroli, "It’s one of the most preserved cities. You can literally point the camera in any direction."
After an extensive casting process in Prague, Rome and Paris, filming on the four-day shoot got underway with the help of Prague-based production services firm Bohemian Productions. Dramatic changes in the weather and a lot of rain proved challenging, however; the crew clocked 17 hours the first day, and things didn’t improve much as the days wore on.
Once production wrapped in Prague, the crew moved to London where postproduction began at The Mill. Garcia first edited the spot, which provided the basic structure for the animation sequences. "It’s like the film was a canvas that we started out with," said Zacaroli.
Since he’d been awarded the assignment, Garcia had been collaborating with animation directors Oscar Grillo and Ted Rockley of Klacto Animation, London, to design a look and style for the animation sequences. The finished spot blends CGI and traditional cel animation.
"In each scene we had a real reference, such as the teapots," Garcia explained. "We shot each scene from different angles so the CGI people would have an idea about texture. Then we modeled the object in CG and replaced [the real object] in post. We also used some traditional animation techniques."
The sequence in which a woman’s eyes become heart-shaped was one of the most difficult, according to Burlison. "At first, we tried making the eyes roll like slot machines, but that made her look possessed," he said. "Then we tried having one eye running over to the other eye, but that just made her look extremely cross-eyed. It’s really difficult when you fool with eyes."
Adding to the visual elements of the film is the original re-recording of "Tombe du Ciel." London-based Amber Music assembled a full orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, London, for the taping. Analog rather than digital equipment was used for the recording, so as to underscore what era the song comes from. Moreover, instruments and microphones from the 1940s were used. The only catch was that many musicians today aren’t familiar with those instruments. "I walked into the session and all the musicians were 75 years old," recalled Ott. "One was Frank Sinatra’s violinist."
