Tribal Worldwide found a unique way to promote the Volkswagen Passat’s parking assist feature in its latest ad for the brand.
The agency worked with Andy Serkis’ Imaginarium Studios on a series of four spots for the brand. “Park Assist,” the first of these (featured above), visualizes the vehicle’s technology, making it appear as if the viewer is seeing things through the car’s point of view, before returning to the vehicle’s proud owner and his rather impressed passenger. To achieve the effect, The Drum explains, the team “rigged a Passat with infrared cameras which collected positional data that was translated in real time and used to create a CGI environment around the car.” The result is impressive, visually striking and a nice change of pace for the brand, which has traditionally sold itself on its durability, reliability and affordability rather than its technological features.
“The [technology focus] is where the brand is right now,” Silke Anderson, Volkswagen UK communications manager, told The Drum. “Innovation has always been core to everything that we do and with the Passat so full of technology we felt it was the perfect opportunity to bring this tech to life and get people talking about it in an excited way. Unless you drive the car then it’s hard to visualise how the systems and the sensors are working.”