DieHard hopes to jump start battery sales with a campaign for their ‘Platinum’ line, via Young & Rubicam Chicago. The client wanted to play on some of their older campaign work, so they hooked a Platinum up to a bunch of music equipment, flipped it all on, used it for awhile, then started a car.
The concept was first explored with the ad on the bottom of this page. The year was 1975, when DieHard parked a car on a lake in International Falls, MN. We’ve been to International Falls and believe us it’s freezing in winter. Then in April after three months in the cold, the car started after a few cranks.
Thirty-five years later, Y&R updated the idea by powering Seattle entertainer Reggie Watts’ (vocalist, loop sampler, keyboardist) equipment with the Platinum.
As far as we can tell that included a sampling kit, amp, sub, speakers and a wall of lights. Though the lights appear to be LCDs, the impression is made — there are a lot of things plugged into the Platinum. Watts (nice name play, Y&R) does his ditty with all the equipment running, then starts a car with — everything still running — all on the same battery.
For my money, the notion of a powerful battery is less convincing than one that can survive the winter’s cold. These days, batteries aren’t nearly the concern they once were — because up until the late 1970s, cars needed massive battery power to crank over. Now you can basically rub your socks on carpeting and start your Prius.
But is it a miss for Y&R? Considering how much electronic equipment people are cramming into cars these days, probably not. Expect to see a lot of whoop-dees sporting the Platinum. Ah, now I get it.
Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin.
Credits after the jump. Also, we noticed that the YouTube video was posted in November of last year. We’re told the DieHard folks wanted to test it online before running it. Apparently, it was leaked. Currently it’s got 332,125 views.
More: “State Of The City: Chicago Ad Agencies”
Agency: Y&R Chicago
Client: DieHard
CCO: Ken Erke
CW: Todd Taber
ACD/AD: Jamie Overkamp
Director of Integrated Production: Brian Smego
Producer: Jayson Miller
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Henry-Alex Rubin
Executive Producer/Partner: Patrick Milling Smith
Executive Producer/Partner: Brian Carmody
Executive Producer/COO: Lisa Rich
Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
Head of Production: Laura Thoel
Producer: Drew Santarsiero
Editorial: Optimus
Editor: Ruben Vela
Assistant Editor: Jill Dibose
Producer: Tracy Spera
Music: Reggie Watts
Talent: Reggie Watts