In 2012, a creative director fell into Herman Melville’s 720-page trap and reimagined Ahab as a tow truck driver, madly chasing his white whale, an Audi Quattro. “Sometimes, I actually think it’s mocking me,” Ahab says in a gruff voice, anxiously twisting his thermos as he waits in the arctic tundra.
Said creative director then got distracted by Cetology, but has now resurfaced to produce “Ahab Redux,” in which, obviously, our automotive whale has yet to meet his driver. Ahab has retired on an island “most folks would call paradise,” but he can’t escape his all-wheel drive demon. “There isn’t a road on earth that can stop it.”
Thankfully this ad is a departure from the old winding-mountain-road glamour reel, and I appreciate the attempt at literary allusion. We’re all familiar with Moby Dick, whether we became obsessed like Ahab or SparkNoted its entirety. “Ahab Redux” is a bit of a cop-out due to its repetition, but the general idea probably gives Audi’s target affluent audience a twinge of self-satisfaction: “Oh, I know that story!”
Credits and original Ahab after the jump
AGENCY: Venables Bell & Partners
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Paul Venables and Will McGinness
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erich Pfeifer, Tyler Hampton
ART DIRECTOR: Matt Miller
COPYWRITER: Matt Keats
DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED PRODUCTION: Craig Allen
AGENCY PRODUCER: Mandi Holdorf
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Smuggler
DIRECTOR: Tom Guard, Charlie Guard
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Peter Simonite
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody, Lisa Rich,
Allison Kunzman
PRODUCER: Alexandra Lisee
EDITING COMPANY: Rock Paper Scissors
EDITOR: Ted Guard
SOUND DESIGN: Therapy
SOUND DESIGNERS: Eddie Kim
MUSIC: Human
MIX: John at Play sound
V/FX: The Mill
V/FX PRODUCER: Anastasia von Rahl
SPECS:
Dimensions: 640×480 (4:3 aspect ratio) or 640×360 (16:9 aspect ratio)
File Type: MPEG or Quicktime movie, NTSC format.
All videos will be encoded to flash and will play in a 619×364 widescreen player
(16:9 aspect ratio). The player accommodates 16:9 but will respect the 640×480
and all aspect ratios.