Zambezi launched a new spot for Autotrader, championing the brand as “Driven by Sport” ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
While the 30-second launch spot is not directly tied to the impending games, which begin August 5, many of the sports referenced in the ad are Summer Olympic events. Text ties a series of sports to qualities a user might search for in a vehicle, like “power locks” and wrestling, “traction control” and gymnastics, etc.
The approach allows the brand to tie itself to a range of sports while also promoting the various search aspects it offers. While that’s a fairly sound strategy, the execution of the spot may just be a little too generic to hold viewers’ attention and stand out from the pack — especially with a wide field of ads tied to the Rio 2016 Olympics more explicitly. It is undoubtedly a step above last month’s confusing “Concert” spot, however.
“Zambezi exists to put more extraordinary into culture,” said Zambezi CSO Kristina Jenkins. “For Autotrader, we can’t think of a better way to be a catalyst for this than to celebrate the training process of athletes while including Autotrader’s breadth of feature selection. It’s a perfect matchup.”
“In this time where sports are in the spotlight, we wanted to connect the emotion of athletes training and competing with the car shopping journey in a unique and creative way,” added Scott Thomas, senior director of consumer marketing at Autotrader parent company Cox Automotive.
Credits:
Client: Autotrader
Agency: Zambezi
Founder, Chief Executive Officer: Chris Raih
Executive Creative Director: Josh DiMarcantonio
Associate Creative Director: Ben George
Associate Creative Director: Nick Rodgers
Jr. Art Director: Sean Jackson
Art Director Intern: Brendon Concannon
Head of Content: Alex Cohn
Producer: Jordan Sider
Managing Director: Pete Brown
Account Director: Matt Kline
Account Supervisor: Lauren Bondell
Account Executive: Tori Tessalone
Assistant Account Executive:
Project Manager: Chris Greve
Chief Strategy Officer: Kristina Jenkins
Group Strategy Director: Ryan Richards
Group Account Director: Carolyn Contois
Strategist: Keely Galgano
Production Company: Blink Studios
Director: Andrew Gage
Director of Photography: Kris Belchevski
Producer: Jordan Sider
UPM: Carrie LeGrand
Editorial: Blink Studios
Editor: Justin Gallaher
Assistant Editors: Sasha Perry
Audio: Lime Studios
Audio Mixer: Zac Fisher
Audio Assistant: Kevin McCalpine
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Color Correction: MPC
Colorist: Mark Gethin
Executive Producer: Meghan Lang
VFX: MPC
Flame Artist: Ben Parsons, Hugo Saunders
Producer: Brian Friel
Music:
Composer: Kevin Brough