Ad of the Day: Dodge

What do you need to create a groundbreaking compact car? Smart people, great ideas—and a healthy sense of humor.

That's according to this entertaining 90-second spot from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., for the 2013 Dodge Dart, offering a easy step-by-step instruction guide for designing and engineering a worthwhile entry in the competitive compact-car segment. Basically, you need lots of coffee, not a lot of other commitments, not a lot of committees or finance guys, and a whole lot of refining and refining and refining. The playful rapid-fire presentation is vintage W+K, which has built reserves of wry humor into the Dodge brand for several years now (from George Washington to the beheaded robot). In a nice touch, the Dart spot—directed by Christopher Riggert of Biscuit Filmworks—also features a celebrity endorsement by Tom Brady, in the form of Brady questioning whether he's even right for the role.

The spot's energy is derived largely from a solid choice of soundtrack: the Jay-Z and Kanye West track "No Church in the Wild," from their Watch the Throne album. The spot, titled "How to Change Cars Forever," also introduces the tagline "New rules," to emphasize that Dodge is redefining what a compact car can be.

"Adding a dose of fun, creative license and Dodge brand humor, 'How to Change Cars Forever' captures the meticulous process of starting with a simple idea and developing it into a revolutionary new car, including the angst and pressure of a blank page, trials and errors of the early stages, and molding, shaping and testing the Dodge Dart until it was right," says Olivier Francois, marketing chief at Chrysler Group. "We wanted to provide a peek inside what it takes to bring a new car to fruition."

W+K continues to make such glimpses worth your while.

CREDITS

Client: Dodge

Model: 2013 Dart

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.

Creative Directors: Aaron Allen/Joe Staples/Michael Tabtabai

Copywriters: Matt Rivitz/Justine Armour/Jared Elms

Art Directors: Tyler Magnussen/Devin Gillespie

Executive Producer: Corey Bartha

Account Team: Thomas Harvey/Lani Reichenbach/Corey Woodson

Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff/Susan Hoffman

Agency Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks

Director: Christopher Riggert

Managing Director: Shawn Lacy

Executive Producer: Holly Vega

Producer: Youree Henley

Director of Photography: Greig Fraser

Production Designer: Samantha Gore

Editorial Company: Joint Editorial

Editor: Kyle Valenta

Post Producers: Ryan Shanholtzer/Jennifer Giannettoni

Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner

VFX Company: Method Studios

VFX Supervisor: Ben Walsh

Flame Artists: Claus Hansen/Cary Welton/Thomas Downs

VFX Producer: Ananda Reavis

Executive Producer: Robert Owens

Music+Sound Company: Stimmung Sound

Designer: Gus Koven

Song: "No Church in the Wild" by Jay-Z/Kanye West

Producer: Ceinwyn Clark

Mix Company: Lime Studios

Mixer: Mark Meyuhas

Producer: Jessica Locke