Trusting your vehicle to a valet is nerve-racking enough. Imagine the shock when you go to retrieve your car from the valet and a different car appears. Talk about a heart attack. Chevy has an entire ad campaign based on the same premise. The goal is to capture the candid reactions of unsuspecting owners as they check out the surprise vehicle. For Porsche, the company is advertising its new Panamera.
Automakers pulling pranks on unsuspecting people is nothing new. Porsche isn’t the first nor will it be the last to take a hidden-camera approach to advertising. However, the company’s latest attempt at humor just misses the mark. Porsche is in Thailand where it attempts to trick unsuspecting people into the back seat of a new Panamera while adding a twist that just feels out of place.
The first half of the ad has your typical surprised owners climbing into the back seat of a Panamera for a quick test ride. The camera captures their surprised, happy reactions. It’s nothing new, nor inventive. The twist happens in the second half of the ad when Belgian race car driver Jacky Ickx emerges from the hotel, asking the valet to return his car.
However, instead of climbing into the back seat of the Panamera, Ickx, forces his way into the driver’s seat bewildering the unsuspecting valets and the camera crew, including the director. Once Ickx pushes his way into the driver’s seat and takes off, the director and team rush to stop him as he speeds away.
Eventually, Ickx, who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, comes back to the valet, climbing out to let everyone in on the secret. Flipping your typical hidden-camera script may look fun on paper, but in execution, the entire thing felt a tad cringe-worthy. Then again, these types of ads aren’t for entertainment. They’re designed to sell a product, and boy does the Panamera look good.
Source: Porsche via YouTube
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