Not being an American, I don’t follow American football so I can’t comment too much on the sport. What I can comment on is how totally awesome the adverts are during the Superbowl, particularly car ads. With such a massive audience reach, and at such a high cost per placement, it’s certainly in everyones best interests to make them as entertaining and memorable as possible. As brands fight for attention and work on connecting with their customers, a number of very cool ads came together this year.

Being someone who grew up in the 80′s, The Bark Side was quite appealing but no where near as cool as the kid in the Darth Vader suit scaring himself to death with his Dad’s Passat in The Force.

There were a lot of big names used for the Acura NSX ad gaining a mention for its celebrity status alone.

However the two stand-outs for me were the Chevy Sonic and the Kia Optima.
Chevy Sonic “Stunt Anthem”

When it comes to creating content, the Sonic team have gone all out. This ad is so cool it was getting attention during the filming, with everyone wondering ‘what are they doing to that Sonic?. I’ve shown the ad to people at work, just so they can see a car, any car, doing a bunjy jump and skydive. The whole thing makes you feel excited and engaged and just makes you wanna have fun – do I need a Sonic for that? This model has only just been released in my market so I can’t comment on how emotive it’s going to be in real life but great ad and great fun. Hit the target right on so to speak.

Kia Optima “A Dream Car. For Real Life.”

Dealing with a completey different demographic to the Sonic, Kia has made the cousin of the i45 seem so much more sexy than we all know it is. I think this car looks great both inside and out and whilst the brand is still struggling with perception issues, the Optima goes a very long way at making people forget about Kia’s recent past. They have used sex to sell this car but they’ve cleverly managed make the ad appealing to both sexes – perfect for that husband and wife couple looking for their next family sedan. light and fun. Nice work Kia.

I can’t wait for the next Superbowl!

Source: YouTube

Josh Clason has uncovered some truly passionate people as part of his ‘Depth of Speed’ adventures and Chris Davenport is no exception.

Chris is a coach builder, he fabricates cars from sheet metal, by hand. Watching this guy and listening to him talk about his work fills me with joy that there are people this passionate about cars, doing what they love, and making a living out of it out there.

Listening to the interview you can’t help but hang on every word Chris says, describing cars as ‘rolling artwork that you can use, drive and then stand back and just look at.’ Chris sculpts cars from sheet metal, relying soley on his eye to pick the right height, angle and curve to bring a car together.

When talking about his love for pre-war cars, Chris says that. “I likes cars with history, knowing I’m not the first person to sit in the car, or drive the car and by owning the car, you become part of the group of people who are apart of that car.” I have always thought of people owning cars and that cars come into, and go out of peoples lives. Chris looks at it the other way around. Owners come and go but the cars go on.

I like his way of thinking and watching Josh’s great video made me think of my old Rover P6B. That car had certainly lived (and lived hard) before I got it. I often wondered who owned it first, where it may have travelled and all the places the Lucas Electrics left previous owners stranded as they so often stranded me.

Check out the video to see art in motion – you’ll be surprised at the age of the artist too.

Source: Depth of Speed – Salt Flats Speed Shop from HBTV, Salt Flats Speed Shop

Everybody loves a bit of M5 action and BMW UK have been kind enough to take one to the countryside for the day and to grab some very British Hi-Def footage.

Just when you think you aren’t going to see anything more than long pans of Napa leather interiors and B road cruising, they cut to a shot of the car going into a rather un-British power slide. Looks like fun.

I’ve shared my thoughts on Active Sound Design before and I chose to put that out of my head whilst watching this because it’s such great imagery of a great car having a great time.

Thanks for the video clip BMW UK!

Source: YouTube

So everyone knows the hybrid is the righteous green option which provides many implied statements about its owner such as, ‘this is my only car, I wear hemp clothing and I care for the environment’. But it can also say, ‘caring about my carbon footprint is cool so I make up for the weekend miles I do in the Gallardo by driving this during the week.’ The hybrid has a certain cache that makes it hard for anyone to work out just what your car means about you.

A modern common rail turbo diesel passenger car can pull similar mpg’s to a hybrid yet why aren’t they cool? As soon as you say the word diesel, people seem to stop listening (they are thinking slow, smelly or a truck) they just don’t get the significance.

I think diesel fuel is suffering from a bad reputation.

People don’t make YouTube videos about their Golf GTD, or their Focus diesel do they?

I reckon if more people would drive a diesel they would be amazed at what is on offer and how green you can be without overdoing it on the budget front. These days diesels come in all shapes and sizes and without the ickyness of nickel-metal hydride battery packs.

In the mean time, diesel remains the uncool frugal cousin that nobody talks about and the cool people keep on buying hybrids. I can’t talk, I long for a hybrid too but might just have to settle for a diesel in the mean time.

Anyway, I reckon the truly cool option is something else again – all electric…

Check out the now old, but still cool video starring a Prius above.

Source: YouTube