Mercedes-Benz shifts into high gear on the world's largest LED stage

Ad Nut and the automotive world are not exactly perfect bedfellows. Cleary, Ad Nut doesn't drive and sees anything on wheels as second only to canines in terms of things to avoid. Ad Nut has seen too much roadkill around these woodland parts and so motor vehicles only mean one thing: danger.

So, with this in mind, the film for Mercedes-Benz Van's launching its online store was never going to get off to a good start.

Specialist production company Made This, in collaboration with Team X Australia, developed the 'Your Van, Your Way' campaign to highlight the variety of vans available in the online store to suit every need.

The film was shot at NANT Studios in Melbourne, home to the world's most enormous LED volume. An LED volume is a system of linked high-end LED panels that display video footage or 3D content to form a background behind actors. The production team was especially honored that this was also the first automotive campaign undertaken on that stage.

Sadly, little else is revolutionary or flashy about this campaign.

Despite the word salad in the press release and the repeated use of "the largest LED volume," the spot is a blank studio floor with some colourful graphics. You don't really get a sense of what is unique about the different vans or how you can customise them. Instead the colour-changing LED panels in the background seem to distract and steal the show. In fact, it feels more like an advert for the LED volume than the actual vans themselves.

But an ad that does little to promote vans is no bad thing in Ad Nut's eyes. After all, fewer vans on the roads means less danger and roadkill. But, ultimately, it seems the production crew got too carried away with the production facility—the LED volume—and forgot to focus on the traditional aspects of flimmaking ie focus on the product they were meant to sell.

CREDITS

MERCEDES-BENZ VANS
Marketing and PR Manager: Blake Vincent
Marketing Specialist: Sophie O’Sullivan

TEAM X
Creative Lead: Jody Koay
Senior Creative: Jason Hatcher
Copywriter: Jono Wright
Senior Strategist: Radhika Pabari
Group Business Director: Magda Majorek
Account Manager: Miranda Foch
Social Lead: Isaac Sherburn

MADE THIS
Head of Film: Ainslee Littlemore
Director: Toby Morris
Producer: Callum Smit
DOP: Liam Gilmour
Editor/VFX: Michael Shanks
Sound Design / Mix: Robbie Balatincz

 

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.