The project came to life when San Francisco-based M/H VCCP answered Audi's challenge to introduce the all-new Q3 to the brand's youngest audience, millennials. On social media, the "Q3 in :03" concept focused on bringing the target audience content in the way they are natively consuming it, using :03 videos, in unique artistic styles to highlight the attributes of the Q3.
To make the concept a reality, M/H VCCP tapped Gentleman Scholar, well known for its ability to apply any combination of styles to leading brands and their diverse audiences.
In late June, M/H VCCP's creative team provided Gentleman Scholar with a briefing, laying out a bold production challenge calling for a millennial-targeted cross-media digital campaign of the highest order. "New luxury is as different from old luxury as cars were from carriages," M/H VCCP's Executive Creative Director Joel Kaplan said of the inventive approach Audi is taking. "That gives us the freedom to reinvent how we look, act, and feel with every new piece of content we create."
A montage of the spots can be seen at https://vimeo.com/357619429.
"We love the range and openness M/H VCCP provided for this project," said Gentleman Scholar Director Will Johnson. "Essentially, we were invited to hunt and scour for styles that surprise and delight, and then to use whatever skillset was necessary to bring the moments to life across more than a dozen unique executions, all with the Audi Q3 at the center."
To land the assignment, Gentleman Scholar created an inspiring director's treatment, representing a guided tour through breathtaking 8-bit, mixed-media, B&W, street-art, 3D, CG, type, abstract, stop-motion, collage and illustration references, with an original Audi Q3 campaign execution for each.
"We brought a refreshing mixed-media style to our treatment, featuring the Q3's beautiful angles and contours in a world painted with abstract shapes, colors and animations," Johnson concluded. "Our cross-discipline storytelling lets us flow between aesthetics smoothly and create unique frames that feel vast and reflective of our way of thinking."
Executing tricky visual concepts flawlessly, while keeping the brand in focus – using innovative approaches from CG to art-directed compositions to illustration and type – hits Gentleman Scholar's sweet spot. That's especially true for dynamic original content that rocks every viable aspect ratio, resolution and canvas.
"Exploring how animations and images can be applied to different formats and using our modular know-how to optimize stories absolutely gives us wings," confirmed Gentleman Scholar's Associate Creative Director Macauley Johnson.
For M/H VCCP, credits include Joel Kaplan (Executive Creative Director), Allen Yu (Associate Creative Director) Jesse Wilks (Senior Copywriter) and Gerardo Agbuya (Senior Art Director), Alison Beck (Producer), Ben Thomas (Strategist), and Mikaela Kearns (Account Supervisor). Complete project credits are available upon request.
