Audi Australia has officially launched its inaugural AFL marketing campaign in Sydney today, titled Greatness Never Rests. Audi’s managing director, Andrew Doyle and Audi Australia’s general manager marketing, Kevin Goult chatted with B&T about the campaign, the enthusiasm of the Hawks supporters and what ‘Greatness Never Rests’ means to them.
Audi was named the Hawks Principal Partner in 2016, marking a major sponsorship milestone for the German luxury carmaker. The TVC features Audi brand ambassador and Hawks Vice Captain, Jordan Lewis, along with team mates Luke Breust and Isaac Smith, kicking a seemingly impossible goal from one rooftop to another, with specially adapted LED footballs, designed to be trackable against the night sky.
Doyle said, despite being a Richmond Tigers supporter himself, the decision to partner with Hawthorn was a no-brainer. “The brand Hawthorn and Audi have a lot of parallels. The Hawks have had great success, as our brand has over the years, and they are a brand which matches our progressiveness, our sportiness and our sophistication- the three main things of the Audi brand. The Hawks have this relentless spirit to continue to improve and challenge themselves, to get better and better.
“That’s very much what the Audi brand stands for. Every time we develop a car we make it lighter, faster, more efficient and safer. That’s what we’re about and that matches very well with Hawthorn. So we took that fact for both of our brands and looked at what that means for an ad campaign.”
For Goult, the mantra of ‘Greatness Never Rest’ meant pushing the Hawthorn players outside of the comfort zone. The boys were taken up a building life with no idea what was about to happen, after a message from Doyle about what greatness means for Audi, the challenge was on.
“What we were looking for is how we can really push the boundaries of what we want to do. We know that these guys can kick a ball and they can kick a great distance but let’s take them out of their comfortable environment and put them in something which is completely alien. I think it’s safe to say that these guys have never kicked a ball from the top of a building in Melbourne to the roof of another building.
“The shoot was all about creating an atmosphere and having the Hawks fans actually in the street below was a part of it because it created this element of ‘what is going on and what are we actually doing’. The tone that we created was one of suspense, one of excitement and enthusiasm from the fans below and most importantly one of determination because these guys were going against each other. I think it also proves what we are as a brand, as a brand we’re determined to evolve and continuously design the best in the market.”
CREDITS
Client – Audi Australia
General Manager Marketing – Kevin Goult
Marketing Communications Manager – Kit Bashford
Senior Brand Marketing Executive – Karlien McLeod
Agency – 303 MullenLowe
Executive Creative Director – Richard Morgan
Chief Strategy Officer – Jon McKie
Head of Art – Adam Whitehead
Head of Copy – Sean Larkin
Head of TV – Sean Ascroft
Group Business Director – Georgie McGarr
Business Director – Laura Dewey
Business Executive – Jen Wood
Production Company – The Sweet Shop
Director – Noah Marshall
Producer – Tony Whyman
Post Production – Jon Baxter
Editor – Tim Mauger
Music/FX – Rumble Studios
