As Super Bowl ads continue to roll out days before the event, Jaguar has joined the trend and released its first game day spot, "Rendezvous."
The 60-second ad from Spark 44 features a trio of "British villains," played by Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong. Unfortunately, we don't see them pulling off a billion-dollar caper or foiling some James Bond-ian superspy. But we do get to hear them wax eloquently about why Brits make better bad guys, and that's something.
Personally, I had wondered how they'd handle the pronunciation of the British brand, which is "Jag-waar" in America and "Jag-you-are" in the U.K. The burden of the word lands on Strong (Lord Blackwood in 2009's Sherlock Holmes), who basically says it so fast, you'll be lucky to catch it at all.
While the spot's star power is sure to merit some game day buzz, the execution does seem to suffer a bit from a "too many cooks in the kitchen" vibe. The ad is called both "British Villains" and "Rendezvous"; the hashtag is #GoodToBeBad; the URL is BritishVillains.com; and the tagline is, "How alive are you?" After all that, is there still room in your brain for the name of the car? (Hint: It's the F-Type coupe.)
About two weeks ago, we shared the teaser trailer for Jaguar’s Super Bowl ad, which features Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong, and Tom Hiddleston (although only Kingsley was featured in the trailer). Today, Jaguar and their in-house agency, Spark44, have debuted the full 60 second spot, “Rendezvous.”
“Have you ever noticed how in Hollywood movies, all the villains are played by Brits?” Kingsley asks at the opening of “Rendezvous,” featuring the three star British actors as vaguely defined villains who all drive Jaguars. Filmed in London by Oscar-winning British director, Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), in collaboration with Smuggler, Spark44 and Jaguar clearly threw a lot into “Rendezvous” to make the spot cinematic, also employing Alexandre Desplat, who worked with Hooper on The King’s Speech, to compose the ad’s original soundtrack, which was recorded by The London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road studios. “‘Rendezvous’ was filmed with the realization that many of today’s television viewers have access to beautifully sharp picture screens and multi-channel surround sound not unlike the best movie theaters,” explained Brand Vice President of Jaguar North America, Jeff Curry.
“Rendezvous” marks Jaguar’s debut Super Bowl advertisement, and also launches their straightforwardly-titled “British Villains” campaign, which promotes the new Jaguar F-TYPE Coupe (available spring, 2014) and will run through July. The spot features the campaign’s #GoodToBeBad hashtag (a line also spoken by Kingley during the ad, which honestly sounds a little forced), but that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of Jaguar’s online and social engagement. They’ve launched a campaign landing page, that “hosts information about the F-TYPE Coupe, the commercial and some unique video content including teasers starring each of the three actors.” Jaguar is also hosting an event with Deadspin as part of their partnership with the latter’s parent, Gawker, as well as two co-sponsored events with Sports Illustrated, including during the magazine’s Super Saturday event the night before Super Bowl Sunday.
What’s more, Jaguar “aims to be the most real-time engaged advertiser during the Super Bowl through a unique physical space called ‘The Loop,’ developed by Mindshare, where multiple screens will monitor real-time consumer data and translate it into actionable insights, and ultimately, rapid marketing decisions…” Jaguar claims “The Loop” is “the first real-time marketing tool to impact paid media – whereby media dollars can be quickly shifted and redeployed to leverage opportunities uncovered by the data.” It will be interesting to see how Jaguar’s first Super Bowl advertisement, and their “The Loop” strategy plays out this Sunday. Stick around for behind the scenes footage of “Rendezvous” after the jump. continued…
Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong, and Tom Hiddleston are all really good British actors who are being repurposed as vague villains- and possible paid one million dollars, pinky to corner of mouth – by Jaguar for a glitzy Super Bowl ad campaign that features tuxedos, cliches, and the sexy F-Type Coupe.
“Rendezvous: The Set Up” offers viewers a 30-second teaser featuring only Sir Kingsley. He says things like, “So they’re coming… [dramatic pause] all the usual suspects.” Corny if you think about it too much, but there’s some in-the-moment fun to be had when an Oscar winner brings his talents down to the genre commercial world. The spot is directed by Tom Hooper, who won Best Director for The King’s Speech, but it feels like anyone who’s watched Bad Boys II could’ve done this job. I guess Guy Ritchie was busy. Regardless, it’s a very British production for Jaguar USA and the Super Bowl ad push. Spark44, Jaguar’s in-house agency, handled creative duties for “British Villains,” which could go down as the straightforward title of the year.
Primeiro, foi a “galinha da Mercedes“. Agora, a Jaguar prepara sua estreia no Super Bowl 48 com a promessa de provar, de uma vez por todas, como é “bom ser mal”. No primeiro teaser, que revela bem pouco o que vem por aí, Ben Kingsley aparece observando a chegada dos “suspeitos de costume”. Um deles, entretanto, chama a sua atenção, o “novo” entre os “de sempre”.
A mensagem aí é clara: a Jaguar quer que o seu F-Type Coupe seja uma novidade entre as montadoras que tradicionalmente anunciam na final da NFL. Se realmente vai conseguir se sobressair, só descobriremos nas próximas semanas.
Enquanto isso, é dar uma olhada no microsite British Villains, onde é possível acompanhar novidades sobre o F-Type Coupe.
Lunging out of the gate a bit earlier than its rival automakers, first-time Super Bowl advertiser Jaguar has launched a teaser clip for its game-day ad and a related microsite called BritishVillains.com.
While the teaser doesn't shed much light on the plot of Jaguar's upcoming spot, themed "Good to Be Bad," it does reveal that the brand has tapped the talents of legendary U.K. actor Ben Kingsley.
Fresh off his red-herring role as Marvel's Mandarin in Iron Man 3, Kingsley has also been the bad guy in films ranging from 2000's Sexy Beast to 2005's BloodRayne (though I'm sure he'd rather we not mention that one).
For now, the BritishVillains.com landing page features little more than the teaser clip and info on the new Jaguar F-Type coupe, which will be the star of the brand's Super Bowl ad. Meanwhile, digital content partner Studio@Gawker continues to post villainy-themed content on the campaign's blog, Good to Be Bad.
Jaguar's Super Bowl buy is being coordinated by creative agency Spark 44 and media shop Mindshare.
For many more details on the advertisers confirmed for this year's big game, be sure to check out Adweek's Super Bowl Ad Tracker.
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