Location, Location, Location

Setting: (North) New Jersey

Television: Yet another truck commercial

It’s funny to think about how people living in larger cities have probably never been served a Dodge truck ad. Meanwhile, I can hear them clear as day in my head. Someone streaming in Manhattan wouldn’t need to see a truck commercial. Imagine parallel parking a BT180 in Manhattan? (I just made that up, and BT stands for big truck in case you’re wondering)

The Big Picture

When we think ‘car commercial’, I think it’s fair to say we can see and hear them in our heads – as they all tend to roll out in a similar way. The voiceover talks about new features, the camera smoothly and slowly highlights each Porche-on of the car. See what I did there?

The off-road vehicles go through puddles and mountainous terrain, but what they don’t show is the check engine light coming on. Let’s be real – you can’t even drive over a pothole in New Jersey without giving a moment of silence and an apology to your car. In most cases, we’re staring down the vehicle on screen, and not paying much attention to the setting around it. As with most things in life, we tend to overlook what’s going on behind the scenes.

The Details

While new technology emerges everyday, this allows advertising efforts to advance alongside it. Would you believe me if I said you don’t need a car to film a car commercial? An article from TechSpot shows how you can with a bit of CGI, and an incredible machine called a Blackbird.

If you’re able to get your hands on a super cool robot or drone to film your car commercial, something you’ll need is a spot to drive it. Pick a place that really stands out. It should work in tangent with your vehicle – not just showcase it. Imagine you’re the consumer considering the purchase of a sports car. Is showing how quickly the car can reach 65 mph on a highway going to excite the customer? Probably not, that’s what they’re expecting the car to do. Is showing how well the sports car can handle sharp turns going 65 mph going to widen their eyes and spark their imagination? Absolutely, and it might go something like this:

The Location

Hawk’s Nest, New York, is a great spot to film (sports) car commercials, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. In 2017, Lexus Japan flew their directors over and filmed a piece of their ‘driving movie’ in the same place. You can watch the full video here, and if you want to see the Hawk’s Nest highlight, you can skip to 1:11. As someone who’s an advertising fanatic and a Jersey Girl who lived about 15 minutes away from this glorious view – you can see that great minds think alike, although we may drive different cars: