Way back in 1972 Volkswagen was trying shake off it's reputation for just building small cars. The company had just designed a new larger four-door wagon and it needed somebody 'big' to be a spokesman for the product.
Ultimately the company choose Hollywood's largest star, King Kong, to illustrate that their new car was bigger than you think.
I was honestly too young to remember this one, but I discovered it on a King Kong documentary that I watched this week.
I think it's brilliant!
Here is some good history on the commercial from Daniel DiManna of the NewsWheel website:
In 1972, Volkswagen was looking for a unique way to advertise its latest family vehicle: the four-door VW 411 sedan. Eventually, the marketing team hit on a unique idea that involved using King Kong — a giant monster — to sell the similarly large-sized vehicle. It was a simple yet brilliant idea, but bringing this vision to life wouldn’t be an easy task.
To help get the commercial off the ground, Volkswagen turned to one of the era’s most talent visual-effects masters: Dave Allen. The stop-motion animator was fresh off an Oscar nomination for his work on Hammer Films’ 1970 epic When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. He was also a massive fan on the original 1933 King Kong, and gladly accepted the task of recreating the iconic creature for the small screen.
Under Allen’s direction, what started as a simple Volkswagen commercial evolved into an elaborate homage to Kong’s debut film. Allen and his team painstakingly recreated a stop-motion Kong puppet that matched the original very closely. They then brought the puppet to life through the same stop-motion methods that the 1933 film had pioneered nearly 40 years earlier.
To help get the commercial off the ground, Volkswagen turned to one of the era’s most talent visual-effects masters: Dave Allen. The stop-motion animator was fresh off an Oscar nomination for his work on Hammer Films’ 1970 epic When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. He was also a massive fan on the original 1933 King Kong, and gladly accepted the task of recreating the iconic creature for the small screen.
Under Allen’s direction, what started as a simple Volkswagen commercial evolved into an elaborate homage to Kong’s debut film. Allen and his team painstakingly recreated a stop-motion Kong puppet that matched the original very closely. They then brought the puppet to life through the same stop-motion methods that the 1933 film had pioneered nearly 40 years earlier.
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