• by Phyllis Fine , August 17, 2023

To launch its flagship Audi Q8 e-tron, Audi Canada is releasing a spot that puts the experience of driving the car into colorful visual terms for the audience.

In “Feel the Art of Audi,” lifelong Audi driver and Canadian model Coco Rocha takes her first drive in the Q8 e-tron, with her reactions "captured in real time” and translated into powdery swirls of color modeled on sand particles.

The agency Bensimon Bryne partnered with 1^stAveMachine and Espadaysantacruz Studio, using biometric sensors to capture Rocha’s responses -- which ranged from awe to exhilaration to serenity, and were then fed into a custom-built AI art generator to transform them into digital art.

For example, Rocha’s exhilaration at the vehicle’s performance was shown as pink and purple swirls.

“The data was mapped into a system based on sand particles, whose physical attributes change in relation to the data," Juan Santacruz, executive creative director at Espadaysantacruz Studio, said in a release. "That means the visual story is presented in an abstract way, capturing the driver’s journey from first seeing the new Audi Q8 e-tron, to stepping out of it after experimenting with its various features.”

“The campaign goal is to tell a compelling story about the Q8 rather than simply outlining a series of features,” said Joseph Ottorino, Audi Canada 's head of marketing. “The AI experiment was a compelling factor.”

Joseph Bonnici, chief creative officer for Bensimon Bryne’s parent company, Tadiem, noted that “EV brands have both a challenge and an opportunity to stand out beyond simply technical specs as the category matures and people’s questions and fears around the category begin to subside.”

The video is running in cinema and online as well as out-of-home.