Much of Mazda‘s best UK advertising is viewed online rather than on television. The best source for the viral work is DMC (Digital Media Communications) the company behind the planning, seeding and tracking of Mazda’s viral campaigns in the UK, Australia and in Europe. The ads are all between 1.5 and 2 mb – small enough to be emailed between colleagues. Some are approved for late TV viewing in the UK and would not ever be allowed on USA televisions. Most of the ads point to a Mazda site that has been since discontinued. As a default Mazda movies can be seen at www.mazdamovies.com.
Brats
A Mazda 6 station wagon is being driven through what should be idyllic surroundings – forest, green meadows, birds singing. Instead all we can hear is the squabbling of two young brats in the back seat. The driver, fed up, stops the car, opens the boot, and adjusts the seating to hide the kids from view and hearing. This ad, released in 2002, was the first use of virals by Mazda. Click on the image below to play the video.
Moustache
A camera mounted high above a busy intersection photographs London traffic as part of the congestion charge campaign. It clicks through photo 200032, 200033, 200034, 200035 and 200036 before setting sights on a camouflaged Mazda 2. Confused by the trick spectacles, nose and moustache, the camera neglects to take the photograph, passing on to the next car. Click on the image below to play the video.
Smooth Parking – Women Drivers
A woman drives up to a vacant car park in her Mazda 2, only to discover that road maintenance men have left very little room for her car. They’re parked with long planks. A workman laughs and says, “She’s never going to get in there.” She drives off in frustration. “I told you she couldn’t do it”, says the chap. We hear the sound of brakes and see the woman backing her car up the planks and over the top of the truck. Click on the image below to play the video.
Venus Flytrap – Parking Warden
A parking warden is lured across the street to a vacant Mazda RX-8 sports car. With delight he proceeds to write out a ticket. All of a sudden the door opens. The car swallows the warden, chews him up and spits him out without uniform. The warden runs off in his underwear. The car whistles, shuts its door and yells, “Hiy!” Click on the image below to play the video.
The spots were directed by Seamus Masterson and produced by Will Jeffery at Maverick in 2003. The international campaign was launched through DMC’s offices in the UK and Australia first, followed by Europe.
Golf Driving – Grazes & TV Boxes
These two 40 second ads feature the agility of the Mazda 6 2.3 4 door Sport and end with the question, “Are your driving skills up to scratch?” Viewers are invited to navigate to the Mazda site (www.sixiron.com) to win a break at St. Andrews golf course.
Under Par or ‘Grazes’ opens in the mens bathroom of a golf club. A man enters covered in mud, blood and grazes and cleans himself up before hobbling to his car. In the background a battered golf buggy is being lifted out of the water by the 18th hole. A strapline reads ‘You’ll want to drive everything like the Mazda 6’. As he drives out he manoevres at speed past a reversing truck complete with crane and broken buggy.
‘Smashing 6″ or ‘TV’ shows the devastation in a television warehouse after the owner has tried to drive a forklift truck like the Mazda 6. It opens with the storeman carrying boxes to a dumpster before getting into his Mazda 6. The camera cuts to the warehouse interior where shelves have fallen down over a forklift. As the driver accelerates out of the warehouse park he narrowly misses a truck reversing in to take away the dumpster. Click on the image below to play the video.
Little Squirt
A blue Mazda 3 family car is left parked on the street – prone to the attention of a small white dog. The dog goes for a walk right round the car, giving us an opportunity to get a virtual tour. He ends up with the front right wheel – the spot to leave his mark. In retaliation the car activates its headlight cleaner to squirt the dog the eye. Click on the image below to play the video.
Megawash
A dull couple in a ‘clapped out’ old car drive into a carwash. They select the ‘megawash’ option and drive through. As they emerge they’re astounded to find that the car has been transformed into a Mazda 3 with a registration plate, “WOW MZ3”. There are two versions of the ad – Guys and Girls. In the Guys ad, the male driver pushes the woman into the car wash in the hope of a tranformation. In the Girls ad, the roles are reversed. There is a version for the UK and a version for Australia, the only difference being that they lead to different web sites. Viewers were directed to www.mega-wash.com. Click on the image below to play the video.
Click on the image below to play the second video.
The Megawash clips were conceived, directed and produced by Attaboy TV, London.
Mannequins
A window decorator takes four female mannequins for a drive in his Mazda5 C-MAV. Along the way one of the passengers drops her arm to reveal a slip. When he arrives the driver lifts out the awakened mannequin, noticing that her nipples have become erect. We get a close up of her face with the sound of a woman’s giggle. The voiceover: “The all new Mazda 5. Surprisingly stimulating.” The ad was created by J Walter Thompson Germany (Frankfurt) with a deliberate reference to the 1987 movie, Mannequin. As could be expected, the ad drew some criticism in the UK but was cleared for late night TV viewing by the British Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre and Advertising Standards Association. Click on the image below to play the Mazda Mannequins video.
Car Wars – Pick Up
A woman sits in a bar, flirting with the guys. Seductively she licks her coffee spoon clean catching the eyes of three men. The first, dressed in black, shows her his Porsche key ring. The second well dressed man flips out his Aston Martin keyring showing that he bought it in Mayfair. The third, dressed in a white Luxor singlet, reveals his Mazda B-Series key ring. The woman walks past the first two sneering guys and passionately kisses the Mazda man. Next thing we see a close up of the Mazda man’s face as he thrusts again and again. A close up of the woman shows that she’s moving too. The camera pans back to show the Mazda man pushing a flat pack furniture on to the back of his Mazda B-Series truck. Click on the image below to play the Car Wars video.