Audi is pouring more marketing dollars into its ambitious electric vehicle plans. A new campaign from the automaker attempts to debunk perceptions about EVs that have kept them from breaking into the mainstream, including fears about range, charging infrastructure and performance. The effort, which includes a new TV ad, comes in advance of the May launch of Audi’s new “e-tron” SUV, the first of three battery electric vehicles the luxury brand will introduce over three years.
The ad, called “Not For You” by Venables Bell & Partners, begins by showing a man in his bathrobe who skeptically gazes at his neighbor’s Audi e-tron parked in a garage. Then he is transported into several scenes meant to tackle his skepticism head-on. One shot shows the vehicle zooming through a desert landscape, which is an attempt to debunk the so-called “range anxiety” fears that are considered a major barrier to purchase. Other scenes show the vehicle easily handling inclement weather. The ad also juxtaposes a crowded gas station with a more visually pleasing EV charging station.
Audi declined to reveal the size of the media investment behind the campaign, other than to say the TV ad will run in April and May. The campaign follows a Super Bowl spot in which Audi touted its claim that one-third of its new models will be electrified by 2025.