You have to love a good old television commercial that conjure up memories from the past, particularly the extended version ones that were also made for the big screen cinema presentations where the sound could be ramped up and the viewer became totally immersed in what was happening around them. And call me old school, but also the ones prior to animation and AI.
Without doubt my favourite such commercial was released in 2007, took a month to shoot and at the time was one of the most expensive commercials ever made at $4.5 million.
It was made for Ferrari and Shell as a tribute to Marinello’s finest racing and of course their fuel of choice, Shell.
It features five classic Ferrari F1 cars, the 1953/4 Ferrari 500 formula 2, 1967 Ferrari 312/67, 1970 Ferrari 312B, 1997 Ferrari F310B, 2003 Ferrari F2003 and 2007 Ferrari F2007 racing around iconic city landscapes from around the world and the audio is amazing – no voice over, no music, just the raw sound of screaming race engines at full noise.
Ferrari test drivers were behind the wheel of these classic and very expensive race cars, except for the Australian section of the film where a local Ferrari enthusiast was lucky enough to drive the Sea Cliff Bridge just south of Sydney. Obviously, airfares would have blown the budget ……
Even by today’s standards, it’s still regarded by many as one of the best car commercials ever, so just imagine sitting six rows from the front in the middle of a cinema with the volume up full bore and enjoy the ride of this 2007 Shell Ferrari Commercial.
2007 – Shell Ferrari Commercial
Prior to the 2007 Shell Ferrari commercial, both companies joined forces to produce various classic commercials with great vision, minimal if any voice overs and no animation or AI, like these:
1999 – Shell Making Waves tv ad featuring Ferrari F1 + making-of
1984 – Shell Petrol “Making the Most of Motoring” TV Commercial
