Alien vs Tiguan - Rad Ads

Like a lot of people, I have a love-hate relationship with ads.

And this one by Volkswagen is definitely on the 'love' side of that equation.

Have you ever had someone tell you about a really cool or funny ad that you just NEED to watch? So, you jump on YouTube, look it up, and get ready to sit and watch this thing.

Then, just as the video loads YouTube has the audacity to make you wait to watch your ad by forcing you to... watch another ad first...

And here's my point. There are ads that, for whatever reason, we don't treat like ads and others we do.

Maybe because the ones we enjoy don't 'feel' like ads. They're more fun, little short films. Do they make you want to buy the product? I'm not sure. I mean, I wasn't craving delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate after that drumming Gorilla ad from 2007 (although I DID go out and gorge myself on fifteen copies of Phil Collins' 'Face Value'...).

The point is, there are ads we want to watch and ads we don't, which brings me to the Volkswagen ad.

And it's something you just NEED to watch.

Volkswagen uses a horrifying monster to sell its Tiguan

Back in 2016 in the United Kingdom, Volkswagen was supporting independent cinemas. They teamed up with ad agency Adam & Eve and promoted their support by releasing a series of ads all based around different movie genres, the most impressive of these being 'Alien', directed by Nick Gordon, produced by Somesuch and featuring some pretty wild VFX from Swiss International:

If you can't (or won't) watch that clip, it features a pair of frightened people running from a hideous alien monster and hiding in a Tiguan. Their attempts to stay hidden are complicated by the alien's tail sweeping under the car and causing the automatic boot to open with all parties growing increasingly frustrated.

So why is this more fun than a normal ad? Well, because it's basically sketch comedy. Sure they could have done an ad that shows it in action in a shopping centre or something, but isn't it WAY more fun to feature it in an ad alongside a beast that looks like the Xenomorph and Supreme Leader Snoke decided to settle down and start a family together?

Speaking of the alien, it's clear that a lot of love and care was taken to bring it to life. It's a nicely designed, individual looking creature that's just derivative enough (kinda Cloverfield monster meets Xenomorph) without being a carbon copy of anything that's come before it.

Check out this video of how the alien was made, keep track of how many subtle changes were made to the design throughout its life cycle:

That's a lot of effort for what amounts to an ad that says "hey, isn't a hands-free boot opening function neat!?"

Honestly, I'm surprised more companies don't use hideous space monstrosities to sell their products.

I mean it worked for Smiths potato chips, didn't it?

But, if you weren't a fan of aliens, Volkswagen still had you covered.

In addition to 'Alien' they had this one that was inspired by crime movies:

And this one that's basically a remake of 'Speed', the Keanu Reeves movie, not to be confused with Volkswagen's 'Speed Racer' commercial, where the famous manga and anime character ditched the gadget loaded Mach 5 to shill for the GTI:

Volkswagen's shorts are quick, fun and they're a memorable way for a company to show off a functional feature of the car, which, hey, you'd think most ads would be, right?

Or maybe people actually want to be force-fed 'real people can't believe their eyes! No... really, they're real, we swear' ads.

I don't know, I'm not a mind reader.

What car ad stuck in your mind the most? Let us know in the comments below.