April19, 2007 It’s Ferrari’s 60th birthday this year, and we’re pleased to report the company to be in extraordinarily good health. One of the most recognised brands on the planet, Ferrari’s name is synonymous with automotive performance, technological innovation, elegant form, and excellence in seemingly everything. On the racetrack, Ferrari has participated in every event in Formula one history, having won 23% of these races, with more race wins, fastest laps, pole positions and championships than any other marque. Formula One is the world’s most expensive sport by a fair margin – fielding a vaguely competitive car costs half a billion dollars a year, and several teams have spent a billion dollars in a year and still been embarrassed by the speed of Ferrari. Formula One is also the world’s most watched sporting event and the resultant brand recognition is enormous. Ferrari does not advertise but its marketing department is fittingly innovative in showcasing and developing the brand in many ways with the recent examples including a Ferrari theme park for grown ups in Abu Dhabi, the worldwide Tour of Ferrari, and dressing up a series of the world’s showcase buildings, including the world’s tallest building, Taipei’s 508 metre 101 Tower. The anniversary celebrations have also spawned one of the world’s most outstanding adverts, not from Ferrari, but from its long-standing Formula One fuel partner Shell. Costing US$3.9 million, the two minute longform commercial involves a cavalcade of Ferrari’s most famous race cars driving flat-out through the streets Rome, Monaco, Rio, New York and Hong Kong and is yet another example of Antione Bardou-Jacquet’s astonishing talent. He was previously best known for the Honda “Cog” commercial. The commercial can be seen here – warn the neighbours, then turn up the speakers very loud for a wonderful experience.
There has been a bit written about the advert being the most expensive advert in history but they weren’t even close – that title goes to Nicole Kidman’s three minute Chanel commercial which cost US$35 million – Kidman’s fee alone was more than the entire Shell commercial budget.
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