Here’s the leader in the clubhouse for 2011 Super Bowl commercials: Audi’s Old Luxury prison, which puts together all the pieces of a Super Bowl ad in a wonderful fashion while still getting its message across. Elaborate, expensive set design? How about a luxurious, old-money prison? Movie-like direction? A wonderful chase scene in which robed captives escape, ending with one of them being “hoodwinked” by getting into a Mercedes. And it continued Audi’s omnipresent campaign to discredit other luxury car manufacturers for everyone under 50.
This is the whole point, I think, of the Super Bowl ad—not just to have a great punchline but to take advantage of the enormous budget having a Super Bowl commercial necessitates. It seems almost wrong to describe a commercial as cinematic, but Audi managed it here, and they did it without pandering to the beer companies’ ubiquitous Cool Bros or waiting for a great joke in the last five seconds.
The video is currently available on the front page of YouTube, though it’s anyone’s guess as to how long that will last.