TL;DR: Audi’s new A6 Avant e-tron campaign by long-term creative partner BBH spotlights its smart panoramic sunroof—not performance stats. Set in a concert hall with a minimalist a cappella cover of “I Like to Move It,” the ad redefines electric vehicle luxury through atmosphere, lighting, and emotional control. It's a bold departure from typical EV marketing, positioning Audi as a design-first, emotionally intelligent brand for the next-gen premium consumer.
LONDON—The luxury arms race has entered its ambient lighting phase. In Audi’s latest campaign, the star isn’t torque, range, or even a glossy badge. It’s a sunroof.
Set inside a cavernous concert hall, BBH’s new film for the A6 Avant e-tron doesn't feature winding coastal roads or men in technical jackets sprinting toward charging stations. Instead, it delivers a theatrical tableau: a choir performing an a cappella cover of Reel 2 Real’s "I Like to Move It" while the panoramic sunroof modulates light like a lighting director at Sadler’s Wells. It’s part automotive demo, part opera.
Inside BBH’s Campaign for Audi’s A6 Avant e-tron: Light, Design, and Emotional Engineering
This is Audi zagging. Let’s face it—EV marketing is a broken record of range stats and eco-credentials. Audi’s doing something far more subtle: selling atmosphere. The campaign, titled "Light, as you like it," positions the panoramic roof not just as a feature, but as a mood. Transparency becomes luxury; light, the new leather.
There’s elegance in restraint. The spot never tells you the car’s top speed or battery capacity. Instead, it leans into tactility and emotional control—luxury as experience, not excess. And it works. The cinematography channels modern stage design more than Top Gear; think less Clarkson, more Olafur Eliasson.
What the Elements Say Without Saying It:
- Song Choice – "I Like to Move It": A 90s club anthem reimagined through a minimalist, human lens. It disarms with nostalgia but reasserts control. Audi isn’t just moving fast—it’s moving with feeling.
- A Cappella Vocal Style: Precision and harmony as a metaphor for luxury engineering. No noise, no distractions. Just pure, curated control.
- Lighting Design: Light becomes emotional regulation. The sunroof isn’t just a panel—it’s a dimmer switch for the world.
- Theatre Setting: By placing the car in a concert hall, Audi reframes it as a cultural performance. This isn’t a test drive. It’s a design intervention.
Together, these elements deliver a singular message: you don’t need to show off when you’re in control. Audi’s not selling horsepower—it’s selling curation. Psychologically, light is one of the most powerful mood modulators we interact with daily. Research shows that exposure to bright, natural light boosts serotonin levels—enhancing mood, focus, and calm. By giving the driver precise control over that light, Audi isn’t just designing for visibility; it’s designing for emotional autonomy.
Audi has long spoken fluent engineering, but in recent years, it's struggled to speak culture fluently. This feels like a correction. As luxury pivots from power to softness, the sunroof becomes symbolic: not about looking out, but filtering the world on your terms.
Audi’s Q1 2025 Financial Update
And it’s not just mood lighting, if you'd pardon the pun—Audi’s business case for elegance is holding. In Q1 2025, the brand delivered 181,042 vehicles in Western Europe, with BEV sales climbing 12.5% year-over-year. The UK remains a key player in that growth, helping Audi secure its place as the region’s leading premium marque. Even as global revenues dipped slightly to €15.5 billion, Audi’s 8.4% operating margin shows a brand confident enough to zag—commercially and creatively.
“All the tech, set in the city—that’s the zig,” said Will Lion, Chief Strategy Officer at BBH. “We zagged: the sunroof, sung by a choir.”
Lion describes the team’s decision to focus on a single feature—a sunroof with switchable transparency—as a deliberate departure from the standard EV ad. “An expensive car crammed full of tech surely deserves sweeping shots of the city and suited people looking at reflections of themselves… orrrr we could talk about one thing that says everything: the magical sunroof.”
The campaign is supported by a six-month TTL push across cinema, OOH, digital, and social—media handled by PHD—with high-visibility placements like Manchester Printworks and Waterloo Motion.
This is about repositioning Audi for an audience less impressed by 0-60 stats and more interested in how a car feels when stuck in traffic outside Celine.
As Tony Moore, Director of Marketing and Digital at Audi UK, put it, the aim was to turn “a functional feature into something extraordinary”—a move that fits neatly into Audi’s evolving design-led narrative.
“The interplay of light and music brings the A6 e-tron’s panoramic sunroof to life in a way that is distinctly Audi: premium, sophisticated, and effortlessly innovative. It’s a fresh and engaging way to showcase how we redefine electric mobility.”
Credits:
Kristy Venables, Laura Brennan, Tony Moore, Sophie Hobday, Nathan Beard, Edward Courtenay, Uche Ezugwu, Lawrence Bushell, Alex Grieve, Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Luke Till, Kreepa Naisbitt, Peter Wiltshire, Philip Mattinson, Karen Martin, Bobbie Gannon, Katie Headley, James Bush, Lexy Fox, Hywel Evans, Rob Meiklejohn, Christina Shutti.
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