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A Cowboy Mechanic Wins a Wild Renault's Trust, and More from Europe
Plus: McDonald's corrals AI for family fun
We’ve never seen a western-style car garage ad. Until now. “The Ranch” is Buzzman Paris’ take for Renault Group’s Motrio, which has local garages throughout Europe. The ad is a quirky piece of work that highlights the weird storytelling Buzzman used to give us so much of, once upon a time, with a car standing in for a wild, untamable mustang. (Sadly not an actual Mustang. That’s Ford’s rodeo.)
A haunted-eyed rancher ultimately wins the car’s trust, with lots of melodramatic hijinks along the way. Then we snap back to reality, where he reappears as a mechanic, inexplicably nuzzling a bumper with his nose in front of its bemused owner. Oh, Buzzman. We’ve missed this side of you.
McD’s Monopoly, step aside! You’re too vintage. In the Netherlands, McDonald’s is using AI to reimagine family loyalty programs. “Magic Stories,” created by TBWA\Helsinki’s innovation practice NEXT, is part of an app-driven “family mode.” You activate it in the restaurant. The app produces tales that incorporate family members through a combo of LLMs and custom-trained image generators. The narrative grows richer each time you eat at McDonald’s together, progressively unlocking virtual items that, per the agency, become “magical memory lanes that families can revisit.”
In London, VCCP created a Barclays ad for the bank’s sponsorship of Wimbledon. “Moments that Matter” stars Frances Tiafoe, who steadies himself before a defining serve by looking out into the audience … and receiving a supportive nod from his banker? We’ve often wished for a similar supportive nod, say, for buying a home. But I guess banks are more likely to show up for you, beaming parents off-court, if you’re famous. Anyway, the work highlights how Barclays will support you, in life and in business. If you’re Tiafoe, anyway.
Here’s today’s cultural immersion lesson. In Italy, “sorbetto” doesn’t describe fruit and crushed ice. It’s actually a combo of fruity ice cream (like lemon) and alcohol (like prosecco). This broke my brain. I’m pretty sure Italians want to reappropriate sorbet’s proper meaning, except they can’t use the word, because elsewhere in the world sorbet doesn’t implicitly include alcohol.
This is how I’m thinking of Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s ambitiously named “Italian Beer Ice,” promoted by celebrity chef Giada. It’s a lemony shaved-ice treat, infused with Peroni beer. So, basically an Italian sorbet. Giada orders you to drink it slowly, owing to brain freeze. Get a six-pack for $49 at PeroniItalianBeerIce.com, or catch a traveling Peroni Italian Beer Ice truck in NYC on July 1. Work by Phaedon.
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clios. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
