Garmin Commercials

I know it's not new, but I keep seeing that 2008 Super Bowl ad for German GPS giant Garmin throughout coverage of the Euro 2008 football championships in Austria and Switzerland. And I love it!

Garmin are know for their clever ads, with the Napoleon Superbowl ad the most famous:

GARMIN'S NAP-A-SAURUS AD


First off, I love that it's a German company using a French rock song (sounding very much like Plastic Bertrand's 1978 hit "Ca Plane Pour Moi" - is this indeed Plastic Garmin?) to sell its GPS system, contrasting its state-of-the-art electronic tracking system with Nap's rather dated eclaireurs-a-cheval. (You can download the song at Garmin's website: www8.garmin.com.) Then there are the details. Fans have pointed out that if you look closely, the opening shot shows the grocery store from Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie, 2001). Then there's the driver's POV as the car speeds through narrow streets and back alleys, a la John Frankenheimer's Ronin (1998) and Claude Lelouche's legendary short Rendezvous (1976).

But I know my friend Dave Cawley, like all obsessive Ultraman-Kamen Rider-kaiju eiga fans, loves Garmin's 2007 Super Bowl "Mapasaurus" ad (featuring the heavy metal rock of Grim Reaper's Steve Grimmett) even better.

GARMIN'S MAPASAURUS AD


Related Links:
Ca Plane Pour Moi/Jet Boy Jet Girl