The Sculptor
Peugeot2002
The Sculptor is a 2002 45-second television and cinema commercial for Peugeot, created by Euro RSCG Mezzano Costantini Mignani, Milan.
The line
Irresistible
Why it works
In India, a young man falls for the Peugeot 206 he has seen in a print ad and sets about turning his boxy Hindustan Ambassador into one. He rams it into walls, gets an elephant to sit on the bonnet and smooths its curves with a saw until the old car takes on the 206's shape. Created by Euro RSCG Mezzano Costantini Mignani in Milan and directed by Matthijs van Heijningen of the French production company Bandits, it sells desire without a word of specification: the car is so wanted that a man will sculpt one by hand. It is studied as the rare commercial from outside the English-speaking advertising centres to top the global award tables. At Cannes in 2003 it won a Gold Lion and the Journalists' Award, it took the Eurobest Grand Prix, and the Gunn Report ranked it the most awarded TV and cinema commercial of 2003, its only Commercial of the Year from outside the US or UK.
Techniques
- Storytelling A young man smitten with a print ad reshapes his boxy old car into a 206, a quest showing the car is wanted enough to sculpt by hand.
- Humour Absurd methods, from ramming walls to having an elephant sit on the bonnet, make the man's obsession comic and memorable.
Sources · 4
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