For one whole night, an abandoned airport in Athens trembled to the sound of a challenge that was at the same time technical, human and artistic. All to show that precision is like a second nature to Peugeot. It was world first performance that put the precision of Peugeot's latest creation, the new break 508 SW, to the test.
David Martin Angelus, creative director at BETC, says: “We searched for the windiest road in the world. After searching for over a month, we realised that none of these roads were challenging enough for the new Peugeot 508SW. So we decided to create our very own road. The snakiest road in the world.”
And nothing is snakier than an actual snake. That’s why BETC decided to create the world’s ‘snakiest road’ using an actual snake. The movements of a Bull Snake, one of the world’s fastest snakes, were scanned with a 3D scanner. Then, with the help of ‘Dronisos’, a company that specialises in synchronised drone flying, the movements of the snake were exported into a flying software that modeled the first road entirely formed by hundreds of flying drones that perfectly recreated the snake’s movements and thereby created a winding road that moves in real-time.
David Martin Angelus, creative director at BETC, says: “Matching up against animals' skills has always been one of man’s fascinations. Michael Phelps tried swimming faster than a white shark in Shark week. This is the first time someone will challenge a live road that imitates the movements of a snake.”
A constantly moving and changing road that comes alive with random twists and turns, as unpredictable as those of a snake, demands a driving precision that is out of the ordinary. San Yélamos, a professional stunt driver had to navigate the road without hitting any of the drones. A challenge she was able to overcome with the help of the new PEUGEOT 508SW and its i-Cockpit that boosts an exceptional performance handling.
Antoine Choque, executive creative director at BETC, describes an intense shoot: “During an entire night, the Peugeot team, the drone engineers, San, Colin and all everyone else involved in this experiment went beyond their limits to put up a performance and a film as grand as the car.”
For Thierry Lonziano, global marketing and communication director at Peugeot, it was essential that 'The Snake' would be a world first. “The pleasure of driving, audacity and innovation, have always been at the heart of Peugeot. This campaign aims to reflect the upmarketing of the brand and translate its vision: never take anything for granted, take risks and always walk the extra mile, this is particularly important in a business sector that tends to rest on its laurels.”
Produced by Phantasm and directed by acclaimed music video director, Colin Tilley, the global launch campaign 'The World’s Snakiest Road' will air on TV from the 26th of May. Additional films will be pushed on digital channels.