Audi AG - Ingolstadt
- ‘Vorsprung durch
Technik’ tagline, which is synonymous with Audi values, was first used by the
brand in Germany in 1971
- Advertising agency
BBH brought the slogan to the brand’s UK advertising in 1983
‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ is 40 years young in 2011, and the
sentiment in the famous motto – which translates as ‘advancement through
technology’ – encapsulates the Audi philosophy just as perfectly now as it did
way back in 1971.
In that year the famous slogan made its debut in a German
publicity campaign. It was first used by Audi in its UK advertising in 1983,
and at a time when the origins of the nascent brand weren’t widely known here,
London-based advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is credited with
realizing its potential as a means of emphasizing German quality and
engineering integrity.
Today, it is not only indelibly linked to the brand, but
also one of very few ‘foreign’ phrases to have become firmly ingrained in
British popular culture. It can be heard in everything from tracks by Blur and
U2 to films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The classic BBH television ad which gave birth to this star
of screen and sound bite made the link between the now iconic Audi quattro and
the permanent all-wheel-drive system that made it more agile on the road than a
glider in the air. But the phrase is rooted in the pioneering innovations and
technical leadership the brand was already synonymous with long before this
point.
The newly-formed Audi NSU range was so impressively diverse
– it included rear-engined, air-cooled NSU 2- and 4-cylinder cars,
front-wheel-drive Audi models with 4-cylinder water-cooled engines, the
lightweight Audi 100 and the aerodynamically wedge-shaped and rotary-engined Ro
80 – that a unifying brand claim was needed to epitomise what all models had in
common. ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ united the new range and summed up the
brand‘s philosophy in one.
The Audi range of today, and tomorrow, is just as deserving
of the phrase. It spans virtually every category from city-friendly sub-compact
hatchback, via leading edge saloons and Avants, steamlined Sportbacks and agile
SUVs through to the world renowned R8 super car. All 32 models in the current
line-up are characterised by advanced technology, be it in the construction
process as in the lightweight aluminium and steel hybrid-bodied TT or
all-aluminium R8, in remarkable engines such as the award-winning 2.5-litre
five-cylinder TFSI or in innovative features such as all-LED lighting, head-up
displays, MMI with Google mapping functionality and in-car WLAN internet
connectivity.