The 40-second ad, breaking this Bank Holiday weekend, opens on an aerial shot of 12 different-coloured Corsas parked haphazardly in an urban car park. A countdown starts, and 11 of the cars whizz off round the city, finding quirky places to hide from the remaining car, which rushes off to find them when the count reaches 100. One car lands in a skip, another hides in an office block lift, while another creeps into a supermarket.
All the hiding places are aimed at demonstrating the ease and fun of driving a Corsa.
Directed by Frederic Planchon through Academy, the ad's stunts were co-ordinated and performed by Christian Bonnichon, who worked on the 60s cult film The Italian Job. The ad was art directed by Carlos Anuncibay and written by Keith Bickel.
The TV work is backed by a poster campaign, which shows Corsas skateboarding and performing loops on a Scalextric, in keeping with the "Put the fun back into driving strapline.
The ads were photographed by Alan McPhail, and will run in the lifestyle press and listings magazines. Media planning and buying is handled by Initiative Media.
The DLKW partner, James Pool, said: "This marks a major shift for Vauxhall Corsa, and it should give the car the personality to take a much greater share of mind among the young, urban market of 25- to 35-year-olds. Our task was to create that personality and take it to a younger audience."
He said the target audience had not been considering the Corsa as a viable car option when faced with other options, such as the relaunched Mini, the Peugeot 206 and the Renault Clio. "Younger people base their car-buying decision not so much on technical and spec issues but how the vehicle looks. Personality is also a crucial issue in deciding what car to buy, he said.
Overall, the Ford Focus is the best-selling car in the UK, with the Corsa taking second place. The marque also competes against the Peugeot 206, its sister marque, the Vauxhall Astra, and the Renault Clio.
DLKW stormed on to the Vauxhall roster in June this year after the car manufacturer invited it to pitch alongside its lead agency, Lowe, for the £16 million Corsa account.
Also pitching was DFGW, which had previously resigned its UK Daewoo account.
DLKW's appointment came as a blow to Lowe, which held the main Vauxhall account for 18 years, and caused many to speculate that DLKW would take other parts of the account.
The Vauxhall marketing director, Dean Barrett, said at the time that the Corsa brand needed "fresh thinking and creative treatments", and explained the winning agency would compete with Lowe on projects as they arose.
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