Volkswagen Channels the 80's With 'Take On Me'

To tout its Carefree Maintenance program, Volkswagen is out with a new Deutsch New York-created ad which features A-Ha's 1980's hit "Take On Me." In the ad, which combines animation, stills and live action like the original, a man evades a menacing mechanic and gets the girl after he crosses the finish line.

It's all innocent and fun until you realize the whole thing was conjured in the mind of a man sitting in a conference room who suddenly hears the song and asks, "Is that me? Was I singing?"

The spot was created using the same rotoscoping method as the original video--they filmed the actors and the cars and then animated the results.