Well this is meta. A new ad, created by North 40 Productions, for the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA — which perviously strutted out a collection of bodacious hip hop hotties, along with spokes-creature Woody Goomsba to tout the destination — is out with an ad that has Travelocity’s Gnome and Geico’s Gecko chasing down Goomsba in a James Bond-ish boat chase epic.
Entitled Nutcracker’s Never Die, the ad stars Woody Goomsba in a “riveting” boat chase near downtown Leavenworth filled with gunfire, explosions, and beautiful frauleins. The ad initially promotes several of Leavenworth’s attractions and activities, but soon turns to the boat scene that inspired the video’s title.
In 2011 when the dirndl-clad hip hop hotties appeared in the destination’s ad, Leavenworth’s on-line presence jumped substantially accumulating nearly 500,000 hits on YouTube and, forever, changed up the standard for online tourism marketing across the country.
While we love the use of Gnome and Gecko, the ad itself is rather boring and no where near as interesting or engaging as the original. Just 1,766 views so far. Meta-funny as having a pair of brand ambassadors chase down Woody, we’re going to go out on a limb and posit this trio won’t come close to besting the original’s bevy of bodacious hip hop hotties cavorting in dirndl mini-dresses.
