A few years ago, Renault made a very strange commercial. It involved Ellie Jean-Coffey, an F1 racecar, and a giant surfboard. The reason for the advertisement was to reveal their new Renault formula one team livery for the 2016 season.
“I came up with the original idea of having an F1 car on a surfboard,” explained Francois Puentes, head of Renault’s sports marketing. “Then it kind of snowballed into a much bigger idea. It was very much of a team effort to come up with the whole storyboard and what we were going to do with the stunt.”
Formula One drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer were enlisted for the ad. Of course, putting an F1 car on a surfboard is no easy task. “We had to commission the build of a surfboard,” Puentes continued. “Many, many things could have gone wrong.”
Once the board was built, they simply attached a rope to it and towed it around. “I’ve never seen a board that big,” Coffey said. “Let alone a racecar on top of it. It’s quite wild.”
For a behind-the-scenes look at how the ad was made, click here.
