Audi has been busy lately, pumping out ads for their newest cars in sponsorship deals with Iron Man while simultaneously pitting past and present versions of Spock against each other. The automaker seems to be at it again, now with longtime agency Venables Bell & Partners, for a 60-second spot that traces back to the origin of the company. Retro footage of Audi’s founder, August Horch, and old-school automobiles plays for most of the spot, set to narration of the children’s poem It Couldn’t Be Done, written by Edgar Albert Guest. I guess Dr. Suess was busy.

By design, most of the commercial feels like it belongs to pre-1980, but the dissonance of the kid’s poem and the speeding-car shots strikes a cool chord. While previous car spots may be clever or topical when full of movie stars, this one stands out in a good way. It’s smooth and engaging, presumably, like a ride in a new Audi. Credits and a couple of :15 second spots after the jump.

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This 30-second spot, produced by Venables Bell & Partners, attempts to show the audience how billionaire superheroes commute to work. The average worker takes the bus, the train, maybe drives an average car. Tony Stark drives an Audi R8 supercar. Of course, he could also just commute in his Iron Man suit, which would make the R8 seem irrelevant, but that wouldn’t be very good Audi product placement.

You’ve seen this type of spiel before: “It’s never a bad day at work when your commute looks like this.” I’ve never been a fan of this pitch to consumers. After enough time, a car becomes a car. And if your job still sucks, if you have that pontificating boss, or you work till 9 p.m., going home in an R8 won’t stop you from hating a job (but it might help you attract women). And with a minimum MSRP of $114,000 on last year’s model, you’ll most likely hate your bank account afterward, too. But at least it looks cool, right? Credits after the jump.

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What the beep? is right. Venables Bell & Partners is teaming with gasoline company 76 to stop honkaholism, a vicious nonexistent affliction that doesn’t actually affect many people. If you happen to live in New York City, you may hear the occasional overzealous honker, but building an ad campaign around the concept of overhonking seems overzealous in and of itself. Not to mention the humor rooted in the idea of a gasoline company trying to stop noise pollution, which is like a drug dealer trying to encourage people to take Tylenol.

The campaign comes fully stocked with website, billboards, the above 30-second spot, and even a touring “Stop Honkaholism Bus.” If you’re compelled to dig deeper, you can receive a free Honk Suppressor for your dashboard, which means instead of hitting your car horn, you pound a fist into the suppressor instead. Kind of like a Nicotine patch for your vehicle. It is free, so VB&P and 76 should get points for that. Credits after the jump.

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You can check out VB&P’s first work for eBay after taking on lead creative agency duties for “the world’s largest online marketplace” here. We’ve been told that following the cuts, which spies affected some senior-level staffers as well, staff count at VB&P is approximately 200. The agency, of course, works with other notable clients including Audi and Intel.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Who needs holy intervention when all it takes is a little HMTL5 and CSS magic to do the trick. Seeing as it’s lunchtime over here on the East Coast and all, why not kill a few minutes and take a stroll through Venables Bell & Partners’ newly redesigned website, which, according to the folks at the San Francisco agency, is “designed to be a living organism—complete with an ever-changing real-time feed announcing everything the agency creates from the moment it launches.”

While the homepage of this “living organism” is not quite as playful as, say, Mullen’s, the animated tile display in each section makes it pretty easy to navigate and find out more about VB&P, if that’s what you’re going for. As for specs, the majority of the new VB&P site was built in-house, from UX to technical architecture, while L.A.-based shop Active Theory assisted on front-end development. We’ve been told that there are even a few Easter eggs hidden within the JavaScript-animated content and tags. Feel free to search away.

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Audi and VB+P are traditionally all about appealing to consumers’ inner-adolescent with their Super Bowl ads. Remember when vampires were a big deal? Audi remembered, so they put vampires in their Super Bowl spot last year. However, as the Twilight film series has ended, Audi and VB+P are telling a bit more of a timeless story with this year’s installment, “Prom (Worth It).”

We open on a classic American pastime, a young lad about to go to prom who, judging by his lack of date, is a loser. His dad, in a surprising move, allows him to take his sleek Audi A6 to the big dance. This isn’t the only unrealistic part of the spot, as the boy ends up making out with his crush and getting a shiner from her boyfriend. It’s not exactly the kind of bold move I support, especially as the boy doesn’t seem to ask permission from his female victim. But, according to Audi, who cares? He took what he wanted, and was rewarded. There’s nothing more American than that.

The campaign, which uses the #BraveryWins hashtag, doesn’t seem to be targeting suburban high-schoolers like the protagonist in “Prom,” and instead aims at fathers who are fearful that their spawn may never get any action. In any case, it’s cute enough to be a crowd-pleaser, but I hesitate to think that this will be one of the Super Bowl’s most talked-about ads. Credits after the jump.

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Worlds collide in the latest spot from Venables Bell & Partners, as Google and Audi share in the stage in “Enhancing Navigation.” How significant is this pairing? Well, I want you to question that as you listen to this classic Powerman 5000 song from 1999. God, what a ridiculous song.

Anyway, the above spot follows an Audi A4-driving couple through a freeze-framed Google Street View rendering of San Francisco. As we watch the couple traverse a familiar blue line and arrive at various red checkpoints, it’s funny to think of how much Apple Maps made Americans pledge their undying allegiance to Google Maps. Perhaps it’s this rekindled fandom for Google (and the jangly soft indie folk track) that gives this spot a warm, almost nostalgic ambiance.

Finally, we see the couple arrive at (SPOILER) a sunny beach where we realize they’re using Google Maps (which pulls from Google Earth and Google Street View) to navigate to their own wedding. As an Easter egg, you may notice that the couple’s four pits stops along the way were to pick up something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Yes, the thought of something that cloying is a bit gag-inducing, but somehow VB&P keeps this spot fun-cute as opposed to annoying-cute. Credits follow after the jump.

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As for the new managing director, Birks-Hay joined VB&P from U.K.-based AMV BBDO, where he spent two-and-a-half years and helped, win, lead and grow (we believe in that order) accounts including Mercedes-Benz, Capital One, Guinness, Diageo and PepsiCo.

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During his time at AKQA, Perez also oversaw the creative internship program “FORGE,” as well as a small team of recruiters and coordinators in both San Francisco and Portland.  VB&P ECD Will McGinness sings the new hire’s praises in a statement, “We’re thrilled to have David at VB&P in this new role. His sustained track record of recruiting great talent and personality will add a lot to VB&P’s culture.”

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From Venables Bell & Partners, the same agency whose larger-than-life contraptions for Google Maps and Google Fiber injected a third-dimension into the online world, comes two very different-looking spots for the new Google Search App.

Unlike the Maps and Fiber work, which relied on large, custom-built machines to explain the functionality of the Google’s tools, VB+P is relying on a more traditional mode of storytelling for the Search App, focusing on how the voice-activated tool assists regular people in daily life. Yes, a young girl being forced to dress like Martin Van Buren for a school project is a bit improbable. But, still, mom goes into mom-mode with the help of the Search App, and creates something pretty amazing in just a matter of minutes.

A second spot, “Umpire,” is just as pleasant. What I like about these spots is their simplicity. Unlike Siri, Apple’s voice tool which, due to its terrible functionality most iPhone users avoid like the plague, the Google Search app functions as an easy on-the-go reference tool that seems to actually work. While neither of the real world situations depicted in the spots is all that likely, imagine the wonders the Search App could perform on bar bets. Why, you don’t even have to go to Wikipedia first anymore! Credits after the jump.

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Yes, the holiday advertising season is upon us, and with it comes glad tidings of great consumer spending.

Taking the lead for Christmas 2012 is eBay, that magical monolith of online shopping, who in this spot for VB+P is reminding idiotic, out-of-touch wealthy parents that buying your young daughter a pony is a fucking stupid idea. Sorry, dumb parents, but ponies are terrible pets that do not cope well with being indoors. Also, it’s been proven that ponies will most certainly turn on their young female owners, stomping them to death in protest for being plucked from their wild environs for a life of servitude (not really).

But, really, if you’re even slightly considering buying your daughter a pony for Christmas, you need to stop. This will not make you a good parent, and in two years, your daughter will neglect her tiny horse and force you to have to lure it into a field off the highway to put down. And, do you really think one bullet will kill that thing? Any way you look at it, it will be more expensive than buying a stuffed pony on eBay. Credits after the jump.

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Initially, Venables Bell & Partners’ latest campaign for Conoco gas reminds me of Yahoo’s giant “Purple People Greeter” mailbox. Both are sassy talking objects that attract dogs, love hugs and give gifts. But while Yahoo’s chubby mailbox handed out an assortment of presents to New Yorkers (a dog bone, Yankee tickets, a giant lollipop), Conoco’s vocal car is filled with outdoor gear, designed to delight nature-loving Denverites.

“The Great Conoco Fill-Up” is specifically tailored to the adventurous people of Colorado’s capitol, inspiring them to “fill up and get out there.” After the talking car–which is, what else, an Audi–catches passersby off guard, they’re told to take their pick from ski boots and water bottles, a kayak or a mountain bike. Of course they’re stoked, and will go home to tell their family and friends about their good fortune. But will they start choosing Conoco gas? Is one good deed enough to get a brand some new, dedicated users? Credits after the jump.

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Ladies be lovin’ handbags, amirite guys? I mean, what woman in America can’t totally relate to how absolutely insane this purse-coveting psychopath becomes upon seeing the item of her dreams?

To be honest, I only recently became aware that the target demographic of Venables Bell & Partners’ and prodco Arts and Sciences’ new spot for eBay, “Frenzy,” is actually all too real. My ladyfriend works for a luxury consignment store in Chicago, and I find it absolutely fascinating how closely her company is tied to eBay. In my uninformed mind, selling second-hand apparel online means finding the strengths (or surpluses) in your company’s inventory and writing Google Ads to move product. However, I’ve come to learn that a highly-rated eBay account is the best advertising for a company that sells high-end designer products. If the game is to sell a $40,000 python skin purse, eBay can actually make all the difference.

The new campaign from VB&P consists of two other TV spots. The second of which (above) finds parents indulging in their conspicuous consuming habits in order to ease the transition into new parenthood. Hey, if you can’t sleep at night, it might as well be the fault of a crying baby AND a brand new speaker system. Yes, these people are terrible. Credits and the third spot follow after the jump.

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Well, it appears that San Francisco’s Venables Bell & Partners has been quite busy as of late, as the agency’s not only given us an appealing new spot for Audi, but it’s also been churning out a web series for eBay Motors dubbed BUILT. What’s the idea, you ask? Well, we have four cars that are being built by four different teams in four garages from parts solely found on eBay. The series, ten episodes in all, has finally concluded and now the four end results are being put up for auction through Sept. 14. Take a gander at what you’re bidding for, if you so choose, below. We’re kinda partial to the Lowrider ourselves, though we imagine the current $20G bid will go up a bit.

You can check out the last episode of BUILT after the jump.

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Debuting tonight during the Giants vs. Cowboys NFL season kickoff, the above 60-second spot from Venables Bell & Partners titled “Suspect” marks the first time Audi is introducing its full line of S models to the U.S.

Despite the YouTube commentariat noting that the S8 is too overweight to be race-engineered, an accusation that sounds plausible though I am too unfamiliar with racing to confirm or deny the validity of it, Audi has selected the campaign tagline “Heighten Every Moment” to describe the intensity that waiting in your car for your girlfriend to pickup coffee will undoubtedly provide. Yes, most passerby will assume you stole the S8, and may have your sights set on that armored car as well. Just don’t be a minority driving the S8 (especially in Arizona), or you’ll most likely be shot by a rent-a-cop with a transistor radio.

Audi is also pleased to announce today that it will be returning to Super Bowl advertising for the sixth consecutive year in early 2013. Watch this year’s spot, “Vampire Party,” here and view credits for “Suspect” after the jump.

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