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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After spending five years as an art director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Cris Logan has joined up with fellow Bay Area agency Venables Bell & Partners as a design director. During his half-decade AD stint at Goodby, Logan (pictured) worked on the agency’s most notable past and present accounts including Hyundai, Sprint, HP, California Milk Processors Board, Haagen-Dazs and Sonic. Other agency gigs on Logan’s resume include AD/designer at McCann, where he spent three years and was involved with clients including Microsoft, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland A’s.

In addition to Logan’s arrival, VB&P promoted Lee Einhorn to creative director. Einhorn has been toiling at Venables for nearly two years now and in the process, has worked on the Barclays, Orville Redenbacher’s and eBay business (example here) among others. During his career, Einhorn started Arnold’s Entertainment unit, spent some time as a digital creative and Mekanism and started things off at Publicis & Hal Riney and Arnold.