little red corvette

Brilliant and beautiful ads for Mattel's Hot Wheels by Ogilvy & Mather London peel back the nostalgia of floor play for Dads. You know that inner kid - the twinkle sparked when they over-orchestrate the Science Fair project or obsessively keep the Nintendo going long after the young ones have gone to sleep. It's no wonder the ads, marking the 40th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand, have been placed in adult publications like the Observer Magazine; the latest from Hot Wheels taps into that very set of ingrained associations adults have with childhood 'play' - the imaginary worlds created in years past - at about a foot above the floor.



















It's a well-executed strategy by Ogilvy for the Hot Wheels brand, and specifically by Jason Mendes and Andy Wyton, the two creatives behind the clever Hot Wheels ads to come out of the anniversary campaign. The ads don't show the product or any sort of vehicle, but instead utilize a more subtle and sophisticated approach suggesting the sensory delights and resourceful childhood stunt constructions created when playing with the mini toy cars.