VA VA VOOM IS BACK:

RIHANNA, THIERRY HENRY AND DITA VON TEESE

STAR IN SENSATIONAL NEW RENAULT CLIO TV AD CAMPAIGN

Rihanna and Dita Von Teese have joined Thierry Henry, the star of the original Renault Clio Va Va Voom ads, in a sassy new TV ad campaign. Launching tonight during ITV1’s ‘Dancing on Ice’, the commercial also stars screen icons Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando and features music legend, David Bowie.

The sensational new ad asks – ‘What is Va Va Voom?’ at the opening night of an ultra-cool, secret underground exhibition. We move through it with the guests, who include Thierry Henry, and see a series of exhibits which show each celebrity and explore the subtleties of the indefinable quality of their Va Va Voom. ‘Is it more?’ – asks the film, as we see Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, ‘Is it less?’ - Dita Von Teese performing burlesque, ‘Does it smoulder?’ - Marlon Brando in his cult film ‘On the Waterfront’, ‘Does it burn brightly?’ – we see a tattoo of David Bowie, ‘Is there a Queen of it?’ - Rihanna in a crowd of paparazzi surrounding her in the new S&M video. The final installation is a white Clio Renaultsport, the epitome of Va Va Voom, majestically suspended from the warehouse roof in a dramatic exhibition space.

The original Va Va Voom ads starring Thierry Henry struck such a chord that the phrase entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004, as ‘the quality of being exciting, vigorous and sexually attractive'. Before Va Va Voom came the equally phenomenally successful series of ‘Papa and Nicole’ ads.

Phil York, Renault UK Marketing Director, said, ‘We’ve filmed a brand new Renault Clio Va Va Voom ad because the campaign is still so popular after 5 years off the air. Rihanna and Dita are the current queens of Va Va Voom, so we asked them to show us exactly why. But we couldn’t make a new ad without Thierry and he looks pretty impressed.’

When asked what the elusive quality of Va Va Voom was, burlesque star Dita Von Teese said, “For me, Va Va Voom is expressing your passion or sexual excitement for something. Maybe it isn’t sexual, but it makes you feel that way when you see it. You want it, and you can’t even explain why you want it.”

Football icon, Thierry Henry said, ‘What is Va Va Voom? It’s kind of difficult to describe…it’s when you see something and think wow; for me it means that it has Va Va Voom.’

The music is a mix of Rihanna’s S&M, Clare Maguire’s Ain’t Nobody and David Bowie’s Space Oddity.

Fans of Rihanna, Thierry Henry and Dita Von Teese who are eager to catch a glimpse of their idols, should go to www.facebook.com/cliovavavoom to watch the full 40 second ad created by Publicis London, plus a 2 minute behind the scenes film from the shoot.

- Ends -

 

Past Renault Clio Va Va Voom commercials, created by Publicis:

Thierry Henry ‘The House’: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YRDpPnBJVuI

Thierry Henry ‘Drummer’: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OJuWDsJkYLc

Thierry Henry ‘Las Vegas’: http://youtube.com/watch?v=649j9FS7e5g

Twice the Va Va Voom: http://youtube.com/watch?v=IAEJ_QLOXgk

 

About Rihanna

Rihanna is currently the world’s most successful female singer. To date she has sold over 45 million singles, 24 million albums, won three Grammy’s fifteen billboard awards and four American Music Awards. She is the only solo female artist in UK chart history to score five number one singles in consecutive years.

 

About Dita Von Teese

Internationally renowned as the ‘Queen of Burlesque’, Dita Von Teese is widely credited for putting the ‘tease back into striptease’ with her elaborate Burlesque shows featuring ornate props and lavish costumes. Her most famous show features her bathing in a giant martini glass, but her repertoire also includes a carousel horse, a giant powder compact, and an opulent opium den. Her distinct retro-inspired style has made her one of the fashion icons of our time.

About Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer. He made his name at Arsenal in the Premier League and is their all time leading goal scorer with 226 goals. In 2007, he transferred to Barcelona and subsequently completed the League, Cup and Champions League treble in 2009. He was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year twice, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry enjoyed similar success with the French national team, having won the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000 and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In October 2007, became France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch he is an active spokesperson against racism in football. He has starred in three Renault Clio Va Va Voom commercials to date.

About Renault

The Renault Group designs, engineers, manufactures and sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under its three brands - Renault, Dacia and Renault Samsung Motors. In 2010, the Renault Group sold 2.6 million vehicles throughout 118 countries. ‘Va Va Voom’ is a registered trademark of Renault.

 

About Publicis London

Publicis London is a full service advertising agency that creates populist campaigns people will want to participate in and pass on. Clients include Pernod Ricard, Renault, Procter and Gamble, United Biscuits, Garnier, the Government, UBS and Zurich. The agency was awarded over 100 industry accolades in 2010 including Best Integrated Marketing Campaign at the Marketing Week Engage awards for it’s highly successful 'Start Thinking Soldier' recruitment campaign for the Army.

Latest campaigns include The Megane Experiment, www.themeganeexperiment.com, created for Renault UK, an intricately planned customer journey that used PR to feed anticipation of a wider campaign. Our hero Claude’s ironic comparison between the French town of Menton and that of Gisburn in Lancashire generated a huge amount of PR coverage. It also created the award-winning iPhone App iHobo for homelessness charity Depaul UK. Publicis London has created iconic campaigns for Renault including ‘Papa, Nicole’ and ‘Size Matters’.

Publicis London is part of Publicis Group UK, which also houses agencies expert in digital, demand generation, contract publishing and content solutions, itself part of the Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group with activities spanning 104 countries on five continents.