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General Motors Holden: HQ Kingswood Sedan
Title:
General Motors Holden: HQ Kingswood Sedan
NFSA ID
414092
Year
1971
Courtesy
General Motors Holden
This black-and-white television advertisement for the Holden HQ Kingswood sedan begins with a stationary sedan positioned against a waterfall. The camera frames the car from a number of angles then a song starts as the car drives along dark roads. A couple holding an umbrella walk towards the car as 'Holden The Great Way to Move’ appears on screen.
This advertisement was one of several which used the 'great way to move’ jingle and waterfall aesthetic. It associates (somewhat tenuously) the staged waterfall backdrop with the 'clean and fresh-flowing’ lines of the new Holden. The HQ model was, according to the company at the time, the most significant redesign since the first Holden in 1948. More than half of this 60-second ad focuses on the stationary Kingswood’s exterior, emphasising the new shape and uncluttered lines over improved safety features and engineering developments.
The ad’s profiling of the new shape and line of the car may have been enough to sell it for some potential buyers. The clip’s visual elements – the waterfall and couple with the umbrella – may work conceptually but don’t seem a particularly persuasive gimmick for selling a new car. The most effective element of the ad is the low, smooth voice-over from John Laws. His seductive tones urge us to 'look closely’ and then 'look again’, using repetition to reinforce his point. The smartly dressed couple, having taken the car out for a test drive, are presumably returning to take another look, as the voice-over instructs.
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