Porsche’s Super Bowl commercial was half “The Italian Job”, half security guard fantasy. As interesting as it was, the behind the scenes footage and stories are nearly just as much so.
The spot was filmed primarily in and around Porsche’s headquarters in Zuffenhausen, Germany at the end of November 2019. Most of the 10 vehicles featured in the commercial are part of the Porsche Museum collection in the town including the new all-electric Porsche Taycan.
“We have a lot of experience preparing historic vehicles for all kinds of operations but driving a 917 through the centre of Stuttgart, at night, was a first even for us,” explains Alexander Klein, Head of Vehicle Management and Heritage Experience at the Porsche Museum. “When we travelled to the location in the Black Forest the roads were covered in snow, and stayed that way until the evening before the shoot. Fortunately, we were prepared and had different tyre profiles and compounds with us, especially for the racing cars. We did not make any technical changes to the museum vehicles though.”
Locations for the advertisement are easily identifiable to locals of the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen area. The opening cuts of the commercial were filmed inside the museum. The cars zoom around the famous Porsche roundabout in Zuffenhausen and the route taken in the spot moves from Stuttgart, Heidelberg, and Heppenheim to the Schwarzenbachtalsperre dam in the northern Black Forest.
The driving was’t left to amateurs. One of the drivers, Harald Müller, held the World Record for drifting, while Porsche factory driver Lars Kern was behind the wheel of the iconic 917 K.
Including the drivers, it took a team of 150 people to make the 2:31 extended cut of the commercial come to to life.
Porsche filmed most of the scenes for the ad around its Germany headquarters building.Photo courtesy of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
The director of the product was Wayne McClammy, who, at points during filming, was using up to four cameras at the same time and had a Cayenne fitted with a Russian Arm: a roof-mounted camera crane. Arial shots were completed by two drones, including one that has a top speed of 160 km per hour.
The Super Bowl does’t have to be the last time you see the ad. Check out the extended cut here.
