• Bold new ads create confidence for drivers
  • Follows tradition of iconic AA ads
  • Airs for first time 17 July during ‘Love Island’

Picture the scene. Three robbers rush out of the bank wearing masks with bank notes fluttering out of their holdall. To their horror the getaway car has two flat tyres. The getaway driver seems relaxed, shrugs, and says with unexpected confidence: “Its OK lads, I’m with the AA.”

This is just one daring snippet from the new series of AA TV advertisements based on the ‘It’s OK, I’m with the AA’ theme.

Other snippets show:

A man who has put petrol into his diesel vehicle

An X Ray showing car keys wedged in the pelvic region of a man

A driving school pupil driving towards a swirling enormous vortex

A couple making out passionately in a hotel room when the husband calls

Father and son looking at new car when a meteor crushes it

The common theme is that everything is OK, when you’re with the AA. The feeling of unshakeable, optimistic confidence that when you’ve got the AA on your side, no matter what happens in your driving world. ‘It’s OK, I’m with the AA’.

The radical new ads air for the first time during ITV2’s Love Island on Monday 17th July. The new AA ads follow in the footsteps of classics such as ‘very nice man’, ‘I know a man who can’, 4th Emergency service, Singing Baby, and more recently ‘Love that feeling’ with Tukker the dog in front of the fan.

These new ads will surprise people, maybe shock some people but are there to show that with such a range of services, no matter what you face, you can be confident that with the AA, you’re always ahead.

The scenes in the new ad are extreme and imagined, however the AA is often involved in heroic and whacky incidents.

TOP TEN BIZARRE REAL LIFE AA STORIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE AD

The AA is often involved in classic breakdown call outs so perhaps the ads are not that far from the truth……

Bark and ride

Quick-thinking patrol Kevin Gorman turned detective when a car in Surrey wouldn’t start. He saw that the immobiliser chip inside the key fob was missing and discovered that the member’s dog had swallowed it. Kevin put the dog behind the wheel and the car started.

Help! My car has a nut allergy

AA patrol Andy Smith from Basingstoke attended a car with loss of power but no obvious fault. Spotting an air pipe collapsing while the engine was being revved, he took the air intake off and discovered it was rammed with a squirrel’s secret acorn stash.

Nailed it

A motorist’s car developed a misfire after hitting a deep puddle that caused electricity to arc along a small crack on the ignition coil pack. The AA member was initially confused when the patrol returned from his van with some nail varnish, but all became clear when he used it to temporarily seal the hairline crack on the module allowing the member to continue his journey.

‘Can’ you believe it?

Two sisters broke down on the A55 with a hole in their car’s exhaust. The patrol used a discarded drink can found on the embankment to patch up the pipe and get them home.

Hiss and miss

A driver in Sheffield reported a hissing coming from her car that left former patrol of the year Mark Spowage somewhat puzzled. Having exhausted everything else, he looked in the boot and found a can of hairspray jammed on inside the member’s gym bag.

Lost and found

Newcastle patrol Paul Bowman was called out to a lady who couldn’t unlock her car at the local garden centre. Not to be rushed, he asked her to recall her arrival and discovered that she had parked in the same position two rows down. The cars looked almost identical, and the irony was that she had left her own car unlocked.

Quiet as a mouse

Customer had been ranting to the car manufacturer about their brand-new car not working. However, a diplomatic AA patrol found that the running fault that had got him into such a rage, had been caused by a rodent chewing through the car’s ignition wiring.

AA patrol earns his wings

Northwest AA patrol gets airline pilot to his 400 waiting passengers just before the plane was scheduled to take-off. Patrol Tony Rich attended an unusual breakdown near Manchester, where the priority for once, wasn’t to get the member’s car going, but to get the member going – straight to the airport runway where the only thing missing from the plane was the pilot.

Tic Tac doh!

Young couple heading towards the Lake District in a luxury car belonging to young lad’s father when the nervous driver said a rattle was heard from the middle of the car after leaving the motorway services. AA patrol spares the member’s blushes to return car to mint condition as the rattle was a pack of Tic Tac’s rattling around the centre console after the member had stored them after buying them at the services.

Baby on board

A patrol was assisting an AA member after the wheel had fallen off his van on a motorway service area, when a lady came running over, frantic with worry. She’d stopped to attend to her baby who had become unwell and then accidentally locked the child inside the car, along with the keys. The patrol quickly unlocked the car, much to the lady’s relief.

Comments

Commenting on the campaign, Edmund King, AA president, said: “People may be shocked seeing the AA helping bank robbers or the driving school directing a pupil towards a vortex, but these exaggerated scenes are there to show that customers with the AA can be confident that they will be ok whatever happens. ‘Always Ahead’ was a slogan used by the AA a century ago, but it is as relevant today as it was then.”

Will Harrison, AA group brand director, said: “Since 1905 the AA has been committed to putting drivers first and this new treatment shows that today we can bring confidence to drivers now and for the future for all their driving needs.

“We think the phrase ‘Its ok. I’m with the AA’ will resonate with current and future members.”