Skoda reworks 'Cake' advert to promote Fabia vRS

Skoda has revisited one of its most famous TV ads, the feelgood commercial featuring bakers lovingly making a cake car to the strains of Julie Andrews , reinventing it with a heavy metal twist to promote a new Fabia model. The TV campaign, created by ad agency Fallon, is described as a "darker twist" on the 2007 commercial called "Cake" that featured Julie Andrews track My Favourite Things. The original ad featured the line "Made of lovely stuff", while the new commercial will use the strapline "Made of meaner stuff". Skoda's new campaign, featuring a hard rock version of My Favourite Things by the band Sound Tree, replaced the bakers with a motley crew of "meaner" car-makers. Cake is substituted by items including snake venom, samurai swords and barbed wire. A performance of the ad is planned for Top Gear Live, the touring spin-off of the BBC2 show, with the cake makers behind the Fabia competing against the "mean" production crew behind the new Fabia vRS. The TV campaign, which features fleeting references to the "Cake" ad to remind viewers of the deliberate reinvention, breaks today . There are two versions of the ad. A 30-second version will be aired around shows such as Takeshi's Castle, with the main 60-second ad broadcast on networks including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. The new campaign includes national and consumer lifestyle, sports and motoring print advertising as well as a significant presence in cinemas and online. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".