Business Week Magazine Reports:
Sales-Drivers Wanted at VW
A lively and witty ad campaign could get the auto maker's stale relationship with enthusiasts out of the slow lane...and sell some cars, too
Volkswagen has been looking for a new bolt of energy for its faltering brand, and it may finally be on to something with its first marketing campaign from its new ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Four new TV ads for its just-released GTI performance car that broke this week during the Winter Olympics are the most energized and brand-correct ads to come from VW in five years -- back when the German auto maker was setting an ad standard for companies in and out of the automotive category. The ads' theme is "Make Friends With Your Fast," a reference to the "thing" inside drivers that makes them like to go fast and drive high-performance cars. In the ads, as well as the broader marketing campaign, the "fast" is embodied in a strange little character that looks like a cross between Darth Vader and the Tasmanian Devil. It rides with the drivers of the car, and is heard speaking as if it's the driver's conscience.
FAST COMPANY. It's not as tortured a creative vehicle as it sounds. Though Volkswagen's decade-old "Drivers Wanted" theme doesn't appear, VW and the ad agency say not to assume that the slogan is going to be replaced. The "Make Friends..." line is unique to the GTI launch.
In one ad, a guy in his early 20s is seen clearly enjoying his drive. The windows are down, the engine is roaring and his girlfriend's hair is blowing all over. She asks if he can put the windows up. The "Fast" is heard to say, "My Fast likes to drive with the windows down." The wind-blown girl is asking why they always have to ride with the windows down. "The 'Fast' implores, "Don't. Don't." The driver, cast well as a slightly pimply geek, probably into Asian indie music, cuts her off: "Sweetie, it's really hard to enjoy the sound of the engine with all that yackin'."
DRIVING URGE. These ads remind me a little of beer commercials. You know, like Budweiser or Bud Lite ads in which the young guy or guys are humorously depicted as being way more into their beer than their wives or girlfriends. There is another GTI spot in which a guy goes off on an errand, leaving his girlfriend behind a locked passenger door because he doesn't want her extra weight (she's not overweight) dragging down his driving experience.
Perhaps its no coincidence that just as this ad agency was gearing up for VW, it was tapped by Miller Brewing to be the new agency on its Lite brand. But the ads are funny, and they work for the brand. Owning a VW is about liking to drive. "On the road of life, there are passengers and drivers," goes the VW positioning. "Drivers wanted."
I actually hope that VW keeps the "Drivers wanted" slogan. Changing slogans is lazy advertising. Crispin is on the right track, freshening and reviving VW with some smart, funny ads that feel right.
FAST WOMAN. Coming soon: A series of ads themed, "Pre-Tuned in Deutschland." The ads are a nod to Volkswagen's German engineering heritage and the idea that the auto maker's engineers are better at tuning cars for performance than the aftermarket shops that bolt on turbo chargers, spoilers, dual coffee-can exhaust pipes and spinning wheel covers.
The star of these ads is a white-leather clad dominatrix-type German blonde named Helga who rides along with GTI drivers. On the Volkswagen Web site, vw.com, visitors who configure their own GTI for equipment and features can go for a virtual ride with Helga.
The launch of the GTI and a compelling ad campaign come in the nick of time for VW. It is losing money in the U.S. by the trunkload because of lagging sales and a low U.S. dollar that make profitability a big challenge for the company.
On top of that, the launches last year of the redesigned Passat and Jetta, VW's highest volume cars, were greeted with yawns. The designs were seen as too conservative, and the advertising campaigns for them lacked any of the energy that so effectively propelled VW's comeback from 1995 to 2002. VW sales dropped 7.6%, to 311,000 vehicles, despite the launch of its two most important cars. VW is down more than 100,000 sales a year since 2001.
RIPPLE EFFECT? In the late 1990s, Arnold Communication, Boston, made its reputation on its Volkswagen work. One TV ad featuring two college-aged young men driving around town to the indie-rock cult song, "Da-da-da" by German techno band Trio, is hailed nine years after it ran as one of the most memorable ads of the 1990s. Arnold's body of work for VW was generally thought of as the best in the ad industry. That was before VW's aspirations of luxury car sales sucked all the fun out of the brand.
Volkswagen has been running the GTI TV ads as the official sponsor of the HDTV broadcast of the Olympics. The company isn't disclosing how much it's spending on the sponsorship and the ad time, but it far outweighs the actual sales potential of the GTI.
That's O.K., though. As Bogusky says, "When ads for one product resonate, it lifts all vehicles." He's right. Just look at how New Beetle saved VW in the U.S. I'm not sure GTI has the heft to do that, but these ads are a good start.
The 4 new GTI "Fast" ads can be downloaded from the video gallery - http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10
Sales-Drivers Wanted at VW
A lively and witty ad campaign could get the auto maker's stale relationship with enthusiasts out of the slow lane...and sell some cars, too
Volkswagen has been looking for a new bolt of energy for its faltering brand, and it may finally be on to something with its first marketing campaign from its new ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Four new TV ads for its just-released GTI performance car that broke this week during the Winter Olympics are the most energized and brand-correct ads to come from VW in five years -- back when the German auto maker was setting an ad standard for companies in and out of the automotive category. The ads' theme is "Make Friends With Your Fast," a reference to the "thing" inside drivers that makes them like to go fast and drive high-performance cars. In the ads, as well as the broader marketing campaign, the "fast" is embodied in a strange little character that looks like a cross between Darth Vader and the Tasmanian Devil. It rides with the drivers of the car, and is heard speaking as if it's the driver's conscience.
FAST COMPANY. It's not as tortured a creative vehicle as it sounds. Though Volkswagen's decade-old "Drivers Wanted" theme doesn't appear, VW and the ad agency say not to assume that the slogan is going to be replaced. The "Make Friends..." line is unique to the GTI launch.
In one ad, a guy in his early 20s is seen clearly enjoying his drive. The windows are down, the engine is roaring and his girlfriend's hair is blowing all over. She asks if he can put the windows up. The "Fast" is heard to say, "My Fast likes to drive with the windows down." The wind-blown girl is asking why they always have to ride with the windows down. "The 'Fast' implores, "Don't. Don't." The driver, cast well as a slightly pimply geek, probably into Asian indie music, cuts her off: "Sweetie, it's really hard to enjoy the sound of the engine with all that yackin'."
DRIVING URGE. These ads remind me a little of beer commercials. You know, like Budweiser or Bud Lite ads in which the young guy or guys are humorously depicted as being way more into their beer than their wives or girlfriends. There is another GTI spot in which a guy goes off on an errand, leaving his girlfriend behind a locked passenger door because he doesn't want her extra weight (she's not overweight) dragging down his driving experience.
Perhaps its no coincidence that just as this ad agency was gearing up for VW, it was tapped by Miller Brewing to be the new agency on its Lite brand. But the ads are funny, and they work for the brand. Owning a VW is about liking to drive. "On the road of life, there are passengers and drivers," goes the VW positioning. "Drivers wanted."
I actually hope that VW keeps the "Drivers wanted" slogan. Changing slogans is lazy advertising. Crispin is on the right track, freshening and reviving VW with some smart, funny ads that feel right.
FAST WOMAN. Coming soon: A series of ads themed, "Pre-Tuned in Deutschland." The ads are a nod to Volkswagen's German engineering heritage and the idea that the auto maker's engineers are better at tuning cars for performance than the aftermarket shops that bolt on turbo chargers, spoilers, dual coffee-can exhaust pipes and spinning wheel covers.
The star of these ads is a white-leather clad dominatrix-type German blonde named Helga who rides along with GTI drivers. On the Volkswagen Web site, vw.com, visitors who configure their own GTI for equipment and features can go for a virtual ride with Helga.
The launch of the GTI and a compelling ad campaign come in the nick of time for VW. It is losing money in the U.S. by the trunkload because of lagging sales and a low U.S. dollar that make profitability a big challenge for the company.
On top of that, the launches last year of the redesigned Passat and Jetta, VW's highest volume cars, were greeted with yawns. The designs were seen as too conservative, and the advertising campaigns for them lacked any of the energy that so effectively propelled VW's comeback from 1995 to 2002. VW sales dropped 7.6%, to 311,000 vehicles, despite the launch of its two most important cars. VW is down more than 100,000 sales a year since 2001.
RIPPLE EFFECT? In the late 1990s, Arnold Communication, Boston, made its reputation on its Volkswagen work. One TV ad featuring two college-aged young men driving around town to the indie-rock cult song, "Da-da-da" by German techno band Trio, is hailed nine years after it ran as one of the most memorable ads of the 1990s. Arnold's body of work for VW was generally thought of as the best in the ad industry. That was before VW's aspirations of luxury car sales sucked all the fun out of the brand.
Volkswagen has been running the GTI TV ads as the official sponsor of the HDTV broadcast of the Olympics. The company isn't disclosing how much it's spending on the sponsorship and the ad time, but it far outweighs the actual sales potential of the GTI.
That's O.K., though. As Bogusky says, "When ads for one product resonate, it lifts all vehicles." He's right. Just look at how New Beetle saved VW in the U.S. I'm not sure GTI has the heft to do that, but these ads are a good start.
The 4 new GTI "Fast" ads can be downloaded from the video gallery - http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10
