The Advocate – November
This month I want to advocate VW. Not that nicey nicey stuff from DDB London with its achingly dull restraint and ever so accutely observed advertising vignettes but something a little more raw.
I am accutely aware of how my little contribution to the plannersphere may appear rather ‘little-england’.
And, while I think it gives it an interesting voice, my intention was never to be parochial. Indeed its interesting that blogging makes you think ‘international’ in a way that years working on ‘international’ accounts never did.
So I for November I am going to advocate a campaign from the US – Crispin Porter’s VW Golf GTI work featuring that inimitable duo Helga and Wolfgang to be precise.
I forget how I found out about this campaign – possibly via Brand New – but I absolutely love it.
It reminds me that while the industry struggles to do anything much interesting in the UK (notable exceptions exceptionally noted) the US seems, from the outside, to go from strength to strength, even if they all think the world was created on the 23rd October 4004BC.
Its also for that most sacred of cows, Bernbach’s very own VW. A marque whose advertising in the UK has succumbed to following the brand in the ‘spirit book’ and not the one in the real world. As Matt Johnson said about the kind of religions that think the world was created on 23rd October 4004BC -“they have forgotten the message and worship the creed”.
Here we have a great brand vision (newly articulated as ‘affordable performance’) delivered via a great insight about the way crap cars are souped up by the local garage and a great response from VW that the Golf GTI is ‘pretuned in Germany’. And the line? Wait for it, ‘As fast as schnell’
Now thats what I call compression.
If I were VW I’d have a butchers at the broadcast rules in the UK and see how I could run it here and give the boys and girls at Bishops Bridge Road (DBB’s home in the UK) a run for their money.
Remember the rules – is it working and if so how is it working?
A little snooping from this side of the pond suggests that GTI sales are at their higest level ever in the US and VW sales in general are very healthy. So succesful is the partnership between CPB and VW that the Agency recently convinced the client to renane the non-GTI golf ‘Rabbit’ in the US.
Get your chops round the ads:
You can even take Helga for a joyride online:
Meanwhile back in blighty this is the best we can muster for that tired old ‘it’s a diesel that thinks it’s a petrol’ strategy:
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I like these spots for a whole bunch of reasons. I like them because it would appear that VW in America are more gutsy about their communications than VW in Germany. Here we get the standard stuff and it’s dull and safe and boring. It’s interesting that the UK ad sets it self up for the fall, as, after watching it, I’m left with one word in my head and that one word makes up the entire copy of the ad.
It’s odd that that I don’t get a sense of cliché off the American ad’s for they don’t feel, to me, like a parody of a towel-stalking, beer swilling un-funny German. The guy in the add sums up the Golf GTI and anybody who has driven one knows what I mean. It’s a really cool car, and I mean really cool, but you never forget that it’s a German car and it’s never quite super cool. But that’s ok.
It’s OK to be German at the minute. It’s got something to do with the world cup I think. The world cup pimped this country and I think it’s only fair that VW should want to un-pimp some American cars.
I think the strategy is spot on.
I think the americans do break through with great stuff occassionally. But they are still behind the UK as an industry. As they live within structures the old structures even more.
We like it because they have taken a brand that the UK holds up in high esteem in the old rule in a period when we as an industry we are supposed to be changing. And it was a pisstake somewhat. Which talks to the audience in the US that would buy it also
I think Crispin has done some great work changing the standard format in the US. Hearing one of the partners speeches. He put it down to starting an agency where you couldnt afford the usual ad types. So got some younger non institutionalised talent. So it has lead to some great work. Check this coke one out. I love it
http://www.cokezero.com/canwesueus.html
Lets stop being serious and have some fun with brands
I’m not sure you can really say that either the UK or the US is doing work that’s demonstrably better than the other right now. Both markets have some great work and lots of crap. It’s just when you live in a market you see the 99% of stuff that’s still crap, but from other markets you only see the great stuff since that’s what crosses borders. Come over and watch a couple of hours of television on a local station in Buffalo or Dallas and see if you still think US ads go from strength to strength.
But on the Crispin GTI strategy and work, totally agreed that it is fantastic and seems to be building the business.
One thing in favour of your case is that the Crispin Unpimp spots seem to have around 3 million views on Youtube (2.5 million plus endless more uploaded under slightly different titles). The bollocks spot released as a viral has under 10,000.
Personally I found the ‘bollocks’ spot much funnier, warmer and more human. It certainly made me laugh. Mostly because I’m a dad & recognise the syndrome. (It is admittedly reminiscent of the Bus Sandwich ad, also shot for £5000 as a ‘test’ which won a Gold Lion in 93). I’ve always liked VW as a brand myself and this spot is more why. But I have to admit there is no ‘effectiveness case’ given the majority of people who will ever see it will be at international film awards.
This thread does add to my gathering line of thought for a motor industry speech next month; that all the UK motor boys need to do if they want to understand ‘engagement marketing’ is looks to the USA. Do pls drop by my blog and post some more examples the deadline on this (given everything else queuing on the sliproad of my next 3 weeks) is starting to carry a black cloak and scythe
:J
ps i thought the Golf had always been called the rabbit in the US? (It was when I worked on VW 13 years ago…)
CBP seem to get it right as the new model for holistic marketing communication agency we were talking about for a while now.
As you said there seem to be admirable trust as they are deeply involved in every strategic move of VW.
So they will persuade VW to go with ‘Rabbit’, they will create brilliant TV ads and they will create fantastic funky digital/reality branded entertainment project: “the gypsy cab project” (http://www.gypsycabproject.com/).
Their CEO Jeff Hicks recently talked in the forresters conference and had some interesting thigs to say:
“We think the future of advertising is great products that have marketing embedded in them”
“We want to embed marketing within the brand”
“Great ideas, not channels, create buzz”
Hear! Hear!
VW launched the Rabbit as the US name for Golf (a DDB name apparantly) in 1974. They then rebranded it Golf in 1985.
Any of our American cousins got any data on VW performance in the US since CPB got involved?
VW’s 2005 US sales were 224,195 cars in total (down 37% since 2001) and less than half the all time high of half a million in 1970.
CPB were appointed in December 2005 resigning the mini account for $400m billings from VW – puts me in mind of the legendary Mrs Merton question to Debbie McGee “What first attracted you to the millionaire magician Paul Daniels”
So how do you allow for the launch of the new Golf (and the rundown in sales leading up to that) in the revived success. It’s their most successful model since the Golf1? How does the uplift in the USA compare with other markets for instance? And how are the sales in 2006 – you mentioned in the original post they are the ‘best ever’…? for GTi and ‘very healthy’ overall. Not doubting, just asking :J
John, it’s the best gold they’ve built since the Golf 1.
Here is an article from Time summarising VW’s situation in the US. Sales for YTD 2006 are up around 11% but with so many new vehicle launches it is going to be hard to weed out the advertising effects. At least we do know that VW’s qality reputation is not helping – they are very low down on the JD Power lists.
My one c omment on the Crispin spots is that, while I deeply respect a lot of their work and their commitment to being media neutral, they seem to have one brand voice/strategy right nowe. The “Pimped” TV seems very symptomatic of the teenage boy / young male attitude they are focusing on which, given the number of women who buy VW’s and cars in general in the US, seems a little odd or one sided. I think some of the teaser work (e.g. “Fast” website)they did for the Jetta might be a better example of stuff they did for the brand.
Here’s the link that should have been included above.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1549292-1,00.html
I think the thing we haveto remember in the UK when looking at these VW ads, is that in this country we strongly associate german engineering and VW/Audi with good quality.
Maybe (feel free to correct me) this is not the case in the US, therefore the brand needs a much more bold aproach.
As much as I think the general executions of VW ads in the uk are great, I think the strategy and concept behind it is starting to tire.
I was watching a re-run of “desperate housewifes” yesterday (a show I have never watched before). There was a scene in which a man steals the car of another man by pinching his valet ticket.
The thief gives the ticket to the valet who says something like “we parked your special car close so we could keep an eye on it”. It was a Porsche.
Now Porsche’s are two-a-penny over here and that comment got quite a giggle from the people who were watching it.
Something else: Have you ever noticed that the bad guys, especially in US shows/films always drive a German car? Usually a Mercedes.
I was watching a re-run of “desperate housewifes” yesterday (a show I have never watched before). There was a scene in which a man steals the car of another man by pinching his valet ticket.
The thief gives the ticket to the valet who says something like “we parked your special car close so we could keep an eye on it”. It was a Porsche.
Now Porsche’s are two-a-penny over here and that comment got quite a giggle from the people who were watching it with me.
Something else: Have you ever noticed that the bad guys, especially in US shows/films always drive a German car? Usually a Mercedes.
The grass is always greener. There is some great stuff out of both the US and UK, but there is enough crap to go around. I find it refreshing that CPB isn’t slavish to a single idea or campaign (it can be a nice rule to break). The ‘Un-Pimp’ spots came from a different place than the GTI ‘Fast’ work. The first tapped into a broader social trend – ridiculously tuned cars, where as ‘Fast’ focused more on an individual insight – a guy’s need for freedom (provided by a speedy car). I think tapping into social trends allows the work to travel and become something people talk about, while the individually motivated work makes for a different kind of connection. Last thought, I don’t think CPB is only playing the funny, young-guy card (although it may be a favourite). Even for VW, the work for the Rabbit, Jetta (Safe Happens), Passat (Low Ego Emission) is quite varied.
If I was sitting on a portfolio of thinking like that I would be inordinately smug.
“If I were VW I’d have a butchers at the broadcast rules in the UK and see how I could run it here and give the boys and girls at Bishops Bridge Road (DBB’s home in the UK) a run for their money.”
The regulators in the UK forbid cars to be marketed on the basis of speediness.
So I think the Bishops Bridge crew are safe on that score.
But it will be interesting to see what happens when Crispin opens up in the UK. They will pitch VW, no question.