Tweet

Digital advertising and marketing: only the best ideas worldwide, since 2003

Volkswagen unpimps your ride

March 7, 2006 at 2:08 by Martina Comments

I’ve been laughing for the last twenty minutes, now it’s time to stop and get back to work. But first I have to share with you these videos by Volkswagen. German engineering in da house!


16 Responses to Volkswagen unpimps your ride

  1. Adam says:

    I’m floored that you find these ads to be even remotely funny. This yet another example of Crisping Porter producing off brand, off strategy creative, that is designed to be “funny.” Check this out with respect to the great work done by CPB: http://kmiecmonster.blogspot.com/2006/02/is-black-only-color-crispin-porter.html

  2. Paul says:

    Myself and ALL of my friends (even those not in the industry) cannot get enough of these ads…and we are the target market.
    They have captured the exact sentiments of our thoughts towards pimped out cars. We have all spent the last 10 years of our lives making fun of these (IMO) idiots that “pimp” their rides. Its a wonderful campaign, has created endless word of mouth and hell I want to go test drive one.

  3. Adam says:

    Paul
    Have you gone out and bought a new GTI? What’s the ROI? Has it increased sales? I worked on BMW Films, which ultimately did very little for sales of BMWs. Look at Burger King’s continued decline in sales. Even if an ad is laugh out loud funny it needs to fulfill on the business objective. I’m going to guess that the business obejctive wasn’t to connect with VW fans; it was probably sell more GTIs.
    Adam

  4. Marketing Werbung says:

    Great video - no question, but I also discussed with some friends of mine, what the emphasis should be! I think this should be prestige advertising. I also suppose, that there won´t be an effect on the ROI. I also suppose that there won´t be more sellings, or something like that. But there is one important fact: More than 60.000 people watched that video on YouTube. The number of views is increasing - daily. This could be a positive effect for the brand VW!
    Max

  5. Adam says:

    Max
    It’s only a positive effect if it sells more VWs. If it doesn’t, then it’s just a another pointless funny ad that does little to nothing for sales. How does the 60,000 people watching on YouTube equate to GRPs? Then again that’s Crispin’s M.O. create strange, off strategy, non-traditional ads that ultimately don’t translate into sales.
    Adam
    Adam

  6. mike says:

    I don’t get it. I seriously don’t get it. I look at these and say “no, the emperor is definitely not wearing anything. I can see his sack.” I just think it’s a different style of advertising, one which I personally can’t stand. I like classic ads, ones that are smart, witty, charming & based on some human insight that people can relate to. These are just weird for entertainment’s sake. To each his own, I personally think they’re crap.

  7. Adam says:

    Mike
    I could not have said it any better “These are just weird for entertainment’s sake.”
    Adam

  8. max-f. says:

    Adam
    Kindly let me know what `GRPs` are.
    I think one main problem is that we don´t know what is the target group! Of course, we also don´t know what the `massage` should be, but one thing we know: this isn´t a traditional VW-`style`. It could (emphasis on could!) be a sign for a change.
    - Look at Burger King’s continued decline in sales -
    The problem of Burger King in Austria isn´t that the ads are not effective. The problem is the inferior quality of service.
    Max

  9. Max says:

    No problem:
    “gross rating point (GRP)
    - A measure of the total amount of the advertising exposures produced by a specific media vehicle or a media schedule during a specific period of time. It is expressed in terms of the rating of a specific media vehicle (if only one is being used) or the sum of all the ratings of the vehicles included in a media schedule. It includes any audience duplication and is equal to the reach of a media schedule multiplied by the average frequency of the schedule.”
    You are right we don’t know specifically who the target is, but we can make smart educated decisions based on the creative. I’d argue that they are going after a younger audience. The idea of pimping foreign cars doesn’t exactly speak to the 35- 50 market :) That said, other the humour what would compell say a 24 year old to buy or test drive the ad based solely on the TV spot? In my book, nothing would.
    Adam

  10. Frankie J says:

    Funniest freakin spots I’ve seen in years.

  11. Jason says:

    Brilliant ad! I have heard the topic of this commercial come up multiple times in my office. One person on my floor just ordered one and a Manager here wants to buy one for a fun car after seeing the commercial.

  12. Susan says:

    I have not laughed this hard in a long, long time! I personally love the ads…I have spent years laughing at these “pimped” cars…watched one show where some creative technician installed an aquarium in the back seat of what I think was a Honda Civic, with Batmobile-type doors. Not only are they witty, they are poking well-deserved fun at idiots who will put 3000 dollar rims on a 500 dollar car. It’s about time!

  13. Joe says:

    I think this ad is great. Its funny and ‘fresh’. As far as strategy goes, there are only two major types; advertising to show low price, and advertising to show differentiation. Obviously vw is going for a differentiation strategy. vw isnt for everyone, but they definately have a following.
    i cant wait for them to make more, yea?
    Joe

  14. Prax says:

    VW’s concept was to get people talking about VM cars again, either directly or indirectly through their ads. After viewing the ads and seeing all the blogs pertaining to the ads, I do believe that they have accomplished what they were trying to do.

  15. Amanda says:

    These are GREAT! Funny….good play on pimping cars because most of them suck!

  16. stephanie says:

    These ads are such a let down compared to the great campaigns of the 90′s. These ads will do nothing to help the brand.

Advertise here