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October 28, 2008
Have a virtual baby with VW

Gulp. I would like to meet the crazy mind that came up with the RoutanBabymaker3000 idea, and the Volkswagen marketer who approved it (what a brave man!).

babymaker.jpg

Not sure whether I have positive or negative feelings about the idea that probably is weird and unexpected enough to have a good viral potential. To tell the truth, what surprises me is the complete lack of connection with the brand and the product. God save the brand!

The agency is Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

via

Comments on this entry

Allow me to disagree, Martina.

The target market is on spot (young parents looking for a bigger car), even it's not the traditional brand position of VW. And it has gone viral already: they've added a Facebook app to share your mashed up baby. As most users aren't aware of OddCast technologies, it will surprise a lot of people, even if it's really weird.

Posted by: Armando Alves at October 29, 2008 03:25 AM

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Thanks for your comment Armando.
I understand the campaign is conceived for a specific target audience, but I still find it a bit difficult to understand the marketing value of the idea. I am in the target audience, but I don't appreciate it as a VW campaign.

I think it would have been a perfect viral for Durex (remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4h7PgrCPWQ).

You know, here on Adverblog I play the marketer, not the creative role :-)

Posted by: Martina at October 29, 2008 07:45 AM

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One problem with the site is that it's almost impossible the see the resemblance between the parents and the child. I think the "Ica I Love Eco" (http://www.theecodance.com) is a much better production and it also uses the 3d-morphing.

Posted by: Albert at October 29, 2008 10:30 AM

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I completly agree with Martina, the brand is a bit lost in this viral operation...
Ok I understand that when I have a baby I should buy a bigger car but nothing about a WV - there is no product argument (but the size but is that really different ?)

Posted by: greg at October 29, 2008 11:09 AM

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Personally its weird, whilst using it - it just didn't make sense, like some kind of gene hacking exercise. Not sure if I want to see what my baby might look like, especially not see some kind of hacked pseudo 3d face, way too much like those tacky 'speaking faces' that follow your mouse.

Posted by: q at October 29, 2008 11:27 AM

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The idea is not so bad at all, but I think the execution is poor. It's well designed, but it took me to long to try it out. I want a faster result. I learned about the car twice today: 1. an article in a german newspaper said that the quality-level is low for a VW. 2. A viral campaign that tells me this car is the right car for a young family - a nice try, but VW did better campaigns. The question is: will I talk to others about this car and what will I tell them? Obviously for this case I will not talk about the viral campaign because it's not good enough (doesn't make me laugh) to forward it to my friends. When someone asks me what I think of this car I will tell them, well I've read this article and it said that it is not the usual quality you expect from a VW. Overall VW's online communication activities hit me twice today, that's not bad for a ordinary family car. But come on, VW, you can do better!

Posted by: Tom at October 29, 2008 11:12 PM

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Great idea, missus loved it :)

Posted by: Nick at October 30, 2008 02:54 PM

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come on - this is great fun regardless of execution or time it took to upload/check/mark images -as for brand awareness - 7 or 8 comments so far just on adverblog - far more than most postings that martins posts! Worth talking about or not?

Posted by: Paul jason at October 30, 2008 11:12 PM

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come on - this is great fun regardless of execution or time it took to upload/check/mark images -as for brand awareness - 7 or 8 comments so far just on adverblog - far more than most postings that martins posts! Worth talking about or not?

Posted by: Paul jason at October 30, 2008 11:13 PM

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has anyone seen www.dolebaby.com? which came first?

Posted by: pristyles at November 1, 2008 05:15 PM

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