Volkswagon hits the mark with jarring Jetta ads
Volkswagon takes television viewers for a high-impact ride by filming an actual crash using its Jetta model. Certainly rare by advertising standards, the realness of the commercials is enough to catch consumers.
An excerpt from the article details heightened consumer interest:
Volkswagen says that since the ads touting Jetta’s crash safety began on April 10, requests for brochures are up 37% at call centers and 56% on the Web compared with the first 15 days of March, and Internet requests for dealer price quotes are up 58%.
The ads, by agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, promote the 2006 Jetta’s top scores in federal crash tests: a “four-star front-impact crash rating” and “highest government side-impact crash rating.”
Some argue that the ground-shaking approach the company is taking with its advertisement campaign will be more of a turn-off. My question is, wouldn’t the consumer like to know the automobile he or she purchases can back the safety rating it has been given? I don’t know about you, but if I can see the demonstration on television instead of experiencing the actual impact myself, I’d be a little more inclined to feel comfortable with my purchase.
Besides, David Ogilvy, the original founder of Ogilvy and Mather once said, “If the advertisement does not contain a benefit, the product will not sell.” I think it’s evident, at least from the framing of commercials, where the benefit lies.
I find your commercial reheprensible and not of benefit to those of us who find it in our livingrooms. When I see one of the two shown, I grab the remote and turn the channel until it is no longer on. I watch the crash testing results of various cars and SUV’s where a dummy is used. I want to know what autos are safe just as much as anyone else, however, I would not even consider a volkswagon based on your presentation. We see and read about car accidents every day, where people are killed and /or injured. We DO Not need to see your reality on our TV. Please go back to the commercial with the young adults driving around, listening to the funky music and picking up furniture. That’s far more fun and entertaining and I expect no one is turned off by that!!!
Carol Anderson,
Marysville, WA
Hello Carol,
Interesting comment. I’m not sure if the people at Volkswagen will see this as this is just my little ol’ blog here in cyber space, but I will respond. I found the commercials shocking when I first saw them, but I’m 50/50 on the presentation. While we like to be entertained by commercials, we must not forget that this is real life. Sometimes, companies need to push the envelope to get the message across.
I’ll share this piece I found on CBS News:
On The Early Show Tuesday, Adweek magazine advertising critic Barbara Lippert told co-anchor Julie Chen that Volkswagen’s ad showing a 2006 Jetta hitting a pickup truck hard appears to be doing the trick.
Sales have risen and Volkswagen has re-upped the spot.
But Lippert calls the ads “horrifying,” saying, “You think it’s a normal Volkswagen commercial, and then you are so shocked, and then you realize this is exactly the way accidents happen. It’s perfectly captured.
“It breaks all the rules of advertising in that, they (usually) want you to think your car is a cocoon … where you’re free from everything. But it’s realistic. They want to show safety. People are more safety-conscious. This (the Jetta) had better front- and side-impact crash ratings in the last two years than it ever has.
“So, I think they did a really good job. Everybody is talking about it in the blogs and everywhere else, and sales are up.
” … The way we can tell is that they’ve brought this commercial back for another two-week run this week. And they definitely would not have run it again unless it was doing well. The dealers are very happy with it.”
It seems the “shock” advertisements are pretty effective for Volkswagen sales. They are not going so well, however, for DaimlerChrysler. You can read the article here.
I must state for the record that I do not work for Volkswagen or DaimlerChrysler, nor do I have any affiliation with Crispin Porter + Bogusky of Miami.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Jennifer
I have a problem with the fact that it is always a black person talking doing the impact. Has anyone else noticed that?
Hi Eric,
I haven’t particularly noticed that, but if true, that is an interesting point to raise. I could have sworn that in the very first commercial I watched, no one was paying attention and they were all reminiscing on the play they just attended, irregardless of their race.
I can’t vouch for what the company and the advertisers were thinking. Maybe it was just coincidence or maybe it was deliberate. I’m not sure, but I have seen a few commercials and I don’t think every driver was, as you say, a black person talking and wrecking their vehicle. I think the overall point, however, is not about who they think is more likely to become distracted and cause accidents, it’s about safety and protection. Even when “we” can’t protect “ourselves” and avoid danger, the car protects “us.”