Volkswagen Polo ad lacks the creativity of its predecessors

By Liam Fenton, creative director, Brave, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Wednesday, 05 September 2012 08:00AM

Few brands are responsible for giving me more 'I wish I'd done that' moments than Volkswagen, so it was with perhaps overly high expectations that I watched the latest Polo ad.

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The simple strategy, so creatively conveyed in covetable VW campaigns of yore, is based on 'surprising value'. And while the 30-second execution is 'fine' and relatively well realised, it falls short of its predecessors.

It focuses on a couple in a penny-pinching supermarket shop. They come across a shelf of full-size Polos, featuring an offer too good to refuse.

The supermarket is an apt setting for a value-driven ad, but this could have been achieved without ignoring the car's original point of difference - its solidity, in spite of its size.

'Small but tough' is the proposition the Polo was built on - and remains the strapline on the car's website - so I question the logic of making it look gargantuan, yet lightweight enough to be popped in (or on) a trolley.

Is it really that 'unbelievable' to imagine that supermarkets might sell cars? And although it is the source of the 'humour', the 'FMCG-ification' of car-buying trivialises the second-most considered purchase one can make.

For Volkswagen, in a perfect world, consumers will remember the recent heartstring-tugging Polo spot (in which a father brings up his daughter from babe-in-arms to buying her first car) and now discover this is their chance to snap up a Polo at a steal. I fear, in reality, they'll see an offer for a shiny car they either like or don't like.

Where's the spoof, or real, add-to-basket option on the website, clever digital point-of-sale activation, or pure joy of the brand's 'Fun Theory'?

In austere times, this single-minded value approach may resonate and shift units - in terms of prompted awareness, it was beaten only by Confused.com's wild-eyed loony. Whether it lingers in the memory like the singing dog, or promotes a wry smile as curled as the Golf's coffee-drenched salesman, is another matter.

Brand strategy verdict: 6 out of 10

Yup, we get it. The Polo is such great value you could find it next to the bread aisle, but this lacks the creative clout of previous campaigns.

 

Adwatch (Sept 5) Top 20 recall: Volkswagen Polo
Latest	Aug-29	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer	Recall
rank				%
1	-6	Confused.com	Wordley Production, Hornet Inc/PHD	56
2	-9	Volkswagen Polo	Adam & Eve DDB/ MediaCom	47
3	(–)	Asda	Fallon London/ Carat	39
4	(–)	Burger King	CHI&Partners/ Initiative	34
4=	(–)	Currys/ PC World	M&C Saatchi/ Walker Media	34
6	(–)	Oral B – 3D White Brilliance	Publicis/ Starcom	31
7	(–)	Vodafone	RKCR Y&R/ OMD UK	28
8	(–)	Senokot	Euro RSCG Worldwide/ ZenithOptimedia	27
9=	(–)	DFS	Krow/MediaCom	26
9=	(–)	Subway	McCann Erickson/ MediaCom Scotland	26
9=	(-)	Nintendo 3DS XL	Karmarama/MEC	26
12	(-)	Persil (small & mighty)	BBH/Mindshare	24
13=	-11	Sky TV	Sapient Nitro/ Mediacom	23
13=	(-)	KFC	BBH/Walker Media	23
13=	(-)	Just for men	In-house/MEC	23
16=	-36	Dove deoderant	Evidently/ Mindshare	22
16=	(-)	Brother	Grey London/ Carat	22
18	(-)	Phones 4 U	Adam & Eve DDB/ Eden	21
19=	(-)	Morrisons	DLKW Lowe/ MEC	20
19=	(33=)	The Sun	WCRS/ Mindshare	20

 

 

Webwatch (Sept 5) Top 20 recall: Volkswagen Polo
Latest	Aug-29	Brand	Agency/TV Buyer	Recall
rank				%
1	(–)	National Lottery EuroMillions	In-house/MPG Media Contacts	31
2	(3=)	British Gas	Waste Creative/ Prospect	29
3	(1=)	Sky	20:20 Agency/ MediaCom	26
4=	(–)	Asda	Gratterpalm/Carat	25
4=	(–)	Tesco Personal Finance	The Red Brick Road/ Arena Quantum	25
6	(–)	ING Direct	BMB/PHD	24
7	(17=)	TalkTalk	In-house/M/Six	18
8=	(–)	More Th>n	MediaVest/ MediaVest	17
8=	(30=)	Tesco	The Red Brick Road/ Initiative	17
10=	(–)	Google	Mullen/Essence Digital	15
10=	(21=)	Samsung Galaxy SIII	In-house/Starcom	15
12=	-6	Optical Express	In-house/ Mediavision	14
12=	(-)	Emirates	Studio AM/ Starcom	14
14=	(-)	Sainsbury's	Dare/PHD	13
14=	(-)	Kia Cee'd	e3/MPG	13
16=	-7	Virgin Media	Rapp/Fifty6	12
16=	(12=)	Jackpotjoy.com	In-house/ In-house	12
18	(14=)	3 Mobile Network	Wieden + Kennedy/ Mindshare	10
19=	(-)	Churchill	Circus Digital/ Mindshare	9
19=	(-)	Mercedes E220 CDI	Circus Digital/ Mediacom	9

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk