by Matthew
Jones
Historically,
Volkswagen was created, and named, as a
genuine ‘car of the people’ – a simple,
affordable and accessible vehicle for the
masses. Since its inception, the German
automaker has become one of the most prolific,
popular and visible brands in the automotive
industry.
Over the years, Volkswagen has
fiercely fought to preserve its people-friendly
brand image by providing some of the industry’s
most risky, and sometimes controversial,
creative work. The automaker recently severed a
long-standing advertising relationship with
Boston-based Arnold Communications. That
move ended the long-running, and popular
Drivers Wanted campaign.
Cripsin Porter + Bogusky (CPB),
a hot creative shop based in Miami, Florida,
is now Volkswagon's agency of record. CPB
is serving up several interruptive, engaging
spots for its new landmark client. Most
interesting of this new work is a campaign for
the 2006 Volkswagen Jetta, VW’s
fashionable midsize sedan. The car, which
starts at $17,900, competes in a hugely
competitive segment, where good advertising can
make or break the brand. The campaign, which
has featured three different spots to date,
takes a stab at stereotypes, and calls on the
audience to “lose their ignorance” and learn
about the Volkswagen Jetta owner.
diversityinbusiness.comsm
caught up with Karen Manderosian, director of
marketing, Volkswagen, who talked to us
about the messages behind the campaign.
Manderosian was in Philadelphia for a
short-lead event to launch the return of
Volkswagen’s Rabbit.
“Volkswagen owners are more
likely to be engaged in life – dancing, camping,
yoga – and we wanted to play upon that,”
explained Manderosian. To add some edge to the
work, the campaign focuses on the pitfalls of
stereotyping. “Stereotyping is wrong. Don’t
assume that just because someone drives a Jetta,
that they’re like that.”
It’s a fun idea in concept, but
in practice, the approach has the potential to
be seen as offensive or insensitive.
VW, however, was willing to take
the risk, and according to Manderosian, the risk
has paid off.
“We knew that (it was a sensitive
subject) – that’s one of the reasons we wanted
to do it in a humorous way,” said Manderosian.
VW chose the head-on approach – at the end of
each of the vignettes, a man steps out boldly
stating: ‘Stereotyping is STUPID.’
“That’s the moral of the story.
That’s the message,” said Manderosian.
That message is carried over to a
supporting web site – thejettareport.com
– where visitors can find out how similar, or
dissimilar, they are to Jetta owners. The site
asks visitors a series of lifestyle questions,
then lists out comparative statistics for Jetta
owners, based on your answers. You can find out
all sorts of facts (some useful, others
purposely frivolous and humorous).
According to thejettareport.com,
Jetta owners are 93 percent more likely to have
a sense of adventure, and to be spontaneous; 102
percent more likely to be possessive about their
car; and 60 percent more likely to think that
marijuana should be legalized. In case you were
wondering, Jetta owners are also 82 percent more
likely to have an itch somewhere on their body
at any given moment.
The site asks more than 100
different personality and lifestyle questions.
As of the posting of this article, the site has
had more than 62,000 visitors, who answered more
than 1.7 million questions, each one aimed at
demonstrating that you may be more like the
typical Jetta owner than you thought, so don’t
make any assumptions.
“(The reaction to the campaign)
has all been positive. We were concerned that
there might be some negative reaction,” said
Manderosian. “People recognize the
lightheartedness. They understand the message,
and it’s a good one.”
One of the first questions that
comes up in the minds of industry observers with
campaigns like this is – was there any diversity
on the team that created the spots? It’s easy
to make jokes about racism and stereotyping if
you’re not necessarily at the tail end of the
joke.
“There is diversity (on the
creative team),” said Manderosian, although
unsure of the exact makeup of the group. “They
don’t have a specific team that works
exclusively on Volkswagen. Everyone in the
agency works on the account. They’re also based
in Miami, which helps them maintain a diverse
makeup.”
Stereotyping is
Stupid
When the redesigned Jetta was
first launched, the advertising focused on the
safety and design features of the car in a
dramatic string of spots what hung on the
Safety Happens theme. Once established, VW
moved to tell consumers the emotional side of
the Jetta story.
“We were careful to make the
stereotypes border on the absurd, so we could
show exactly how ridiculous stereotyping can
be,” explained Manderosian of the campaign’s
intent.
One of the spots, entitled
“Hike,” features an interracial couple – an
Asian woman with a Caucasian man – visiting the
woman’s parents for what appears to be a first
impression. The father, who appears to be a
kind, open-minded man, suggests that the man
take a hike to enjoy the weather. Angry and
flustered, the Caucasian man storms off, saying
“You know, not all Jetta owners love hiking,
Craig!”
“Going into the casting session,
we didn’t specifically have an Asian family in
mind,” explained Manderosian of the decision to
feature an interracial couple. “They liked the
actors they found, and (secondarily) they liked
the situation (of having an interracial
couple). The fact that the family was
stereotyping the Caucasian man was an
interesting twist.”
Another spot features an
African-American man asking his white friend to
teach him some dance moves. Sad and dejected by
his friend’s insensitive assumptions, the man
replies: “I thought you were my friend.”
Given the campaign’s popularity,
it’s clear to see why the automaker plans to
milk it for a little while longer. “It’s been
running for a while,” said Manderosian. “It
will come back later in the summer. You'll still
be seeing it over the next several months.”
VW: No Stranger
to Diversity in Advertising
Volkswagen has a strong history
of infusing lighthearted but pointed social
commentary in their advertising, so the Jetta
campaign, while refreshing, is not necessarily
surprising. For VW, the mix of marketing and
what the company sees as social truths is an art
form.
“It starts with the fact that
Volkswagen is an open, inviting and honest
company,” said Manderosian. “We don’t use
diversity as a strategy, so much as we were
never afraid to bring diversity (into our
general market advertising) very early on.”
You can trace VW’s legacy of
diversity in advertising back to the 60s, where
they were reaching out to women buyers and using
minority celebrities like Wilt Chamberlain
at a time when other marketers stayed away.
Volkswagen really broke through the cultural
clutter in 1997, however, in what was seen as a
bold move by 1990s standards.
Ellen Degeneres,
the star of the hit show ELLEN, made the
decision to “out” the title character of her
show as a lesbian, settling long-running rumors
and speculation. Fearful of public backlash
from a vocally unsupportive public audience,
many advertisers withdrew their support of the
show – using it as a “moral” stage to make a
point about their brands.
Not Volkswagen. With a defiance
that is now considered to be part of the brand,
VW broke one of it’s most memorable spots,
featuring an African-American man and his
Caucasian friend picking up old furniture by the
side of the road in their compact VW.
“Da-da-da (the
aforementioned spot) ran on Ellen, right
after she came out,” explained Manderosian. “A
lot of other advertisers stepped away from
that. We felt like pulling out would make a
bigger statement than staying in – and the wrong
statement, at that.”
The music and the screenplay for
the spot were simple – almost minimalist. The
message, however, was loud and clear: Volkswagen
doesn’t exclude anybody. “It was a brilliant,
entertaining way to get our point across,” said
Manderosian.
Social commentary aside, the most
important role of advertising is to sell
product. Manderosian couldn’t say for sure if
VW enjoys a wider ethnic consumer base because
of their advertising. Anecdotally, it seems to
be moving product very well, but the numbers are
still out, as far as specific demographics are
concerned.
“We don’t have a lot of good data
(on the racial demographics of our customers),”
said Manderosian. “Of course, we continue to
track it, and we continue to look at it.”
Launching
Diversity-Specific Work
It’s generally a pleasant and
refreshing surprise to see major marketers
infuse diversity into their general market
work. But while the use of diversity is usually
a good thing, it must first support the overall
marketing effort. Marketers typically rely on
ethnic-specific campaigns to reach diverse
audiences.
Apparently, VW agrees, as they
have maintained their partnerships with
Creative on Demand, a Hispanic shop out of
Miami, and The Additive, an
African-American agency based in Philadelphia.
While both agencies have
campaigns in the works, neither has anything in
the pipeline for the current Jetta campaign.
“They don’t have plans for (an African American
campaign around the stereotyping theme), but The
Additive has presented some ideas.”
The Additive could potentially
add to the humorous stereotyping campaign by
introducing a perspective that yields
interesting, interruptive and effective results.
For its part, VW is pursuing the
African-American market with a major tie-in to
the upcoming Universal Pictures feature
Idlewild. The musical features Hip Hop
sensation Outkast, whose soundtrack for
the film will double as the group’s long-awaited
new album. “This will be the first album from
OutKast in more than two years, so it’s pretty
highly anticipated,” said Manderosian.
“Volkswagen has a strategic
partnership with Universal Studios, so we
were able to tie into the film for screenings
and special events,” continued Manderosian.
“We’re also holding ‘sound parties.’ All the
events are tied around the film.”
VW is also rolling out a concept
it calls VWIP (Volkswagen Important Person)
– a social marketing effort that brings high
profile events, celebrities and luxuries to the
masses. For example, VW hosted an upscale
lounge at the last NBA All-Star Game –
with general consumer access to people, places
and things typically reserved for the highest of
rollers. “It’s our take on the VIP concept,”
said Manderosian.
Meanwhile, the agency that has
been driving the Jetta’s Hispanic campaign -
Creative on Demand - has also had its hands full
with other ads for the automaker. The agency
has just completed a successful effort for the
VW GTI. “We did do a Hispanic campaign
around the previous Make Friends with Your
Fast campaign,” said Manderosian. “The work
incorporated the insights we have into the
Hispanic market. We looked at the elements that
were consistent (with the general market
campaign), but we highlighted the things that
were different.”
Overall, Volkswagen is putting
serious effort behind maintaining its image as
an open-minded company. The underlying secret
to their success is that their successes appear
to be effortless. The latest Jetta campaign not
only says a lot about the Volkswagen Jetta and
the people who buy them, it also says a lot
about the company that builds the Jetta.
“A pillar of the Volkswagen brand
is accessibility – to everybody,” said
Manderosian. “Some of the Jetta stereotyping
campaign is a good example of that. We’re about
breaking down walls – and stereotyping is yet
another wall.”
The End
