VW

Remember Those Great VW Ads from the 1960’s?

It’s Friday afternoon, and my creative juices are all but shot after a week of writing, designing, and building ads for everything from camcorders to auditorium speaker arrays. I was out trolling the internet, specifically Vimeo, when I came across the video below. Dial M and Joe Marcantonio have put together an 18 minute short on DDB’s icon VW ad campaigns from the 1960’s. Talk about rejuvenating the creative spark.  Universally acknowledged to be some of the greatest and most influential ads of all time, these changed the game for advertising when the campaign first launched. At the beginning of the short, there is a sequence from Mad Men where Don Draper says he hates both the ad and the car. Obviously Mr. Draper couldn’t see the impact that these were going to have. I remember these from when I was a kid, and I still think they are some of the best written and produced ads from that period.

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The Interactive Golf R Movie.

This is a great use of interactive technology, and user engagement. VW has launched a new site to promote the new Golf R that allows visitors to create their own movie featuring the new car. The premise is pretty simple. You make car noises, and the site builds a video based on them from a series of prerecorded clips.

Working with Michael Winslow the man of 10,000 sound effects, the trailer is pretty compelling. The YouTube video directs you to the site where you can create your own experience and then share it through all of the standard social media channels and at http://rrr.vw.com as well. It’s a pretty fun concept, and watching the peoples expressions as they make the car sounds is a riot.

VW Takes on A-Ha’s “Take on Me”.

Over the last few years the broadcast advertising for VW has been really strong playing off pop culture icons like Star Wars. Two days ago VW dropped an ad based on the classic 1980’s music video “Take on Me” by A-Ha. Once again VW nails it with a solid commercial balanced with just the right amount of humor. Both  the new VW spot and the original A-Ha video are below.

MindDrive is Going the Distance.

OK this gets big props from me for a number of reasons. First off it’s a great program. Second it’s here in Kansas City. Third it uses a Karman Ghia.

MindDrive is a program designed to help at risk students grow through experiential learning. The mission is to inspire students to learn, expand their vision of the future, and to have a positive impact on urban workforce development.

This year the MindDrive students built an electric car that converts social media (tweets) into fuel, used for powering a road trip from Kansas City, Mo. to Washington D.C. In D.C.  the students hope to drive change in education by exposing legislators to the program and its results.

Every time you Watch, like and share this video, tweet, Facebook post, or share an image on Instagram about MindDrive,  Your social activity will be used to help fuel their road trip to Washington.