Mar. 12, 2006 - Vee Dub Marketing Round Two

I don’t mean to be picking on Volkswagen, but I have a follow-up to a post from a few weeks ago wherein I complained that VW was not marketing the new GTI very well (see “A Little Marketing Would Help” February 3^rd, 2006).  Since then the GTI has been splashed all over the place, you can hardly browse the internet without seeing a GTI ad pop up somewhere.  TV has seen a full array of GTI spots, and a GTI ad is in all of the enthusiast magazines as well as many lifestyle rags-- so much for not marketing the GTI (though my complaint of tardiness still stands).

What I have to complain about this time is the way it’s being marketed; specifically the latest round of TV ads featuring the SNL style German Professor “Wolfgang” along with his dominatrix female side kick, “Helga”.

The first wave of TV spots, introduced during the Olympics, featured ordinary looking 30 something males being possessed by an evil looking rabbit called “Speed.”   These ads are just off kilter enough to be noticed, while remaining funny in a perplexing sort of way.  Okay, you get an evil mascot when you purchase the rather benign looking GTI (maybe that’s the point: the evil rabbit makes you overlook the uninspired design of the 5^th generation Golf).  These ads may not have been stellar but they got the point across and they did highlight features of the new GTI.

The second round of ads first seen on alternative cable TV channels such as MTV, are the ones making me scratch my head.  You have the aforementioned SNL style characters thumping around to a European discothèque rap and destroying outrageously garish tuner cars.  The point being that the GTI needs no tuning because the standard German engineering is all that’s needed.  This may be a valid point for the parents of the target consumer, but not for the kids in the market for a hot hatch.  My question is this: does it make sense to denigrate the potential consumer of your product?

Contrast this approach with that of Honda and its new Civic Si, a direct competitor to the GTI, and also vying for the young male demographic.  Where Honda has finally embraced the market it almost single handedly created in the 1980s with its Civic line by working with the aftermarket, working with the “tuner” clubs, VW has decided it will make fun of them.  Honda is showcasing everything from tasteful performance tuned Civics to wildly outrageous customized cars and their ads have a video game feel perfectly in sync with the target audience.

It remains to be seen who wins this battle of the sport compacts, but my money is on the Civic Si.  Not because the car itself is better—they are both very evenly matched—but because of the audience appropriate marketing.  Honda has really immersed itself in the enthusiast culture and has gained respect for it.

Kerri Martin, the director of VW’s brand innovation department came from BMW’s MINI group.  And she brought with her MINI’s ad agency, Crispin Porter+Bogusky.  The “brave” marketing may have worked for a brand like MINI which was going after a style conscious, older demographic, but it will not work at VW.  At least not from what I have seen thus far.  And I really like the GTI.