Well, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Those bad boys in Miami, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, have released some of their first new work for VW. As usual, it’s unusual.
The gloves are off- no more being politically correct, no trying to make apologies for being German and killing 6 million Jews, it’s hip, it’s cool, it’s that precision German engineering – with a twist of Helga in leather (no- I’m not kidding).

Knowing that anyone with a brain probably won’t buy a VW until they actually do start delivering a quality product (according to JD Power every Japanese car, and most Korean cars have almost half as many initial defects as a VW) Crispin decided to go after the “Tuner” market. The kids that go out and buy a $12,000 Neon and put $4,000 wheels on it, a $1000 exhaust, lots of decals and another $5,000 on the stereo- and still have a Neon, or a Mitsubishi Eclipse or a Honda Civic. Very few tuner’s in the States would touch a VW- but now, yeah baby, you can get one “Pre-tuned” by German engineers.
The spots- remind me of a cross between “Dieter” from the Saturday Night Live “Sprokets” spoof of a techno DJ, crossed with Crispin’s other designer character “Ugoff” (who designed a pouch for Burger King). Then throw in Helga. Yeah, Helga.

Vee Dub- Jason Vee Dub-Mike Vee Dub- Trey

The site- with some of the same flash technology that brought us “Subservient Chicken” is now in peak form (although my creation lost some features including my leather seats- oops). You can see my little movie here- My GTI Joyride with “Helga”
If you are one of those people that follows continuity errors in movies like my friend Audra, you will be wondering how Helga got back in the car after starting the race- but, hey, this isn’t reality- it’s just Flash.
Do I think the “tuners” will get it? Absolutely. Do I think they will start buying VW’s “pre-tuned” from the factory- well, mine was over $30K and if I put that much into my Honda Civic, I’d not only have a car all my friends would think is def, I’d actually have a car that held it’s value. The problem isn’t the advertising- it’s the price/value proposition VW is offering.
Will this advertising sell more cars? Probably not, but it is an interesting side show to distract people until VW gets their “German engineering” back on track. This isn’t advertising that will sell the line to anyone over 35, but, I’m sure that will come too. Unlike most agencies, CP+B understands that there aren’t one size fits all ads for anything anymore. I don’t expect to see these spots on anything but “Pimp my ride” on MTV – or the site vwfeatures.com be widely promoted.
While all Detroit keeps doing crap ads, it’s nice to have something provocative to write about. Thank you Crispin.

what do you think?

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Posted in: Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything you want to know about advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Marketing & the Web, VW advertising, Viral Marketing

I recently read a post by someone in advertising (who probably shouldn’t be in advertising) saying “I think this is too long and it’s failure to have a climax disappoints, but it’s an interesting idea” about an amazing spot by UK Honda which you can view here: http://www.honda.co.uk/civic/ click watch civic once it’s loaded.
While the flash movie loads- they ask “when was the last time you felt a connection with your car?”
And what does this spot do? It elevates the regular noises a car makes- to a musical experience. It makes a suggestion that the sounds of the road are music to your ears. Something that would normally be done by a luxury brand- but here, it’s for the bottom of the line Honda Civic.
By the same token- when was the last time you cared about the roof of your car?
Go take a look at this brilliant use of Flash (a technology that is often misused by ad agencies who don’t understand search) in the creation of a design your own roof site for, who else, Mini. This may be one of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s last efforts on the brand, but it’s a brilliant one. Now, you aren’t just buying a Mini- but making a personalized statement- even if you never actually get the vinyl printed and put on your roof. I’m sure the Roof Studio will gain some viral exposure.
Even the language in the sign-up that is required to “Post” your roof follows in the brand voice.
My only question is if someone is censoring submissions?
These are two examples of making you feel closer to a mass produced product, without screaming the lame-o features, advantages, benefits type laundry list that most marketers insist on.
We’ve got our mantra here at The Next Wave- our own definition of marketing- “Create Lust • Evoke Trust” TM that we feel better describes what we do than the words “ad agency.”
What do you think?
Thanks, as always to friends for pointing me to these things: Dan Obrovac of Lakota Archery sent me the Honda spot- and former Next Wave superstar creative talent Carl DeCaire for the Roof Studio.

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Posted in: Advertising, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Design, Everything you want to know about advertising, Guerrilla campaigns, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing, Web strategy

the 2006 ADDY awards garnered one bronze for the Guerrilla marketing campaign at the guerrilla marketing seminar which was placed in the Agency Self Promotion category. The ADDY awards don’t have a category for Gurrilla campaigns- so it got lumped into the high dollar “look at what I can do with an unlimited budget for myself category.”

And we won silver for the Zen Windows “Never spend more than 5 minutes with a window salesman” in the highly competitive direct mail category – where we were also competing with super high dollar direct marketing pieces for Teradata, Lexis Nexis, Reynolds and Reynolds etc. Again- when you consider this ad was placed in JB Dollar Stretcher (a regional monthly coupon book) and not a big budget targeted direct mail piece- it became a bit unfair. If it had been competing in the consumer magazine category- (which the client couldn’t afford) it would have won. We’re advancing it to the regionals in the hopes that other judges will see it for what it is- exceptional advertising in a typically mundane category.

The Dayton Daily News had no mention of the ADDY’s or coverage- but did have a column by the editor about how we should support local businesses like Malone Camera or Dingleberry’s (both family owned businesses that are closing a location). The Dayton Ad Club has posted the list of winners.
I was really happy to see The Agency Group win for their banners on “The Merc” – showcasing how great promotion can add value to Real Estate development- and that Wilson Advertising Group won the “Best ads that didn’t make it” category this year- since 2 years ago they won a bunch of awards that had to be stripped away for submitting work that wasn’t placed.

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Posted in: Advertising, Design, Everything you want to know about advertising, Guerrilla campaigns

The 2006 Superbowl wasn’t a very exciting game- and from an advertising standpoint- well, the game did make a bunch of mediocre spots more interesting.
I’m not going to review the spots- you can read someone like Ad Age’s Bob Garfield for his commentary (may require subscription) http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47764
I’ll stick to maximizing your ad budget effectiveness- if you’re going to spend 2.5 million dollars to run a spot- shouldn’t you do your best to turn it into a viral marketing effort?
Viral marketing is what gave us www.subservientchicken.com for Burger King. A low budget effort to launch BK’s tendercrisp chicken sandwich- that you can have your way. So, to have your way with the chicken on the site- you tell it what to do- ala web porn (the chicken is wearing stockings and a garter belt). For less than $30 thousand dollars, BK was reeling in millions of viewers, all telling the chicken to do the macerena.
Back to the Superbowl spots- we’ve said over and over- post all your ads on your site, be they print, radio, outdoor or especially TV. If you give the ads to your customers, they may distribute them for you. Nike and Apple get this- as apparently does Budweiser this year- with a complete page of ads for you to view- and even download into your iPod. (more…)

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Posted in: Advertising, BMW Advertising, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of TV, Guerrilla campaigns, Viral Marketing, Web strategy

When you take two old school media companies, throw them into a partnership to pilot a sinking ship, and then throw a self-indulgent brand name on top- with an uninspired logo- you can start counting the days. Never mind that television as we know it will die off to IPTV faster than Henry Ford made buggy whips obsolete.
CBS and Warner Brothers decided to pull the plug on UPN and the WB networks and combine the cream into the lamely named CW television network. To demonstrate how lame the ideation on this name project was:

The CBS chief explained that the name of the new net is an amalgamation of the first initials of CBS and Warner Bros. “We couldn’t call it the WC for obvious reasons,” Moonves joked. (Brandweek)

The true joke is that most of their target audience wouldn’t even know what a “Water Closet” is.
Naming a brand isn’t something to joke about- much less use as little creative thought as what must have went into this project- even the mark is so off target as to be embarrassing. Can you see kids wearing this logo?

Let’s look at the success of MTV as a brand reaching the youth market for starters, or Virgin. The days of call signs and station numbers meaning anything are long over, the key is brand voice and image. If this new network has any hopes of building an audience/community, they should hurry back to the drawing board.
I wonder if CBS chief Moonves has any idea that CW stands for “Country Western” or for even better yet “continuous wave” radio- using morse code- yet another buggy whip.
There are tons of branding agencies out there, including The Next Wave- my advice is hire one quickly and kill this brand, before it kills itself.

What do you think?

other links: MSNBC: CBS, Warner Brothers forming a new TV network

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Posted in: Advertising, Design, Everything you want to know about advertising, Future of TV