advertising does not a better car make…

Heck, VW has an extremely tough time with VW products. Are they a luxury car company? A driver enthusiast company? A young hipster company? They don’t seem to know any more, and neither do we.

I used to be a big VW fan (sold my ‘00 Passat and Miata for my MINI cabrio) but I’ve lost hope in the company. VWs continue to get bigger, softer, uglier (IMO), and more expensive.

While VW moves upscale and alienates its entire customer base, Mazda (and MINI, of course) has slid in to fill the “fun & exciting yet affordable” niche, a niche VW once had a firm hold on. They should have stuck to their winning formula, canned the disastrous Phaeton and Passat W8, and made the Touareg a cheaper, sportier vehicle to compete at a lower price point. They were on a tear, the future was looking bright, and they suddenly burned it all down. Why???

I live in a Jetta-heavy area, and I’ve so far seen one new Jetta on the road. One. Tons of the older model. I wish they had gone through with the new Microbus. And what’s the hold up on the new GTi here in the States???

Sorry for the rant, but VW’s vertical death plunge really bothers me.

Attention VW: READ ME.

http://autoextremist.com/page6.shtml#table

“The Volkswagen advertising account was pulled from Havas advertising agency Arnold Worldwide in favor of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, VW announced yesterday. Crispin Porter + Bogusky is the Miami-based ad agency best known for its work for Burger King and MINI. VW, desperate for something, anything, to help turn things around in the U.S., is hoping that the obligatory “hot” ad shop can jump-start its flagging fortunes, while it continues to wait for its new products to make an impact. VW had already dismissed Havas’ media buying company MPG last January, but the company did not conduct a traditional ad agency review before handing C P + B its account. It’s an interesting move, but it won’t make up for the fact that VW’s new products have been painfully slow in getting to the U.S. market. And VW continues to fight the perception out in the market that its quality numbers still aren’t there yet. VW is a damaged brand in the U.S., and there’s just no getting around that fact. And Wolfgang Bernhard or no, we just don’t see them making the progress they need to be making if they intend on turning things around.”

“Crispin Porter + Bogusky. From the “Be Careful What You Wish For” File. It’s the oldest story in advertising. Small ad shop does great work, becoming the agency of the moment. It then attracts new clients, makes more money, then gets invited to pitch more and more business. Somewhere along the way, the agency loses its focus and forgets what got them there in the first place and goes after the “big score” – the huge advertising account that they just know will put them over the top. So, they position themselves to go after new business and then end up jettisoning the original client they made their mark with in favor of a much bigger piece of the action. After being awarded the VW account, Crispin Porter + Bogusky informed Mini that they would be resigning the Mini account in 90 days. According to a report in Automotive News yesterday, VW’s “director of brand innovation,” Kerri Martin, who had been recently Mini’s marketing communication manager until March 15, influenced the decision, VW said. Well, duh. Crispin Porter + Bogusky will find out the hard way that VW is an entirely different animal from Mini in terms of size, market positioning, the scope of its dealer network and the level of pressure required to perform. Be careful what you wish for, indeed. Good luck, C P + B – you’ll need it.”

Peter DeLorenzo hit the nail on the head!

So I think Mini will survive. The one thing I really did like was the fact that Mini had a consistent approach to everything, whether it was the window sticker or the billboard outside, it all had a Mini look (or excellent branding).

Those reliability reports are why I stayed far away from the 2002 MINI Cooper S. Luckily, my 2004 MCS has proven to be better, but not perfect, compared to the reports from the ’02s.

I’ve had nothing but good service out of the VWs I’ve owned; not perfect either, but no reliability or maintenance nightmares there.

The new lineup of VWs doesn’t do much for me, but ‘07 MINIs don’t do much for me either. Luckily, I should have a lot more time in my ‘04 MCS.

Brand advertising isn’t for selling a product. It’s for creating awareness. I think they’ve done an awesome job of doing so. The car sells itself.

Now that everybody and their brother is jumping on the “smaller” car market, MINI will have to dial things up to stay competive.

I can’t see how CP&B will add anything to VW though, the brand image is set in stone, it’ll take more than clever ads to change that.

That’s what they do best. CP&B has cornered the market with alternative, guerrilla advertising. Given the state of our TIVO-fast-forward, paperless, internt nation, traditional advertising is becoming extinct.

Agencies are having to rethink better ways to communicate to today’s consumers. Some of this is driven by low media budgets and having to get more bang for the buck.

CP&B does this well. Just look at the “truth” campaign as well as the “Burger King” stuff.

Two words: “Let’s Motor”

I have to say CP&B’s brand positioning for MINI has been nothing short of brilliant. Personally, I bought into the whole MINI lifestyle because of how it was marketed to us.

The car is awesome, but it wasn’t a consideration until seeing some of their billboards and reading that awesome line: “Let’s Motor”.