Before we shut down our computers and leave the StopPress comment section unattended (to a degree) over the Christmas/New Year break, we take a look at the highs and lows from the last 365 days with the top 10 StopPress stories.
Browsing: VW
Volkswagen has released a new spot via FCB that shows New Zealand hockey captain Simon Child toying with the features of his Golf GTI after arriving to the hockey turf a little early. This spot follows on from VW’s recent pulled ad, which invited criticism for showing unsafe practices. And while the new spot doesn’t show any slipping and falling, it does tread into risky territory by focusing on the speed of the new vehicle.
It’s no secret that VW had a complicated 2015. The moment the emissions scandal struck, the brand jolted to halt and shifted into damage control mode. But the brand is now looking to bounce back, launching its first TV campaign via its new creative partner.
Industry happenings at DDB, Pandora, Adshel, Spur, Anthem, IBM, VW, Weta and Jetmax.
In 2014, the Ford Ranger outsold the Toyota Hilux, ending the Japanese car brand’s 32-year run as the top-selling ute in New Zealand. And Ford has now gone on to show this wasn’t just a fluke by retaining its position at the top of the ute pile in 2015 and also outselling the Corolla.
It’s been a rocky year for German carmaker Volkswagen, with data from CNN money showing that global car sales fell 5.3 percent in October after news of the emissions scandal broke. But have these shockwaves stretched across the world to also affect sales in the local market?
Safety has long been a major focus of car companies. And VW has shown how important its safety features are with a powerful, shiver-inducing montage via Ogilvy Cape Town that zeroes in the most most important moment of one girl’s life.
Often ads that aim to get drivers reducing their speed involve families and children and those who would be affected most if the driver in question was to lose their life. Generally, this involves a tragic scene with a ‘speed kills’ tagline. But, in its new ‘Reduce Speed Dial’ experiment created by Colenso BBDO and Finch, Volkswagen has taken a different approach by having kids design their parents’ speedometers.
With driverless cars seemingly written in the automotive stars, those who get a thrill out of controlling their own vehicle might soon be forced to do it in private, rather than in public. And VW has riffed on the joy of driving with a great spot about a man with a very unusual dilemma.
The ninth edition of the annual awards show was hosted at AUT and again organised by the industry body News Works. And this year, the attendees from DDB left with the biggest smiles as the agency picked up the most coveted award: the Newspaper Ad of the Year. Illustrating that the greatest ideas don’t always have to be complicated, the judges awarded the gong to DDB for its simple VW print ad that drew attention to a Beetle sale.
After losing the BMW account earlier this year, FCB Media has successfully orchestrated a switcheroo and landed itself behind the driver’s seat of not one but four automotive brands by winning the European Motor Distributors (EMD) media account after a pitching process, which involved two separate media briefs.
Comparative advertising is fairly rare, perhaps because brands don’t want to be perceived as being negative or due to the potential for legal action from competitors. And comparative advertising that references an ad from a competitor is rarer still. But VW and Colenso BBDO have done just that in a cheeky print execution that aims to spell out the reasons why the Amarok is a better option than the Hilux.
Only a few weeks after VW celebrated its 60th anniversary in New Zealand via a Colenso-created campaign, Holden has now also started the party for its diamond jubilee with an Ogilvy spot that has a strong Kiwi flavour. And while VW gave the power to the people by piecing together a crowd-sourced spot, the team behind the Holden campaign have taken a more traditional route by assembling a narrative that showcases the car brand through the ages.
Shakira’s new ‘La La La’ music video, which doubles as three-and-half-minute advertisement for Activia yoghurt, has officially become the most-shared spot on the internet, knocking VW’s ‘The Force’ off its perch after three years.
In this week’s edition, kudos goes to MediaWorks, VW, Honda and Instant Kiwi.
A couple of years ago, Volkswagen was a brand struggling to combat the perception among mainstream New Zealanders that it was too stuffy, too expensive and too European. So it did some research, hired new staff, launched some new products, created more localised comms with DDB and did some serious discounting as part of its ‘a car for every Kiwi’ approach. These efforts led to big increases in sales and the top gong at the 2012 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. But since then, it’s been fairly quiet. Now, with its new agency Colenso BBDO in tow, it’s celebrating its 60th anniversary in this market with a crowd-sourced ad called The People’s Film. PLUS: a few other classy crowd-sourced campaigns from around the world.
Ogilvy Beijing recently terrified a cinema of moviegoers with a clever campaign that showed how multi-screen technology can be used to relay an idea. After the audience took their seats, the pre-roll advertisements started playing on the screen. And what at first seems like a standard car ad quickly shifts into something quite different when all those sitting in the cinema receive text messages. While everyone is looking down at their phones, the car that was casually driving along the road suddenly careens off the road and smashes into a tree.
Some say that print is dead, but maybe advertisers just need to start using the medium in new, more creative ways? And no, we are not talking about QR codes or even any kind of clever digital tie-in.
DDB Sydney’s ‘Welcome to the family’ campaign to celebrate VW’s 60th year in Australia kicked off this weekend with a TVC that showcases the full range of models on offer—and, with an ad hoc cricket match, a helium-breathing grandfather, a nana meeting Bradley’s ‘special friend’, tree peeing and copious tea drinking, it also showcases the diversity of modern Australian family life.
There’s been no shortage of quality animal-related advertising in recent months, with O2’s Be More Dog, Volvo’s extreme hamster and, locally, DraftFCB’s award-hogging Driving Dogs standing out. Now VW and Adam&Eve DDB have added to the canine oeuvre, with a cast of 36 showing that ‘there’s a Volkswagen for all of us’.
Not long after one German car company chose its favoured agency, another German car company is following suit, with DDB, Special Group and DraftFCB getting set to duke it out for the BMW and Mini business.
One of the world’s most enduring and successful agency-client partnerships has come to an end in this part of the globe, with Volkswagen saying goodbye to DDB after 11 years and, in another slightly surprising decision to follow up from last month’s 2degrees pitch, choosing Colenso BBDO as its agency.
A great ad idea is nothing more than a cliche if it doesn’t achieve a specific outcome. And it doesn’t hurt to tap into the mood of a nation or hold a mirror up to people’s weird and wonderful behaviour if you want your ad to work. Those are some of the messages from Clemenger Sydney creative director Rebecca Carrasco, visiting for last night’s News Works Newspaper Advertising Awards.
Naked’s loss is Y&R’s gain, Jeanette Paine leaves school, VW’s Denise Goodwin swaps cars for floors, Will Radford gets a fresh pair and the MPA welcomes two new board members.
DDB took a summer quinella by winning both the December and January rounds of the newspaper ad of the month comp with its YWCA and VW ads. And now it’s claimed yet more Beetle/paper-related victory with a classified ad to promote its Beetling campaign.
In April last year, VW released a series of ‘the same, but different’ ads to run before the main One News weather bulletin. And it’s back for more in 2013, with five more weather sponsorship idents that are imbued with VW’s now well-renowned sense of humour and show how the various features make life more enjoyable for people. And dogs.
DDB has cleaned up the last two Newspaper Ad of the Month awards, with YWCA Auckland’s ‘Demand equal pay ad and Volkswagen’s ‘Beetle to win a Beetle’ taking out the December and January rounds respectively. The Judges for both rounds—Leisa Wall, DraftFCB; Paul Hankinson, Hanko; Lisa Fedyszyn, DDB (who abstained) and Kate Humphries, Media Design School—said VW’s ad “enticed people to make the iconic VW beetle shape with their bodies in order to win a VW, is an inspired way to induce beer gut envy, particularly if those beer guts have just enjoyed a good holiday season.”
Bolt-related bragging, Jack Bauer’s secret shame, certainly not your typical Toyota ad, the language of sport, Volvo goes slacklining, VW’s Shark Week tie-in, sick poultry-based beats, classy serenading and the wonder of water wigs.