Autoblog

When Volkswagen reintroduced the Rabbit to the U.S., it claimed that it was drawing on enthusiasts' emotional connection with the Rabbit name, and it wants to draw on even more of that pop culture history with its latest advertising and marketing campaign. VW is referring to its new campaign as "DAS AUTO", or literally as "the car." A black 1964 Beetle called Max will be the star of the campaign as he it converses with such varied celebrities as Heidi Klum, David Hasselhoff (!) and Leonard Nimoy, among others.

According to Tim Ellis, the newly-appointed vice president of marketing at Volkswagen of America, "Max personifies Volkswagen's American consumers and lets them know how Volkswagen understands and responds to what the people want." Were people asking for talking VW Beetles? We're not sure, but we'll soon be finding out; Max and the DAS AUTO campaign will begin in earnest starting very soon, kicking off five new model launches: the Tiguan compact SUV, Routan minivan, CC, clean diesel Jetta TDI and Jetta SportsWagen.

[Source: Volkswagen]

In amongst all the concept vehicles and new models on Volkswagen's stands at last month's Frankfurt Auto Show was the carmaker's new ad campaign, which can be surmised by just two words – "Das Auto" (German for "The Car"). The hope is that the ads, which have only be launched in Germany thus far, will brainwash you into thinking 'VW' when you think of a car.

Before you brush this aside as just some marketing nonsense, consider what Coca-Cola is to cola soft drinks, Hoover is to vacuums and Kleenex is to tissues. "You don't ask for brown lemonade, you ask for Coke," explained one VW spokesman. Yeah, that doesn't sound refreshing at all.

The other benefit of the new slogan is that it's so simple, it will work with roughly the same effect in most other languages. VW's previous tagline was "Aus Liebe zum Automobil," ("For the love of the automobile") but the same message was not being conveyed when translated into other languages, especially Chinese. "Auto works around the world," the spokesman boasted, "so the question is whether it will be just 'Auto' or whether we say 'the Auto.' "

Whatever it turns out to be, expect to see the ads beaming across TVs and billboards around the globe wherever VWs are sold in the near future.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]