Video: VW blends print and mobile advertising to illustrate new technologies

Volkswagen's iPhone test drive – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Volkswagen its flexing its tech-savvy muscles with a new form of interactive advertising that combines print and online media. They've written a new Apple iPhone app that shows how prospective customers how some of the company's available advanced technologies work out on the road.

To use the app, participants hold their iPhone above a VW ad in a magazine or newspaper with a road printed on it. Following the curve of the road with the phone shows how some of the car's safety features respond to real-world driving conditions.

Want to test VW's adaptive headlights? Switch on the app and put it in Adaptive Lights mode, and the headlights on your virtual VW will follow the curve of the road. In Lane Assist mode, the phone vibrates when your car gets too close to the edge of the virtual road. There's also an Adaptive Cruise Control mode, which puts a second virtual car in front of your VW and keeps them an equal distance apart as you move across the page.

Volkswagen's virtual test drive is a neat way of combining different forms of media, an advertising tactic likely to be more common in the future. As a means of figuring out whether or not you want a Volkswagen, well, we'd just as soon head to the nearest dealer for a real test drive, but for now, you can head over to the jump to see how it all works.

[Source: Volkswagen via YouTube]

Share This Photo X