Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Is negative attention a good thing?

Although they probably weren't planning on a less than successful campaign, no one can say they weren't original. VW put magnets on cars that appeared to be dents but were in fact just ads...
I can't imagine that would create a positive association....

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/17/step-away-from-the-car-vw-polo-magnetic-dent-promotion/

1 comment:

lisa bank said...

This marketing campaign is absolutely rediculous and while the article goes a bit over the top, I do agree that VW is not going to be selling any cars through this promotion.

I did some further research to see what other campaigns have been done for the VW Polo and it seems this brand has a history for alternative marketing. My favorite is a giant ice sculpture of a VW Polo that was parked on the street. This was supposedly to promote the power of its air conditioning! You can see a picture here:
http://www.adrants.com/2005/05/vw-polo-promoted-with-ice-sculpture.php

In addition, back in January 2005 the car was featured in a hoax viral commercial that featured a suicide bomber (
http://wizbangblog.com/2005/01/19/vw-ad-incredibly-tasteless-or-a-hoax.php). While the company denies any connection I'm willing to bet they enjoyed the buzz it stirred.