VW produces impeccable UK ‘parachute’ ad but it shouldn’t try to rewrite inconvenient history

Somebody told me the other day that car ads were the second-biggest global ad category (should have asked what the biggest was – household products? Entertainment?).

Which may account for some of the rather desperate efforts we’ve seen recently.

Anyway, here’s how to do it – from the UK’s Adam&Eve/DDB for Volkswagen’s Golf.

The Golf is, arguably, the most successful European car ever, partly because it has successfully dealt with one besetting issue over the years – it’s quite pricey for a volume hatchback. £16,775, as here, doesn’t actually buy you a lot of Golf. So the ad is bang on strategy too.

Here’s another interesting bit of VW marketing – from Canada’s Red Urban. It describes the long history of VW Beetle VIN 903847.

There’s a long-form film/website that’s also worth a look. We must pick up the usually admirable VW on one thing though. The film asserts that the first Beetle was made in war-trashed Germany in 1945. It wasn’t of course. Dr Ferdinand Porsche’s invention made its debut in 1938, to Hitler’s requirement to produce a ‘volks wagen’ or ‘people’s car.’

Rewriting inconvenient history – tut tut.