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Possible names Calderon as a creative leader on new VW

Aileen Calderon (left) has been appointed group creative director of Possible New York where she’ll help lead WPP’s new Volkswagen creative account, reporting to ECD Jason Marks. Prior to this she worked at various KBS agencies, on BMW among others, and Strawberry Frog.

To see Possible in the driving seat on such an important account for WPP is a surprise. It describes itself as a global digital marketing agency and, in the early days of WPP CEO Mark Read, looked as though it was destined for extinction or at least takeover – as happened to more famous brethren JWT and Y&R.

50 years ago VW was the most famous account in the US (maybe the world) as DDB’s radical alternative-style positioning for the German brand (‘Lemon’ among many others) changed not just car advertising but advertising as a whole. Since then there’ve been fewer highlights in the US although Deutsch’s ‘Darth Vader’ was a Super Bowl standout.

Advertising now seems deemed less important by some auto manufacturers as people make their choice among a bewildering range of alternatives online. In which case Calderon and Possible’s digital background may make sense. And VW is no longer the challenger brand it was in the US, now vying with Toyota for the position of world’s biggest automaker.

Possible, or whatever the new VW agency comes to be called, shouldn’t throw out the old DDB songbook completely.

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