Today I have recently discovered the advertisement of the Volkswagen Lemon, which was a turning
point in advertisement. “The
ad featured a black and white photo of the Volkswagen Beetle with the
word “Lemon” in bold san serif font. Below the image follows a statement
that proclaims that this particular car was rejected by Inspector Kurt Kroner
because of a blemish on the chrome piece of the glove box. The ad goes on to
describe the rigorous inspection process; one out of fifty does not pass for something
as simple as a scratch on the windshield. “This preoccupation with detail means
the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other
cars.” Concluding with a memorable tag line “We pluck the lemons; you get the
plums,” it gives the reader a first impression that Volkswagen is calling their
own car a lemon, while intriguing them to read further to see that it is really
about the rigorous inspection process that Volkswagens go through.” This was
written by Rebecca Coleman. Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 5:42 pm.
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currentlWhat made the Volkswagen
Beetle ad campaign so radical? Ads before it were either information-based and
lacking in persuasion, more fantasy than reality, or reliant on the medium's
ability to deliver repeated exposure.
Beetle ads,
though, connected with consumers on an emotional level, while conveying a
product benefit in a way consumers could relate to. Plus, the ads were
breathtakingly simple.
Two famous print
ads illustrate this. One featured a small picture of the car with the headline
"Think small." Text highlighted the advantages of driving the small
Beetle vs. a big car.
The other
presented just the car with "Lemon" in bold type. Ad copy explained
that the chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and had to be
replaced. The take-away was obvious. If this was Volkswagen's idea of a lemon,
the Beetle must be a well-built car.
The Beetle ad
campaign also stands out for its use of television, which was in 90 percent of
homes by the mid-1960s. It may have been grainy black-and-white, but the
emotional connection between car and consumer was picture perfect in Beetle
commercials like "Funeral."
Imagine a funeral
procession as the voice of the deceased bequeaths his fortune. To each, from
his wife and sons to business partners who were wasteful with money, he leaves
nothing.
But to the
tearful young man in a Volkswagen Beetle at the end of the line, he says:
"To my nephew, Harold, who ofttimes said `A penny saved is a penny earned
... and it sure pays to own a Volkswagen' ... I leave my entire fortune of a
hundred billion dollars."
In ad after ad,
year after year, the Volkswagen Beetle ad campaign conveyed its message of
frugality and sensibility with a clarity and emotion the ad world had never
seen before.
Mike Ogden is
president of Pipeline Marketing in Overland Park, Kan. He can be reached at
(913) 397-PIPE or on the Web at http://www.pipelinemarketing.com.
When all other advertisers were still promoting classic
American values and simply playing up the positive aspects of a product,
Volkswagen's advertisers made lemonade out of a lemon. Even though consumers
were hesitant to buy German products after the war and many car companies were
building bigger cars for growing families, VW made use of its small size and
big thinking. In the iconic "Lemon" ad of the early 1960s, Volkswagen
showed a photo of the Beetle with the word "Lemon" in large letters
underneath. The smaller text under the ad explained that inspectors had
rejected this car as a lemon because of a very minor flaw. It was a follow-up
to the equally successful "Think Small" advertisement. The ads were
clever, simple, and slightly self-deprecating. This encouraged a generation to
break the molds of American tradition and create new roles for themselves —
like seeing how many people can fit in a VW Beetle.
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