It’s all About the Ad, Lad

The editorial vs advertising conundrum is pretty much irresolvable in a newspaper. While advertising dictates the money, editorials want space for opinion based on facts and news. Studying to be a journalist makes me partial to the editorial department. That’s where I will be soon. But that in no way takes away from the fact that there are some really good ad campaigns out there that have utilised the print medium like no other.

One ad campaign that has caught my attention is the Volkswagen print campaign. The German company has a tie-up with Times of India and together they have come up with a whole series of smart print advertisements. For a little while I managed to quell the outrage in me, because the sheer smartness of the ads blew me away.

The campaign ran various ads, one of which was the talking ad. When you opened the newspaper an advertisement started talking about Volkswagen as a brand. The ad was carried on the 21st of September and was for the Volkswagen Vento sedan.

It became the talk of the town since it was the first time anyone had ever attempted something of the sort. It was the first talking print ad in the world. The ad was in the Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai editions of the newspaper. Lutz Kothe, the head of marketing for Volkswagen India, credited his niece with the idea.

The ad spoke about the Vento and why one should buy it. It got annoying after a point because every time the newspaper was opened the ad started talking, but then again, you got used to it.

Another campaign run by the Volkswagen group was the car cutout. On Monday, 7th March, readers got their morning Times of India to find that a Volkswagen Polo was literally cutting through the pages of a separate edition of the paper. It was a cut out in the shape of the car and again set records for the sheer scale of the initiative.

The edition was called the Die Design and was printed at 5 centers. The cut out had to be clearly visible on the main page of the TOI. The campaign was inlike anything ever seen before anywhere in the world.
Volkswagen created a buzz yet again with its ‘Bleed Blue’ campaign which coincided luckily with India winning a historical match against Pakistan.

The campaign is to highlight the Volkswagen philosophy of creating better, fuel-efficient, environment-friendly vehicles. It involved the first page of the newspaper being completely blue.

Advertising is about creating an impression. It is about making people remember you. The Volkswagen campaigns have angered a lot of people for the fact that they disregard news importance and integrity, but to me they are path-breaking in their own right.

They are effective and have left a mark on readers. They cater to a high society niche audience and the way they advertise pitches the kind of product they offer.

Puritanism aside, the campaigns must be commended for their sheer brilliance and in your face attitude.

Ayesha Sruti Ahmed

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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