EOC Week 1 VW Lemon

For those of us who are too young to remember the 1960’s and all the ad campaigns of the closing of the 20^th century, here is a little bit about one of the greatest campaigns from that time, Volkswagen’s “Lemon” ad. The ad is simply brilliant and ahead of its time. It was a huge risk, as a manufacturer, to have a picture of a car with the word “Lemon” underneath it. We all know what that means but when the consumers look further into the ad they will and have discovered that the car was considered a “Lemon” because of a very minor interior blemish. This tells consumers that the car manufacturer puts quality and craftsmanship at the top of their list of priorities. “The slightly self-deprecating and tremendously forthright advertising copy powered the VW brand image into the forefront of the American car scene.” http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/famous-examples-of-effective-ad-copy-boosting-a-brands-image-0200058

“What made the Volkswagen Beetle ad campaign so radical? Ads before it were either information-based or lacking in persuasion, more fantasy than reality, or reliant on the medium's ability to deliver repeated exposure.” http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1999/11/22/smallb7.html?page=all

While creating this genius campaign Volkswagen first had to look at the market. As history shows this was the time of the baby boomers so many car companies were making bigger cars for growing families while the VW thought small. Due to the innovative graphics and unexpected sales pitches created by Helmut Krone (a pioneer of modern advertising) and Doyle Dane Bernbach copywriters, “This ad campaign boosted sales as well as built up a lifetime of brand loyalty and "changed the very nature of advertising." http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1999/11/22/smallb7.html?page=all This Volkswagen “Lemon” ad is the DDB pioneered the concept of art directors and copywriters working together, and this has been a huge success as well as a standard practice for the company ever since. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1999/11/22/smallb7.html?page=3