PoloDriver

With the first press drives complete and the car now in showrooms, the European advertising campaign for the new Volkswagen Polo was launched today. The primary focus will be on the sixth-generation car’s safety assistance and convenience systems, with the first press advertisement proclaiming ‘Your back-up when backing-up’, and promoting the Park Pilot and Park Assist functions.

‘Emotional, authentic and humourous’
‘As one of the world’s most advanced small cars, the new Polo calls the tune in its class when it comes to safety – something that is important to people. Our campaign highlights this subject in typical Volkswagen style: emotional, authentic and humorous’, said Jürgen Stackmann, Volkswagen Brand Board Member for Sales. According to Volkswagen, the new TV commercial, print materials and social media campaign will highlight how the new Polo ‘combines safety with adventure’.

The ‘emotional’ aspect comes in the form of a father and son story illustrated in the TV commercial. The spot which shows how assistance systems ‘can enrich lives’, with the father’s unsuccessful attempts to assist his more adventurous son documented through time. But, when they are both in the new Polo, he can relax as the car will ‘assist’ his son, through its numerous safety systems which include a blind spot lane change monitor, as well as front and pedestrian monitors.

The ‘360-degree’ campaign begins in over 30 European countries simultaneously. The print campaign will focus on modern convenience and safety technologies, while Volkswagen also states that the new Polo will also be the star of ‘entertaining’ feature films especially made for social media channels. The campaign has been devised by DDB Berlin, DDB Hamburg, and Adam&Eve DDB London.

The new Polo’s ‘father and son’ one-minute TV spot can be seen at www.volkswagen.de.

‘Drive Confident’. That’s just one of the slogans Volkswagen has decided upon as the lynchpin of the New Polo advertising campaign. An international launch campaign has been unveiled under the ‘Reassuringly safe. Calming innovative.’ banner and sees advertising materials focus on the New Polo’s extensive safety features and technology.

The car boasts many class firsts for safety, and so the TV and press advertisements focus on features such as the Front Assist monitoring system with City Emergency Braking function, ACC automatic distance control, as well as the new and innovative LED headlights. The campaign was launched in Germany on 16 April and will see a roll-out across Europe. Formats will include print and web media, as well as TV spots and ‘web specials’ such as microsites.

A ‘web special’ microsite is available at www.polo.de, which features new product information, interactive 360-degree experiences, assistance system films, and interactive social media opportunities. It has been created by DDB Tribal Hamburg. The print campaign has been created by DDB Team Blue and DDB Tribal Berlin.

The TV campaign meanwhile was created by DDB Team Blue and DDB Amsterdam and features a new composition of Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen. Showing drivers with animated and nervous passengers, the message is that the New Polo does a lot of the driving safety work for you, leaving passengers much calmer. Another features the MirrorLink function which enables control of a smartphone through the New Polo’s new infotainment system.

The star of the New Polo campaign is the limited edition Polo Fresh model, available for one year after the refreshed car’s introduction, and available in the UK as the SE Design model. The example used in the campaign has LED headlights, panoramic sunroof, and is painted in the eye-catching ‘Cornflower Blue’ colour, presumably to catch younger drivers’ attention (it’s also a great shade).

The New Polo is already on sale in mainland Europe, with UK deliveries starting in July. Priced at £11,100 for the 1.0 S, the range rises through S A/C, SE, SE Design and SEL, and tops off with the sporty yet frugal BlueGT featuring cylinder deactivation technology. BlueMotion and GTI models will follow later in the year. Visit our extensive New Polo pages for more information.

Fresh from its 2013 FIA World Rally Championship titles*, Volkswagen is celebrating its debut WRC season haul with a number of marketing campaigns. Part of the company’s successful and high-profile ‘Rally the World’ marketing message, the new elements of the campaign encompass video, advertising and brand media. A 60-second ‘Story of Glory’ film looks back at the key moments in Volkswagen’s debut WRC campaign. The fantastically-edited clip features many shots of the Polo R WRC sliding around icy forest tracks, jumping over gravel-laden hills, and slithering around asphalt stages. Watch it below or catch it online at the Rally the World website.

A very clever stylised medal logo featuring the iconic VW roundel supported by two ‘ribbons’ in its light grey and blue colours has been designed. Printed onto T-shirts worn by the Volkswagen drivers’ supporting crews on the Rally Spain, a large format version has been created for the VW roundel on Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg factory. Situated on the power station of the building, it looks out over the Mittelandkanal, which also has a part to play in celebrating Volkswagen’s success. An extra-large format poster of the drivers and Polo R WRC with a ‘champagne fountain’ water feature sits on the bank of the canal.

And as luck would have it, when you own the town, you can paint in red, or at least yellow (or light grey and blue). All Wolfsburg town signs bear a yellow plate under the main sign that reads ‘City of the World Rally Champion*’, with the roundel medal logo also included. Finally, an advertising campaign has been rolled out in Germany, Italy, France, UK, Spain and Australia by creative strategy agency Greenkern. There was also a Facebook campaign for 3999 fans to upload their profile photos via the Rally The World website to be used to decorate the Polo R WRC driven by Andreas Mikkelsen at Wales Rally GB from 13-17 November. Volkswagen stole early victory in the 2013 World Rally Championship with both the manufacturers and drivers’/co-drivers’ titles*, campaigning three Polo R WRCs.

*Subject to the official publication of the results by FIA

One from the archives today. The coming of April Fool’s Day reminded us of this press advertisement from 1996. Detailing the arrival of the Polo Harlequin special edition, this advert states that the colourful model was just one of several new Polo variations due to go on sale. On sale in the UK not long after its appearance at the 1995 London Motor Show, the Polo Harlequin was based on the 1.4 CL. The car featured its own unique upholstery, driver’s airbag, GLX ‘sports bumpers’, white indicators and darkened rear light clusters.

The car was made in batches of four (Yellow, Pistachio Green, Chagall Blue and Flash Red were the colourways) and the customer could not specify a certain panel to be a certain colour – the colour combination that the car arrived in would be a complete surprise. The price at launch in April 1996 (five-door only) was £11,095. It’s believed that Volkswagen UK sold just 113 examples, of which 62 are alleged to be still on the road with 9 cars currently SORNed (although many cars have been reportedly resprayed a single colour). The significance of April Fool’s Day? This advertisement was placed in the Daily Express on 1 April 1996!

In recent weeks we’ve showcased the four TV commercials in the Polo’s ‘Made in India’ campaign, created by DDB Mudra. The agency has also come up with a range of innovative print, outdoor and digital media. Similarly to the TV commercials, all the other elements of the campaign highlight the fact the the Indian-built Polo is tailor-made for Indian drivers, but has the might of German engineering behind it. This print ad from the campaign focuses on the economy and technical aspects of the car and features ‘The Polo Mileage Test,’ as well as tying in neatly with the TV commercials – head over to PoloDriverTV to watch the set of four spots. The new Polo costs from RS 4.5 lakh, and will face heated competition from the Maruti Swift, Ford Figo, Honda Jazz, Fiat Punto and Hyundai i20.