PoloDriver

First Europe, then the UK, Australia and Singapore. Now the next launch pad for the Polo GTI (6R) is South Africa. Building demand and teasing prospective buyers is this Ogilvy Cape Town-produced ‘Coming Soon’ 40-second preview film, which shows scant details about the car itself. With a nod to the ‘light’ campaign which heralded the fifth-generation Polo’s arrival in 2009, this clip directs would-be GTI drivers to the preview website – http://www.datedrive.co.za/ – where they can submit their details to Volkswagen South Africa in order to learn more about the car. Eager South African hot Polo fans can also catch up with the drip-feed information by following an active and dedicated Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/DateDrive. Facebook users can also share the video with their friends.

This almost passed us by. It seems that Volkswagen UK has quietly taken a duster and carried out some spring cleaning to the Polo range. Prices increased slightly on 1 April 2011 (new price list here), and the company replaced the 74bhp variant of the 1.6-litre TDI engine with a 1.2-litre unit of the same power. Related to the super-frugal 1199cc unit in Polo BlueMotion models and used in other Polo ranges worldwide, the new engine pumps out 102g/km, rather than the BlueMotion’s 91g/km. The new engine is available in SE trim only, costing £13,735 in three-door form and £14,355 for five doors. High-specification SEL TDI models continue with the 89bhp 1.6-litre unit as before. Volkswagen UK has also recently extended its £299, limited offer, 3-year/30,000-mile (whichever is soonest) fixed price servicing deal, which now runs until 30 June 2011. For more details, go to www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/polo-v. In other Polo-related news, the Polo GTI was launched in Singapore on Monday.

It scored highly in Europe and now the Polo’s done it Japan. In Japanese NCAP crash testing, the fifth-generation Polo has been awarded the top score of ‘six stars plus’ for occupant safety. Performing impressively in three different crash tests – frontal impact at 55km/h, offset frontal impact at 64km/h and side impact at 55km/h with a 950kg trolley – the car was also rated as the safest import vehicle on the Japanese market. Dominating the overall classifications, the Polo scored top grades in all categories for driver and front passenger safety. Lower loads at the head, neck, chest, upper legs and lower legs validated the excellent safety of the Polo and awarded it an additional ‘Plus’ in the evaluation.

Rear seat passenger tests did not feature in the six star rating, but the Polo scored well here, too, attaining level four out of five based on computations. Volkswagen’s supermini also scored the shortest braking distances on both wet and dry surfaces, coming to a stop from 100km/h in just 40.8 and 39.5 metres respectively. Safety played a big part in the development of the Polo 6R, and as the car achieved high marks in the EuroNCAP occupant, child and pedestrian safety crash tests (awarded a maximum of five stars), a strong performance in the Japanese equivalent should come as no surprise. The latest fifth-generation Polo is now a major small car player on the world market and been selling well since its introduction in June 2009 – globally, over 728,000 units of the compact car have been sold.

Volkswagen is taking its special edition Style models on a nationwide tour of Germany, visiting more than 200 cities in the country. Starting in April 2011 and running until the autumn, the tour will highlight the company’s broad range of models to both retailers and potential customers. ‘With the Style Tour 2011, we invite visitors to experience the Volkswagen brand and experience the diversity of our attractive and environmentally friendly model range itself,’ said Werner Eichhorn, Head of Sales and Marketing (Germany), Volkswagen Passenger Cars. In addition to style, the models and the driver assistance systems will focus on VW’s environmental theme of ‘Think Blue.’

At the national roadshow, visitors can take a closer look at the Style special models, which include the Polo, Golf and Golf Plus. The tour kicked off on 8 April in Autostadt in Wolfsburg, where it will stay until 17 April. ‘We are pleased to present the Style special edition models to guests of Autostadt and Volkswagen employees here in Wolfsburg,’ said Christian Hammerich, Manager of Autostadt. In addition to the Style special models, the new Jetta and Eos will be shown, as will economical BlueMotion versions of the Sharan, Touran and Passat Variant. Drivers of a more sporting bent are offered the Golf GTI, Golf R and Scirocco.

In addition to short test drive appointments, Volkswagen will present the ‘Story of Style’, a selection of the company’s design milestones. In addition, there will be information and a world of ideas relating to sustainability and innovation at Volkswagen under the ‘Think Blue’ banner – how of make individual mobility safer and more comfortable, as well as films on driver assistance systems. Fuel saving tips will also be offered and VW will also inform visitors about its parking aid and new ‘Lane Assist’ lane departure technologies. The Polo Style is available from €14,075 and features a range of equipment including Toffee Brown metallic paint and 15-inch ‘Estrada’ alloy wheels.

Following a theme Volkswagen UK promoted for advertising the Lupo back in the early 2000s, this 30-second TV commercial for Volkswagen Australia uses the ‘Volkswagen, Condensed’ strapline to push the Polo. With two Aussie guys effortlessly condensing all their chatter about the car into such a small timeframe, it certainly gets the message across. The spot was created by agency DDB Sydney, who also did the ‘Word’ campaign we featured recently. The commercial originally aired for three weeks in November 2010, as a prelude to a focused campaign for the Polo GTI the following month, and is currently being run again and promoted on Volkswagen Australia’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Steve Wakelam and Grant McAloon, Group Creative Heads, DDB Sydney, said: ‘Rather than fighting against what could have been a long, dry list of product features we decided to turn them into our creative ideas and hopefully have a bit of fun along the way. More importantly we managed to get a Chicago song in there, a long term professional goal.’

‘The Volkswagen Polo. Volkswagen, Condensed.’ TV campaign credits
Agency: DDB Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Matt Eastwood
Creative Group Heads: Steve Wakelam and Grant McAloon
Agency Producer: Claire Seffrin
Business Management: Patrice Bougouin
Planning Director: Nick Andrews
Production House: Plaza Films
Director: Paul Middleditch
Producer: Peter Masterton
DOP: Daniel Ardilly
Post House: The Editors
Sound: Nylon Studios
Media Agency: Mediacom

[Source: Campaign Brief]