The New Beetle Case Study

1.)

What made the “Drivers Wanted” campaign so successful? What did the campaign try to motivate the consumer to do? What measures prove that the campaign was successful? What did it do to the consumer’s perception of the brand?

Looking back, Volkswagen’s decision to switch advertising agencies—from DDB Needham to Arnold Communications (AC)—was a critical step in the company’s comeback bid. After all, AC was the one who came up with the “Drivers Wanted” campaign.

As stated in the case study, after AC won the Volkswagen account, they did some in-depth research on consumer and dealer perceptions of Volkswagen. They discovered that—Volkswagen consumers are younger, slightly more affluent, and more educated than the average car purchaser; Volkswagen owners are creative/confident/adventurous individuals who enjoy a more active role in driving; and Volkswagen was perceived as its namesake, the “people’s car.” Other important information was also taken into consideration, including—the rational benefit of Volkswagen was that it was the only brand that offered German engineering at an affordable price. The emotional benefit of Volkswagen was that it represented a different way of driving (more connected to the road) and living (more connected to the world). With this information, AC began to craft an ad campaign that played to these strengths (consumer influences). The “Drivers Wanted” campaign was successful because its message—which was based on AC’s in-depth research—clearly ta...