[nileshch]

Is this how you felt when you saw the VW "Shiver with Excitement" ad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1x1ygfAN6o

[el lobo 6061]

We all should stop flaming VW for this ad, rather appreciate for coming up with something different. VW tweet had a pun intended into and we shouldn't make a scrape goat out of it.

If environmental damage is also the concern than we all be using public transport than driving our own cars or even better car pooling. Its always easy to point fingers at others.

Before you all get ideas, I don't work for VW.

Just my 2p.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Some of us said why is VW offering piecemeal rather then integrating it all into the Head Unit. Simple reason it wont match the interior. I have seen a lot of HU but none come close to match the interior chrome look which goes with the car.

So that's why they put up another unit which is Garmin. To a normal customer he would think; see I have a HU and I also have another one for GPS and reverse camera and it works on 2.4GHz wireless range.

Actually they could have used something which is available to them right here in India.

Here is a Pic


Post Link

[raycers_honda]

Here is a pic just in case anyone was wondering what's inside the "vibrating" device in the advertisement .
It's got two button sized batteries which when you go to buy it cost anywhere from 30 to 100 rupees depending on the brand.
The actual vibrator thingy is also quite tiny as you can see in the pic.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by raycers_honda

.
It's got two button sized batteries which when you go to buy it cost anywhere from 30 to 100 rupees depending on the brand.
The actual vibrator thingy is also quite tiny as you can see in the pic.

Assuming they got it at a discounted rate for buying in bulk, that's around 40 bucks per vibrating device X roughly 10 million copies of TOI yesterday. Man! That's a truckload of money to spend on something so goofy as this!

They could have spent a fraction of this money on repairing/refueling their test drive vehicles instead; Speaking of weird excuses, their cars always seem to be 'broken down', 'tank totally run out of fuel' or 'car in the workshop' when we request for test drives.

[SkyWalker]

While the first one had a good impact, this one is just a downright silly gimmick, which makes me think VW would have given their advertising decision to some nursery school.

What next? How about a shiny chewy VW bubble gum and say chew on this

VW, if you sales are suffering its because of your high priced cars and apathetic dealer attitude. A gimmick with a vibrating device is not going to change that. You could have used that money to add an additional feature to Vento.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

VW, if you sales are suffering its because of your high priced cars and apathetic dealer attitude. A gimmick with a vibrating device is not going to change that. You could have used that money to add an additional feature to Vento.

True! But VW is probably under the impression that a lot of Indians are still not aware of the brand and that's why the sales has gone down. That was at least true some time back. I remember my uncle drawing up a blank face when I told him I bought a VW. I had to explain the whole story to him including the fact that German cars are known to have a solid build, yada yada...

But word of mouth is a powerful thing. When I am out to buy a car, I would tend to ask people around me who own cars. And when I get a negative feedback, however anecdotal it is, I will completely ignore the brand.

VW should do something to target that too -- clear up all the high profile cases from the past ( the fire incident, the Jetta joyride, etc.); increase the dealership network; discipline errant dealers, etc. Using Twitter/Facebook to try project a friendly face and launching silly ads may not help!!

[noopster]

I leave home for work before the newspaper arrives but when I reached back home last night, my kid was showing the vibrating thingy to her Mom and freaking her out a bit

Funny thing is it refused to vibrate when I held it at first and my lil one was smugly telling me, it only vibrates when she holds it! Later realised that my shadow was blocking the light- it seems to be light-activated.

Like ajmat and others said, the environmental cost of such a gimmick is far too high. Vw should use some discretion rather than give in to the wild fancies of their marketing team and ad agency.

[Ford5]

I opened the back page directly & my newspaper guy had posted the device on the steering wheel picture instead of the black picture, and i read the lines below talking about steering mounted music stuff, and then it went "baarrrrr". I thought music was supposed to play and that the device had gone kaput.

At work i figured it was supposed to be about "shivers of excitement"

Nothing exciting here.

[akash_m]

Good news guys. The batteries from the vibrating device can be used in the Maruti central locking Nippon remote! In market it costs Rs 70/-

May be it can be used in certain Audio remotes also!

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Actually they could have used something which is available to them right here in India.

Here is a Pic


Post Link

The one mentioned above is a test piece from JBL for Yeti's Superb which is doing duty in his wife Polo. But it still isn't that great looking even the switches and GUI still needs a lot more graphics to be upto a VW level.

The Witson, Caska HU too replicate the look but the GUI is a let down. The chrome doesn't match the quality of chrome insert that is present in VW.

May be in 2014 Polo they will include a touch screen with better GUI.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

The one mentioned above is a test piece from JBL for Yeti's Superb which is doing duty in his wife Polo. But it still isn't that great looking even the switches and GUI still needs a lot more graphics to be upto a VW level.

The Witson, Caska HU too replicate the look but the GUI is a let down. The chrome doesn't match the quality of chrome insert that is present in VW.

May be in 2014 Polo they will include a touch screen with better GUI.

They do have RCD 510 option with a touchscreen which currently does duty in Jetta HL, Passat. Otherwise they could have added RNS310 which is available in europe.

[anuragn]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

While the first one had a good impact, this one is just a downright silly gimmick, which makes me think VW would have given their advertising decision to some nursery school.

See how much interest this has generated here. The aim of this ad would be to get people talking about it...create a brand recall. Anybody in India who has seen these talking and vibrating newspaper ads would not forget VW name for some time to come(full page/multi page ads would've facilitated people to easily remember VW brand name).
The amount of intellectual discussion it has generated over that stupid little vibrator thingy in itself is proof of success....of the ad.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by anuragn

See how much interest this has generated here. The aim of this ad would be to get people talking about it...create a brand recall.

well, I get this any publicity is good publicity philosophy. But if success is measured by how much people talk, to get people talking about it - probably this UPA is govt. is the most successful ever in India, and Kasab most successful man in India

Originally Posted by anuragn

The amount of intellectual discussion it has generated over that stupid little vibrator thingy in itself is proof of success....of the ad.

yes, the ad could have become 'controversial'. But what does it say about the brand VW? An advertisement is a means to an end. Do you really see people associating a positive memory to VW brand due to this? My association with the brand+ VW after seeing the ad = silliness.

[normally_crazy]

Why doesn't someone buy the front page of TOI for a day and print the pictures from the thread where VW have bashed up a customers car ?

That will be even stevens I guess !