Volkswagen India sent a shiver down a newspaper reader’s spine with their new print ad in the Times of India dated 11th September, 2012.
Volkswagen is an innovative and technically superior car manufacturer from Germany. For a brand like Volkswagen, the advertising should also be innovative. The ad in today’s Times of India (11 Sept., 2012) is an example of that. The headline reads, “Feel the shiver of excitement?” This Times of India print ad goes on to deliver an actual shiver to the reader using a pulsating device connected physically to it.
The pulsating device has a basic LDR or light detecting resister connected to a buzzer. This is powered by two 1.5 volts batteries. When the paper is folded no light can pass through the LDR device, but when it is unfolded light can pass through it and the pulsating device starts to vibrate. This sends an unexpected shiver down the reader of the Volkswagen Times of India print ad.
The Volkswagen Times of India print ad promotes the Polo and the Vento. It urges people to test drive these cars because they are packed with innovative and quality features. The middle sheets of the ad also use simple images to depict the respective features of the Volkswagen car. These images directly reiterate the amenities of these Volkswagen cars.
The Volkswagen Times of India print ad must have cost a bomb. With the steep rates of advertising on Times of India, buying the whole first leaflet of the newspaper must have come at a cost. The price of the individual LDR devices that were inserted in each ad should also be added to this mounting ad cost, but the message is delivered succinctly to the audience. The ROI is yet to be gauged.
The Volkswagen Times of India print ad is a continuation to the legacy of innovative ads created for the brand. The first campaign used an audio device (check out my article on this ad: Volkswagen Digital Advertisement in Times of India), the second used a premium quality paper to represent the class of the car and now, Volkswagen used LDR devices to shock the Times of India reader. Each campaign continues to break new ground. Let’s see what they have in store for the future.
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