by Next Wave Team | Jul 16, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Great Ad Agencies, VW advertising
In the 2006 Initial Quality Study from J. D. Power and Associates, only Isuzu (191) and Land Rover (204) ranked lower than Volkswagen that was tied with Hummer at 171 in problems per 100 vehicles.
For comparison, Porsche, also made in Germany, and fully “pimped” straight from the factory, had 91 and Lexus 93.
Hyundai, which not too long ago, was at the bottom of quality surveys, implemented an amazing 10 year warranty a few years back, and now only has 102 problems per 100. Toyota, long known for quality came in with 106.
There is an adage that great advertising will kill a bad product faster than bad advertising will kill a great product, and with VW hiring the brand magicians at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, is VW committing suicide?
Crispin did wonders with the Mini (which had 150 problems per 100) but abandoned the brand (spending about $35 million a year) for VW (spending $330 million a year) when the Mini brand manager moved to VW.
So far, interest and sales of VW are on the upswing, as is a quality move within VW, but could the answer be partially in VW’s hands - offer a bulletproof warranty and have VW take responsibility for what they build?
One of the beautiful things about Crispin is that they are willing to go outside the traditional confines of what an ad agency is “supposed to do” and offer sound business advice. Some in the auto business laughed at Crispin rebranding the VW Golf back to it’s original “VW Rabbit” badge. Considering that neither econobox sold as well as the Bug- which was known for its quality, dependability and value- qualities that have escaped VW since the Bug’s departure from the line up.
Note: if you click on the frame- you will get a pop up window to the spot.
The song is “The Birds and the Bees” By Patrick and Eugene.
You can visit the iTunes store for this album by clicking this link: Postcard from Summerisle and the catchy lyrics are:
The sky is perfect blue
No clouds could spoil the view
It’s a sign from above
That shows that we’re in love
All the birds and the bees
Are flying in the trees
The sun is in the sky
Just for you and I
the VW site promises to tell you this stuff- but they don’t have the spot loaded yet.
Consumers already have a bullshit detector when it comes to advertising- and with VW’s reputation for quality in tatters, the current crop of entertaining ads are a solid attempt to bring back some of the love for early VW advertising- with it’s self-deprecating cheekiness.
The big question will be answered next year, when JD Power rankings come out, and VW will learn if the cost of selling more cars is an even worse ranking- or a huge move up in perceived quality thanks to actual better quality- and a halo effect from good advertising.
What do you think?
by Next Wave Team | Jul 14, 2006 | Advertising, Brand Relevancy, Creativity, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Great Ad Agencies, Guerrilla Campaigns
The Craziest Ad Guys In America
Business Week gives CP+B the title “The craziest ad guys in America”- when in fact, it’s the other agencies that are crazy. Corporate conglomerates have zero to do with creative solutions to business problems- they cause business problems.
When The Next Wave came into this world, we avoided the words “advertising” and “agency” for a reason- the solution isn’t always advertising (in fact, most of the time- it’s not advertising at all) and we’re not a temp agency to come in and solve your problems so that we can go on our way when the client thinks they have everything under control. We chose the words “marketing • innovation” because according to Peter Drucker- that’s all there is to business. Even our tagline sounds different than most agencies- “Create lust • Evoke trust”- that’s what it’s all about- but, maybe we should also add- “make buzz” - because as Alex Bogusky says “I like that they are talking about the work. If they aren’t talking, then your brand is dead.”
In the media multiverse, it’s impossible to stand out if you do work that doesn’t create an emotional response. CB+P is willing to risk alienating some customers in order to stimulate the core buyers. This is the absolute opposite of what the big corporate agencies are willing to do. They prefer to buy buzz- because they can mark it up- the problem is buzz can’t be bought anymore.
If there is one thing to be learned from Crispin’s work, it’s that every opportunity to open a discussion with the market is exploited- from bags and window decals, to rewriting employee manuals. Read the article from Business Week- and come back and share your observations about how they approach their clients’ challenges.
Thank you.
by Next Wave Team | Jul 14, 2006 | Advertising, Careers in Advertising, Creativity, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Everything You Want to Know About Advertising, Future of advertising, Future of TV, Great Ad Agencies, Guerrilla Campaigns, Low Budget Advertising, Marketing & the Web, Media, Viral Marketing, Web strategy
Animusic - Pipe Dream - Google Video
The idea of the 500 channel world should be long purged from anyone’s vocabulary at this point- there will be content to watch until the world goes into self-cleaning oven mode- or freezes over like a hockey rink- but, there may not be many humans in the actual show. Take a look at Animusic videos of music making machines- or go rent the movie “Final fantasy” or start looking into virtual worlds like “Second life” and you realize- we can do much cooler things in a virtual world. By taking scenes from video games to illustrate stories, Machinima, anyone with a creative bone in their body will be able to create stories with a look equivalent to a Hollywood movie.
The big question will remain- what to watch? This is where the power of crowds and agents of influence will come into play. The best advertising agencies will be the ones who can guide the masses into unwittingly being their agents of mass propaganda. Strike the right nerve- and the reaction is exponential compared to the force of the first strike.
The key to the future will be how will these provocateurs be paid- in the free wheeling virtual world? Agencies have relied on the idiotic media commission system for too long. Will it come down to some kind of pay-per-click (or the 2.0 version- commission on sale)- or some other formula?
Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami has started to take equity positions in companies they work with- which should make people in corporate marketing positions start wondering how long they will be able to hang on to their cushy “C” level jobs where they just play General to the mercenary agencies that are hired to do the job or be the scapegoats.
Big changes are coming- all thanks to the shift in power from the ones with the most money- to those with the best ideas- and tools that put the power in everyone’s hands.
What do you think?
