No, it’s not Kwik-Fit. Or B&Q. Or Screwfix. Although it does have that rough and ready, Ginsters on the dashboard tradesman feel to it.
I’ll give you a clue. It’s a leading car manufacturer. A leading European car manufacturer.
Give up? OK. Here’s the front cover again with the logo revealed.
Yes, believe it or not, it’s from Volkswagen. The leading German motor manufacturer which has been producing outstanding cars and superlative, understated advertising since the Doyle Dane Bernbach days of the 60s is the company behind this stinker.
Open it up and it gets worse.
Open it up and it gets worse.
As a piece of advertising, this is so bad it’s difficult to know where to start.
The proposition is nonsensical. What does the launch of the new VW Touran and Sharan have to do with superheroes? Oh, wait a minute, it’s the ultimate family car for the ultimate family hero. Of course.
The headline and the competition mechanics are inconsistent. The headline says, ‘YOU COULD WIN THE ULTIMATE FAMILY CAR.’ But the copy says that I can nominate someone else to win. So to win myself, I’ll have to get another person to nominate me. Or just nominate myself because I’m so great. That’s not very heroic is it?
The art direction is lousy. Look at the superhero ‘pants’ on the front. Look at the highlight on the VW logo on the front. (And there’s no VW logo on the inside.) Look at the three starbursts on the inside. It’s all very crude with no finesse.
The copy is just as underwhelming. The examples of superhero qualities are just silly. Walking the dog in a single bound? Surely, it should have been something like, Who’s the heart and soul of the family who keeps on smiling? Who suffers from illness but never lets it get them down? Who has two jobs to keep the family afloat?
It goes on. What’s a heroiser? The copy doesn’t tell us. Who buys a car for the ‘great views’? What are ‘adaptable seats’?
In actual fact, there is the germ of an idea buried in there. The new VW Touran and Sharan are so good, superheroes would use them. The shot could be a subtle image of someone in a superhero cape waving off the kids at school.
Above all, the insert should have been focused on the launch of the new VW Touran and Sharan. It’s something new. It’s news. An advertising approach that has worked for as long as companies have been advertising.
But this blog post isn’t intended just to slag off a bad piece of work. That’s hardly constructive. It’s designed to show the importance of brand values. How it’s absolutely vital to take great care with the proposition, the art direction, typography and copywriting on every single piece of work produced for a brand. So that values which have taken many years to build up and be imprinted in consumers’ minds aren’t damaged by careless advertising.
I’d love to know how many website hits and competition entries this insert generated. It might even have worked like stink. But I doubt it.
For more invaluable help and advice on writing, marketing and advertising, go to www.jamiehudson.com
The proposition is nonsensical. What does the launch of the new VW Touran and Sharan have to do with superheroes? Oh, wait a minute, it’s the ultimate family car for the ultimate family hero. Of course.
The headline and the competition mechanics are inconsistent. The headline says, ‘YOU COULD WIN THE ULTIMATE FAMILY CAR.’ But the copy says that I can nominate someone else to win. So to win myself, I’ll have to get another person to nominate me. Or just nominate myself because I’m so great. That’s not very heroic is it?
The art direction is lousy. Look at the superhero ‘pants’ on the front. Look at the highlight on the VW logo on the front. (And there’s no VW logo on the inside.) Look at the three starbursts on the inside. It’s all very crude with no finesse.
The copy is just as underwhelming. The examples of superhero qualities are just silly. Walking the dog in a single bound? Surely, it should have been something like, Who’s the heart and soul of the family who keeps on smiling? Who suffers from illness but never lets it get them down? Who has two jobs to keep the family afloat?
It goes on. What’s a heroiser? The copy doesn’t tell us. Who buys a car for the ‘great views’? What are ‘adaptable seats’?
In actual fact, there is the germ of an idea buried in there. The new VW Touran and Sharan are so good, superheroes would use them. The shot could be a subtle image of someone in a superhero cape waving off the kids at school.
Above all, the insert should have been focused on the launch of the new VW Touran and Sharan. It’s something new. It’s news. An advertising approach that has worked for as long as companies have been advertising.
But this blog post isn’t intended just to slag off a bad piece of work. That’s hardly constructive. It’s designed to show the importance of brand values. How it’s absolutely vital to take great care with the proposition, the art direction, typography and copywriting on every single piece of work produced for a brand. So that values which have taken many years to build up and be imprinted in consumers’ minds aren’t damaged by careless advertising.
I’d love to know how many website hits and competition entries this insert generated. It might even have worked like stink. But I doubt it.
For more invaluable help and advice on writing, marketing and advertising, go to www.jamiehudson.com
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