Friday, April 8, 2016

EOC Week 1: VW Lemon

 http://www.visualnews.com/2013/09/03/20-best-volkswagen-ads-1960s-campaign/

Volkswagen said we should “think small” and that their car was a “lemon.”

(their design hardly changed in 10 years)

Will we ever kill the bug?

“This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars.”

“We pluck the lemons; you get the plums,”

“creative revolution”

“All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level,”


“This Volkswagen missed the boat. The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished, and must be replaced.”

But Volkswagen never shied away from this startling, risky strategy. This worked out pretty damn well for them.

VW’s ad agency was Doyle Dane Bernbach, with the great Bill Bernbach leading the creative department.

“We’ve been making the same basic VW for so long now, you’d think we’d be bored with the whole thing. But the fact is, we’re still learning.”

http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=1731

“This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars.”

“We pluck the lemons; you get the plums,”

The driving force behind the Volkswagen campaign was William Bernbach of DDB. Bernbach is considered the father of the “creative revolution” in the advertisement industry.

“All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level,”

“Logic and over-analysis can immobilize and sterilize an idea. It’s like love — the more you analyze it, the faster it disappears.”


Every shock absorber is tested (spot checking won't do), every windshield is scanned. VWs have been rejected for surface scratches barely visible to the eye.

We pluck the lemons; you get the plums.

No comments:

Post a Comment