VW Jetta Turns Table On Drunk Driving Ads

safe_happens.jpg

OK. We're not going to say the C word or the P word or the R word. We're going to say the H word. Homage. Yes. With these two new spots for the new VW Jetta, Crispin Porter + Bogusky is paying homage, as pointed out by Advertising/Design Goodness, to Insurance Corporation of British Columbia's Counter Attack don't drink and drive ads. Instead of the doom and gloom of drunk driving, CP + B is focusing on the Jetta's safety features and how they can protect you in similar situations. Of course, this doesn't mean everyone can now drink and drive nor feel safe from drunk drivers. We like. A lot.

by Steve Hall    Apr-17-06   Click to Comment   
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good   

Enjoy what you've read? Subscribe to Adrants Daily and receive the daily contents of this site each day along with free whitepapers.



Comments



Comments

you gotta be kidding me. spike jonz did this in "adaptation". Aa gruesome realistic looking wreck that's been copied over & over and is now being used in "alias" promos. the fact that it's "realistic" means nothing to me. it's shock (or schlock" value. i don't believe this advertising, neither does the consumer. especially, if you play the spot with the two guys in the car talking about "like", you can see the black guy change to a mannequin right before he/it hits the airbag. what, couldn't get a stuntman to agree to do this? car not safe enough? puh-lease. arnold, where are you, we need you back. vw is now officially part of the dharma initiative, lost.

Posted by: this sucks a lot on April 17, 2006 3:06 PM

Once again adrants sucks on the all might CPB tit. The more you guys continue to call the crap CPB shovels out good work, the more we'll be inundated with it. Let me know how many sales these ads generate. I imagine as many as the BK work; in other words little to no incremental sales.

Posted by: Phil B. on April 17, 2006 9:24 PM

I agree that most of the VW spots are low brow and have a high "meh..." factor (especially compared to the smart ads done by Arnold), but these are kinda nice.

As for BK sales, you don't think they're staying with them for no reason, do you? If your mention of ""no incremental sales" is in regard to the article writen where one franchisee guy was saying that a 1% increase was laughable and could've been from anything, the fact remains A) It was an increase, B) There was a double digit increase the quarter before. Does anyone actually read the paper anymore or just allude to it randomly?

Posted by: Tom Tom on April 17, 2006 9:37 PM

Well, Phil, we admit we do like a nice pair of tits from time to time and CPB seems to have some ripe ones and as long as it's a free country, we'll suck on whomever's tits we choose thank you very much:-)

Posted by: Steve Hall on April 17, 2006 11:09 PM

First of all its a DIRECT STEAL from the Allstate work. There is an exact spot for Allstate Insurance done the same EXACT way. people talking in the beginning of the spot in their car. Car crash comes. Then David Palmer at the end talking to the camera and the people staring at their damaged car. nice try crispin. this is a jack move. I pity the fool.

Posted by: theft mcgriffin on April 18, 2006 12:21 PM

Ha! So the poor guy has to go by his David Palmer 24 character name from now on? We can't even use his real name? :-)

Posted by: Steve Hall on April 18, 2006 12:40 PM

If you're going to make a case for ripping something off...look no further than the classic VW "Lemon" print. So...I guess if you rip yourself off it's OK?

Fine ad...more "average" work from Crispin. (average is in quotes because CP+Bs average work is better than most)

Posted by: Scott Burns on April 18, 2006 2:24 PM

Scott

How do you define average? Would you call a mediocre looking pice of creative that has a high ROI average? What about a creatively groundbreaking piece of creative that has 0 ROI is that average?

For my money I'd take something actually provides an ROI. If you want examples of poor ads from CPB, look no further than:

Slim Jim's Fair Snapmother Creative
Big Bucking Chicken
All of the GTi Work
Watch Me Change for GAP (that didn't exactly set the world on fire)

The list goes on and on.

Posted by: Leo on April 18, 2006 3:11 PM

This is a half ass re-make of the psa ads that where in Europe last year..I forgot what country they came from but the ads where very graphic and in slow mothion.
They started with the impact of the accident and it was reversed until we saw the person / family driving down the street.

Posted by: nl on April 18, 2006 3:24 PM

I keep scratching my head wondering what is being sold here - airbags and crumple zones? Gosh that doesn't sound groundbreaking. The ability to drive without concentrating on what you're, like, doing because the car will, like, forgive your inanity? Quick where's a VW dealer? If Ed Eskandarian were dead, he'd be rolling in his grave.

Posted by: JimC on April 18, 2006 3:40 PM

They're actually very, very similar to the "Drinking Driving Counterattack" ads done by DDB Canada. And those are very well done. It's great that VW is assuring everyone that they will live through an accident in one of their cars. I wonder how much GTi "fast" it takes to outrun an Ambulance Chaser?

Posted by: mc on April 18, 2006 4:33 PM

ok, so you launch your new work for vw by creating a 'fast" icon. "get in touch with your fast."

ok, so you then follow up with doing ads that make fun of tuners. those kids with the rice burners from fast & the furious. "pre tuned in germany."

ok, so you then do an ad campaign showing realistic crashes and the tag is "safe happens".


is it just me or is this a really disjointed way of dong an ad campaign? not that it's wrong, but it feels really... wrong. confusing, too many messages, no point of view. two thumbs down.

Posted by: whatthe? on April 18, 2006 5:39 PM

Busting CP+Bs chops because they're "popular" comes across as rather jr high.

Throwing around ROI on Adrants..something that discusses advertising, is ironic.

I think that CP+B raised, and continues to raise the creative bar. Yes, the BK stuff jumped the shark at the Super Bowl. And yes the new VW has none of the consistancey of their famous Mini work...

Then again, none of us are in their walls, and none of us are hearing the client direction. A thumb print here and an "idea" there from clients playing creative director can turn brilliant campaigns into piles of crap very quickly.

Bottom line, the ad industy is better with CP+B playing in it.

Posted by: Scott Burns on April 18, 2006 6:54 PM

Well I work with CPB on the client side and I can tell you that the shit they come up with isn't based on any client direction, it's based on their own shear wanting to give hand jobs to one another. Just because something is creatively groundbreaking doesn't make it a good piece of creative. Remember BMW Films? Groundbreaking and didn't generate an incremental sale. I take it Scott that you expect advertising to just be "cool" not actually help turn a profit. I see, yes that makes a lot of sense. Let's throw millions of dollars to advertising that doesn't demonstrate an ROI. Isn't that why we fire agencies?

Posted by: Bobby T. on April 18, 2006 9:43 PM

I can't stand these ads, they are disturbing to say the least, but they don't effectively sell anything, other than fear of car accidents. What ever happened to the fun VW ads?

Posted by: ASJ on April 19, 2006 6:13 PM