When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers clashed at Super Bowl XLV in the United States recently, it wasn’t the final score of this American big show that sent the Internet. Oops, it wasn’t the tumbling singing sensation Christina Aguilera’s National Anthem too;
It was the VW’s clever commercial ad that stole the show!
In brief, the ad featured Volkswagen’s (VW) The Force, which featured a child in a Darth Vader suit using mystical powers (or The Force, made famous in the Star Wars films), to move the home’s washing machine, family dog, a doll and his breakfast – albeit in vain.
Feeling dejected, the tiny “dark lord” than decides to use The Force on his father’s parked VW Passat 2012 in the driveway – and actually starts it, much to his surprise.
The humorous appeal started here when the car is actually started from a distance by his father via the vehicle’s “remote control start button” featured by VW!
The Super Bowl has been known to be a great platform to boost ads, and it’s not difficult to see why. The event is the most-viewed programme in the United States, and this year’s game attracted a record 111 million viewers.
The ad, which gave viewers a glimpse at Apple’s vision for its then upcoming Macintosh computer, has been widely regarded as one of the most memorable and successful American television commercials ever, as it was considered an important symbol of fighting conformity (considered to be IBM at the time).
At that time, Apple saw a 30% increase in the number of people going directly to their job search site!
“This year’s Super Bowl delivered an incredible audience count of 111 million. As an addition, the online audience reached nearly 30 million, we would probably look at figures that most advertisers would die for, and that’s without even considering the buzz and word of mouth interest this ad has generated.
When you look at these numbers, the US$3mil price tag starts to look reasonable for you. Sounds good deal huh? If you consider what it would have taken to reach that audience without the unique opportunity presented by the Super Bowl, you could even call it a bargain.
When you look at these numbers, the US$3mil price tag starts to look reasonable for you. Sounds good deal huh? If you consider what it would have taken to reach that audience without the unique opportunity presented by the Super Bowl, you could even call it a bargain
It is pretty interesting to learn that VW would have spent a bomb on the commercial at a cost of US$100,000 per second (for a typical Super Bowl ad), and the 30-second spot would have cost the German car manufacturer US$3mil just to air it.
In return, however, this commercial ad leveraged off the unforgettable Star Wars score and humour to create an emotional appeal and achieved more than 20 million hits on Youtube in less than a week.
Let’s take a shot!
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