Volkswagen eyes high sales with vibrating newspaper ad

Volkswagen has done it again. Thanks to the German automaker's latest campaign, 25 lakh readers across six metros are expected to have woken up to not just the news, but also, an ad they simply couldn't ignore. A shivering newspaper. The ad took three months to execute and was a logistical challenge, similar to the talking newspaper used by the brand in 2010.

Sonal Dabral, chairman & chief creative officer, DDB Mudra Group, says that after coming up with the idea, the biggest challenge was to source this device. And we sourced it, and it took a couple of, cool couple of months to finally get this kind of device, get it working, get it at the right cost, and the result was today there in the papers.

The advertisement, which cost Volkswagen between Rs 5-7 crore, is almost 70% higher than a regular jacket double spread across six metros.

While it did get tongues wagging - both Volkswagen and Bombay Times trended on Twitter, though for reasons Volkswagen would not appreciate - the car manufacturer claims that its latest innovation has helped it record a 200% spike in dealer inquiries on day one.

Lutz Kothe, head,  marketing & PR, VW Passenger Cars,
Volkswagen Group Sales India, says that normally, till around 9am, we have roughly 100 enquiries in our sales centre. Today, we had 1150 already. But there are three targets that we want to hit. First, to create awareness for the brand. Second, is to support our sales and bring our roughly new cars to the road. Third, if you open the jacket, it's a double spread. And you can see, the headline tells you why only Volkswagen can build a Volkswagen.

Volkswagen desperately needs to boost sales - the company sold just 4,410 units last month, down about 50% against the same time period last year. With a lower price point and added features, the target for the refreshed Polo and Vento, is to help Volkswagen acquire at least 3% of the market by the end of the year.

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