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VW's Super Bowl Ad Was Cute, Will It Sell The Passat?

By Joel Feder
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Tiny Darth Vader uses the force on a 2012 Volkswagen Passat

Tiny Darth Vader uses the force on a 2012 Volkswagen Passat

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Super Bowl commercials do one thing really well, create buzz. Volkswagen made sure its commercial "The Force" was nothing if not hilarious. But will it sell the Passat?

Wait, I bet you just did a double take. Did you know that the Volkswagen commercial featuring little Vader was actually for the new 2012 Passat? We are going to guess that many do not. In fact, when the local news interviewed people last night about the commercial many said it was their favorite. When asked what the commercial was for, most had no idea.

The point is, cute and hilarious is great. Many people are going to remember that commercial for a while. The problem is, most don't remember the product that was in the commercial. So will the commercial sell the new Passat? Well, it's hard for the commercial to sell anything if people don't even know what the product featured was.


Volkswagen's marketing department can look at this situation in two different ways. On one hand, the commercial could be viewed as a success. Everyone loves it and is still talking about it. It went viral on YouTube, receiving over 10 million views before the end of last night. On the other hand, the commercial can be viewed as a failure. The product is not what people remember.

Let us know if you think the Vader commercial was a success or failure in the comments below.

[Ad Age]


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Comments (6)

  1. Torsten Adair Posted: 2/7/2011 10:26am PST

    It sells the entire company.
    It wasn't meant to really sell the Passat... aside from the remote control.
    What it does is hearken back to the memorable ads from the 1970s.
    It makes Volkswagens cool.
     
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  2. rich Posted: 2/7/2011 11:18am PST

    I agree with Torsten. However, I thought the car in the ad was the new Jetta.
     
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  3. Geezer Posted: 2/7/2011 2:23pm PST

    Would have helped if they had shown the family coming home in the Passat. It would only have added a few seconds to the spot and the connection with the product would have been made.
    Enjoyable add though.
     
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  4. B-Man Posted: 2/7/2011 9:03pm PST

    As long as Ben Rothelschild and the Pittsburgh Stealer lost Super Bowl 45 I'm a happy camper.
     
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  5. dfrith Posted: 2/8/2011 6:04am PST

    I think it can be said for many commercials that on first sight people can't remember what product they were for. I have watched this ad at least 4 times now because it is so good. I knew on first viewing that it was for the Passat soon to come out of VW's new factory in Tennessee.
     
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  6. MyNameIsNigel Posted: 2/8/2011 2:15pm PST

    This ad should definitely be viewed as a success for VW as it has created great interest and widespread awareness in the brand itself, beyond the actual car featured therein. Thumbs up to the authors of this commercial !
     
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