Dienstag
Jan252005
Small, but Tough - a new "fake" Viral Case, this time it hits Volkswagen
Viral Advertising
Due to a lot of work last week, I am a little to the game and you have probably already seen the viral clip for the VW Polo that surfaced last Tuesday...
But I wanted write a little note about it anyway. Of course, Volkswagen denies any involvement – as did Puma and Ford, when "officially" fake advertising featuring their brands appeared last year.
MediaGuardian provided some background (mis-?)information on the whole story…
Now Volkswagen is really angry about all the buzz they are getting and all the media frenzy. Even I got a call from a German TV station, asking for an interview about this terrible incident. So it is only logical that VW is currently "investigating legal action against the creators of the ads"…
...honi soit qui mal y pense !? ;-)
Btw, what really puzzles me is the fact that at the same time, Volkswagen still isn’t able to turn their great official tv ads into viral marketing successes. They aren’t even trying…
Too easy ?
But I wanted write a little note about it anyway. Of course, Volkswagen denies any involvement – as did Puma and Ford, when "officially" fake advertising featuring their brands appeared last year.
MediaGuardian provided some background (mis-?)information on the whole story…
The mystery deepened after MediaGuardian.co.uk tracked down the makers of the film, who revealed that some distinctively professional techniques had been used: it had been shot on 35mm film, not something an amateur would usually do, and cost £40,000, not a sum an amateur could afford.Isn’t it funny how these things keep happening ? Of course it is only an accident that the same guys who are behind this thing were also involved in the notorious FordKa Cat Clip.
"Lee", who refused to give his surname, apologised for the spoof advert, which he said was released accidentally, but refused to say who funded it.
"We made the advert for Volkswagen," said Lee. "We never really intended it for public consumption. It was principally something we made to show people in the industry but it got out somehow.
Now Volkswagen is really angry about all the buzz they are getting and all the media frenzy. Even I got a call from a German TV station, asking for an interview about this terrible incident. So it is only logical that VW is currently "investigating legal action against the creators of the ads"…
...honi soit qui mal y pense !? ;-)
Btw, what really puzzles me is the fact that at the same time, Volkswagen still isn’t able to turn their great official tv ads into viral marketing successes. They aren’t even trying…
Too easy ?
Reader Comments (4)
I noticed that FordKa came up a couple of times... but can you confirm it was made by Dan and Lee?
Well, actually I am not 100% certain about this. What is 100% certain in today's world ?
But there are a few (reliable?) sources available online which sound like they can confirm it - like Jalopnik...
http://tinyurl.com/6d22e
Good enough ?
Again, only a very tenuous link. I'll continue to dig, because if a solid link is there, it's a downright interesting one.
Tim, it's not. Lee and Dan made a Ford STREETka advert however, you can see that one on their site.
That's another kind of Ford, and has nothing to do with decapitated cats and dead pigeoons, those Ford Ka ads were made by the Viral Factory together with Ogilvy London.