The Volkswagen - “Think Small” Campaign.
The “Think Small” campaign launched the Volkswagen in America in the 1960. In the 60’s cars were fashion statement, testosterone boosters, and muscles on wheels. They were built to be fast, big , stylish and way to show off.
And here came Volkswagen with Beetle it was a small, slow, ugly, foreign car that was also tied to Nazi Germany. To sell this car to a country which was still bitter about the world war?
The car was always perceived to be a small and slow car so instead of trying to sell the American public a primed marketing campaign Volkswagen decided to be honest about it. The Ad copy read that the max speed was 72 mph. It also spoke about its weird looks. This cleverly made the people look into the ad and read it. It took the Assimilation effect where the receiver perceives the message t be advocating a position closer to his or her own position. So the copy then goes on to talk about the engineering of the car and how it being slow still had the best engine around. It also speaks about its good mileage and how its looks make it stand out. The Ad hooks into the consumer and makes them want to know more about it. This is also made the Volkswagen Beetle a well defined brand personality that carves itself a niche in the market place. This mad the readers from wondering if the car is socially acceptable to almost thinking of owning it.
The Graphics of the ad also are kept minimalistic keeping in line with the Volkswagen performance before looks. This made it stand out from other ads that were there in the space.
So Sometime being Honest about your brand and matching the consumer perception might be helpful in creating a worthwhile brand campaign.