Advertising that works: The VW Jetta Ads

According to USA Today, the “safe happens” VW ad campaign has had a positive effect on Jetta sales.

While marketing analysts express doubt as to the effectiveness of the ads, the numbers speak volumes on the effectiveness of the ad. According to Volkswagen, requests for brochures were up 37% at call centers and 56% on the Web after the campaign began, compared with the first 15 days of March, and Internet requests for dealer price quotes are up 58%.

The fact that the commercials are still airing is a testimony to their success.

The key to their success: the commercials illustrate graphically the safety of the Jetta, one of the main reasons people cite as their reason for choosing the Jetta.

Our family owns a Jetta which we purchased before the ads started running. We purchased the Jetta because of it’s safety and it’s low car insurance rates. With two teen age drivers, both those features are important to us.

Right now though, it’s hard to tell if the success in the ads lies in the controversy they seemed to have generated or whether their message is really that powerful.

Autoblog points out that the FCC may exert their influence on the ads. Seems the ads contain some strong language, which happens during the course of an accident.

So which is it? Well, if it were just controversy, then the traffic to the site wouldn’t look like this.

If you take a look at Alexa’s measurement of traffic to the www.vw.com website, you’ll see that traffic to the site definitely ebbs and flows.

So while the controversy didn’t hurt way back in April of 2006, it appears that the substance of the commercials are the real fuel for this marketing engine.