3. Best Viral Marketing Campaign

Company Name Name Of The Entry / Title of The Entry

Grey Digital for Volkswagenanything4jetta – Behind the biggest ever twitter campaign

Maxus Digital for Nokia PC Missing

Contract India for Asian Paints The Wall takes it All

Contract India for Shoppers Stop Shoppers Stop EOSS

Interface Business Solutions For Tata Docomo Tata DOCOMO : My3GLife Gets Viral

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-02-29/news/31110610_1_vivek-nayer-mahindra-mahindra-car-ads

Mahindra XUV 500 advertisement on YouTube gone viral; clocked in 2 million visitsDelshad Irani, ET Bureau Feb 29, 2012, 06.29AM IST

On YouTube, a new commercial for the "cheetah inspired" Mahindra XUV five-double-O (or just 500) has received around 730,000 hits or views, accidental or not. Within days of the campaign's launch the website clocked in two million visits.A car commercial has not received the kind of attention this one has, not in the recent past at least. The campaign tells a fairly simple story of a strapping, comely lad and his bold expedition into the unknown . Deep in the jungle he comes across a scantily clad damsel; this one is not in distress though.

Our desi Indiana Jones follows her and her friends, also dressed in rags, to an inviting bath tub near a stream. The quintessential male fantasy , yes? Well, not quite. There's more. A hearty human-stew is what these cannibal lasses intend to make. Just as they pop in some carrots (the veggie has a vital role to play in this film) like a knightly saviour in silver armour arrives the XUV 500 and their dinner escapes with all his limbs but loses his shirt.

Cut to shot of our adventurer narrating this spectacular yarn to a friend. "And that's why I don't like carrots," he says. The commercial ends with the line 'May Your Life Be Full of Stories' ... bogus or true (we added the last bit.)

Robby Mathew, national creative director , Interface, the agency that created this commercial for Mahindra's latest SUV offering, says it's unlike most car ads.You know, the ones flooded with the car's beautyshots , that dance to heavy drum beats or a placid tune, a distant cousin to the one that plays in posh hotel elevators . This commercial was designed to be a fantastical journey, a mad adventure and an exaggeration to make a point, Mathew will tell you.

To appeal to those who perhaps do as the Romans do and do not take their "theplas to Norway" . The campaign is rooted in the insight that humankind has hit a new stage in evolution and for the worldly consumer, no more is life about constantly saving and acquiring wealth till you drop, figuratively speaking.

"Experience ," says Vivek Nayer , senior VP, marketing, Mahindra & Mahindra - auto division, "is the new rich." Now, people are keen on accumulating tales of adventures to tell their grandchildren (or at least their friends) and leave behind a legacy of valour, a memoir full of amazing quests. Quite an inheritance indeed! "People want to try new things.Over-60 s in the state of Gujarat are buying superbikes. Who says only young studs' can ride superbikes? So with this creative we exploded the insight that people are actively seeking and collecting experiences. And we came up with a personality type that fits the bill much like the Verito Man for Mahindra's sedan brand," says Mathew.

Such advertising will not be liked by all and Nayer is frank about it not being for the mass market: one won't find it on Hindi news channels, for instance. "You need a sense of humour, some may not understand it. We have pushed the envelope after all."

Nayer adds that the beauty of this insight is that it is very "campaignable " be it TV, print or digital. "We can run contests for people to share their stories and others can vote to decide the best five. And we can extend it to our other SUV brands. Their combined reach on Facebook is 3 million."

However, not everyone wants to get behind the wheel. According to Santosh Padhi, co-founder , Taproot, the commercial is not particularly "mindblowing ." "It could have been great," he says, "There are some category cliches in the commercial (SUV, jungle , etc). Furthermore, I think the insight is slightly lost, over-shadowed by the drama and treatment."

In a Brand Equity article titled 'More Farce, Less Force' we highlighted the journey some Indian auto makers are taking into the realm of whacky, extraordinary, bizarre, Superbowl-esque ad campaigns with large doses of humour, both the tongue-in-cheek and toilet variety, as an antidote to the boring, staid strain of car commercials.Many love it, many hate it, and many commend the company and its agency for a deliberate deviation from the car-ad formula at least. It's just that the customer asked for the meat welldone and what arrived at the table is perhaps a hunk done medium-rare. So in the words of Donkey from the Shrek series: "Are we there yet?" Not yet, but getting there.

http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2012/02/mahindra-xuv-500-inspired-by-cheetah.html

W E D N E S D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 2

Mahindra XUV 500 : Inspired by Cheetah

Brand : Mahindra XUV 500

Company : Mahindra

Brand Analysis Count : # 508

Mahindra launched its first product from its first global SUV platform branded as

XUV 500 in the Indian market. The launch was witnessed with great interest by

motor enthusiasts since XUV 500 was perceived as a successor to the iconic

Mahindra Scorpio. Mahindra virtually shook the SUV market in India when it

launched its Scorpio brand in 2002. Auto enthusiasts were expecting something

similar this time too.

And Mahindra did not disappoint at all.

XUV 500 excited the market with its bold masculine

looks and a very aggressive pricing. The brand which priced itself at Rs 10.81 -12

Lakh for its two variants literally sent shock-waves to the  competitor landscape.

The price was juicy for the C-segment car customers to think about XUV as an

option. The company has rightly nailed both the product and the price.

According to the newsreports , through XUV 500, the company intends to create a

category in the Rs 10-15 lakh segment. There is a gap that exists between Scorpio

and the premium SUVs and this brand is expected to fill the gap.

Right from the brand's launch announcement, the company has been presenting

the idea that XUV 500 was inspired by Cheetah. Cheetah which is known for its

speed and agility was a perfect metaphor for the attributes that XUV wanted to

project. 

The teaser ad for XUV launch was bang on with the idea of being Cheetah Inspired.

Watch the teaser ad : XUV Teaser

The idea of using the Cheetah as the metaphor is really smart because of the ease

with which that convey's the brand's projected attributes. But all those build-up

got wasted when I saw the launch campaign of this brand.

Watch the launch campaign :  XUV ( I don't like Carrots)

This launch campaign would easily be one of the horrible ads in recent times. The

client brief would be something like " Let us build a horrible ad and see whether a

good product would sell despite bad advertising".

There is nothing much to talk about this launch campaign. The campaign neither

has a big idea nor has some newness in execution. Jungle, hunk, scantily clad man-

eating ladies and XUV... There is no trace of any logic or marketing thought behind

the ad. To add to the insult, there are some phrases like " I hate Carrots " I am

Hungry etc . May be the agency thought XUV 500 was a deo with some fruit and

vegetable flavors ! What a waste !

Having said that, in the automotive market, it is the product that build brands and

not the other way around. Despite this hopeless ad, consumers will buy this brand

and may even evangelize it  if the product proves itself . Ads mainly play a

supportive role in most cases. But there are brands which create an aura with

smart advertising which later transforms the product dominated brand ( tangible

attributes) to an intangible dominated brand. That is how iconic brands are

created.  

XUV 500 wasted a terrific opportunity to build a brand using promotion. The brand

was thinking about linking itself with adventure stories of its users but the

execution killed that idea. There is no connection between Cheetah, the brand and

the current advertising theme. Cheetahs are hunters but in the current ad, the

brand user gets hunted.  It is just an ad but more than a poor ad, the brand lost a

very crucial brand building opportunity. 

http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2009/05/best-marketing-practice-zoozoo.html

Best Marketing Practice : ZOOZOO

One of the best campaigns I have seen so far is the Vodafone's ZooZoo campaign.

Never in the history of Indian advertising we witnessed a campaign that generated

so much interest and curiosity among all the segments of the society be it young or

old.

So much has been written about ZooZoo in various media. Hence I am not going to

repeat it all over.

Read a wonderful analysis in afaqs here : Afaqs on ZooZoo

Another nice one in Businessline : Business Line on ZooZoo

Rajesh of Blogworks on ZooZoo : Here

Some ZooZoo ads here : ZooZoo collection

I never expected Vodafone to be a creative volcano.When Hutch became Vodafone,

I was little sceptic whether the creative spark of Hutch will be carried forward by

Vodafone. The news of the famous Pug being discarded deepened my scepticism.

But the brand just beat all those cynicism . The Happy to Help campaign and the

VAS campaign all proved that this is a brand that will do anything to be creative.

ZooZoo was created to promote the value added services ( VAS) of Vodafone.

Vodafone was trying hard to capture the VAS Space because it is a potential cash

cow for cellular companies.

Vodafone also wanted to make the most of the IPL season 2. Although IPL is a

crowd puller, it is also a marketer's nightmare because of the clutter. IPL attracts

all the deep pocket advertisers and to standout, one needs to think out of the box.

Thus ZooZoo was born. ZooZoo is a semi alien semi-human character living in an

earth-like place ( lot of which is left to the viewer's imagination).These are very

very simpe biengs who are very expressive. They laugh aloud , cry loud and have a

child like simplicity around them. I think many of us wanted to be such an

expressive being which makes ZooZoo very personal .

The success of ZooZoo is the success of minimalism and simplicity. Although the

production process of ZooZoo ads are not simple, as a consumer I was attracted to

the simplicity of the concept and the execution. ZooZoo also highlights the power

of storytelling. Each ads tells a very simple story. Afterall brands are made through

story telling.

Another factor that aided the success of ZooZoo is the scale of the

campaign.Reports suggest that there are around 25 different ads of ZooZoo to be

aired during this IPL season. This unprecedented scale has kept the curiosity high

among the viewers. It has infact dwarfed all the other advertisers in this season.

There is lot of risk being taken behind this campaign. The Vodafone managers who

okayed this campaign may have risked their jobs to bring out such a massive

campaign. The agency also risked their credibility. One should appreciate the

creative talent of O&M and Nirvana Films who proved that Indian Advertising has

come of age.

Vodafone has taken ZooZoo beyond advertising. The fanclub in the facebook page

of ZooZoo has already touched 70,000 and counting. The brand has comeout with

an interactive quiz that shows the type of ZooZoo you are : here

There are also mobile downloads of wallpaper, screensaver etc.

All these has transformed into a great viral movement. There are already a

plethora of mail forwards and blogposts celebrating ZooZoo.

ZooZoo is a great marketing story. Vodafone has benefitted immensely by this

campaign. It caught the attention and fancy of the consumers, aroused curiosity,

told stories and made people retell the story.

Marketing Guru Seth Godin always emphasised that Brands should be Remarkable.

He defined remarkable as " Worthy of Making a Remark about "

The ZooZoo is a classic example of being Remarkable...

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/news/story.html?sid=23893

Zoozoo: The new brand 'endorser' for VodafoneBy Devina Joshi, afaqs!, Mumbai, April 28, 2009 

Section: News Category: Advertising

IPL Season 2 saw the birth of the Zoozoo for Vodafone: eggshell like characters created to tell a new value-added service story each time. afaqs! explores Zoozoo, and what went behind the making of it

Some find them akin to aliens; others insist they are animated cartoon characters, while a third bunch doesn’t quite

know what to make of it. Nevertheless, we have all been privy to these white, scrawny creatures with giant heads as

they invade our TV screens during an IPL match.

In 2008, Vodafone had unveiled the ‘Happy to Help’ series during the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

With the launch of the second season, Vodafone has given birth to the Zoozoo: a special character created

specifically to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials.

What’s interesting is that there are some 25 such commercials planned under this campaign, 10 of which are already

on air. The aim is to release approximately one ad a day, to sustain interest till the end of the IPL.

So what’s with so many?

It’s no mean feat to unleash so many commercials at a go, with the risk of consumers not grasping them as fast as

the brand churns them out.

Explains Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Vodafone India, “We’re acquiring customers at a very fast pace, but a

large number of them are unaware of the range of services we offer. I mean, ‘phone backup’, which we’re advertising

now, was launched two years ago, for instance!”

Media spends and visibility for brands peak during the IPL, so Vodafone obviously wanted a piece of the pie. Further,

Nagpal explains, the brand was in need of an idea that would work doubly hard, as it was planning to spend some

four months’ worth of marketing monies in one month. “So, we chose not to do just one or two ads, or viewers would

get bored quickly, watching them over and over on the IPL,” says Nagpal.

Six months ago, Vodafone briefed its agency, Ogilvy India, to create uncommon characters – a common thread to

link the ads in the campaign together. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, South Asia, Ogilvy India, tells afaqs! that

the only starting point for the team was that the character had to be simple to a stupefying level. And thus, the

Zoozoo was born.

You egghead!

Ogilvy experimented with several characters and finally took its love for the term ‘egghead’ one step too far, creating

characters that don the colour white (with black dots for eyes and a mouth), have heads resembling eggs, and

disproportionately thin bodies.

The idea is to tell the VAS stories in a world akin to, yet different, from humans. The creatures were then given a

characterisation: they are to lead simple lives, speak a language of their own (something that sounds like gibberish),

move in a certain way, and even emote like human beings, with big frowns or big grins to do the trick. The execution

is almost like emoticons. “We even limited the number of emotions to be used, to keep things easy,” says Rao.

A completely Indian concept, Rao lent these characters a name: the Zoozoos. There’s no science to it, he explains –

the name just had to be something fun, memorable and catchy, and not a clever one that’s difficult to pronounce.

Ironically, nowhere in the communication does the Zoozoo name pop up, but Rao doesn’t feel that’s much of a

problem: it wasn’t a task to popularise the name in the first place.

Currently, some10 films are on air, for service offerings such as Cricket Alerts, Beauty Alerts, Phone

Backup, the IPL Contest 1, the IPL Contest 2,Chhota Credit, Vodafone Maps, Vodafone Call

Filter, Live Games andMusical Greetings. Each film, shot against a Grey backdrop, has these characters

interacting with one another (some storylines even have Zoozoo families) with the product story weaved in.

For instance, the Phone Backup ad (the first in the series) has several Zoozoos lined up to have their faces

photocopied through a photocopier, while a tetris towards the end (the messenger in all the ads) announces how

Vodafone allows for creating a phonebook backup.

Making of the Zoozoo

No, they aren’t animated characters. They are human beings who were made to wear body suits. “The design of the

characters is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation,” shrugs Rao, which was indeed the very illusion

that had to be created. “In a sense, it is ‘live’ animation!” he quips, referring to the fact that it was all shot live.

Prakash Varma, ad filmmaker, Nirvana Films, has directed the commercials, and reveals that the Zoozoos were a big

challenge to create. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk, gesticulate and emote were very important.

Essentially, costume design and artwork were crucial elements.

“It took me three weeks of pre-production to understand how it will work,” says Varma. There were two fabrics that

were considered for the body suits, and one was rejected for it had too many wrinkles and was shiny. The wrinkles

would have shown when the characters moved, thereby shattering the illusion of animation. “So we chose the more

practical, thicker fabric,” Varma explains.

The production team divided the outfit into two parts: the body and the head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed

with foam in some places, while the head was attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a

harder material called Perspex was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).

If one wishes to understand the size of this head, here’s a fact: a human head would typically reach up to the mouth

level of this giant Zoozoo head. “We kept the hands and legs thin, which is why we cast women – and occasionally

children – wearing the costumes,” says Varma. The thin limbs, contrasted with big bellies and a bulbous head, all add

to the illusion that these creatures are ‘smaller’ than humans. Sets were created to suit the size of the Zoozoos.

Cinematically, this ‘size’ was a trick: the creatures look smaller than they actually are on screen, to portray a different

world of sorts. For this, the speed of shooting was altered: Nirvana shot it in a high-speed format to make them look

the size that they do.

Furthermore, simple sets/backdrops were created and spray painted with neutral Greys – a colour of choice so that

attention isn’t diverted from the main characters. For a supposedly ‘outdoor’ shot, even the shadow of a Zoozoo was

kept ‘live’ and not done in post production: it was painted in a darker shade of grey on the ground. An even lighting

was maintained throughout.

There was virtually no post production work done.

The films were shot by Nirvana in Cape Town, South Africa, with the help of a local production house there, called

Platypus. Incidentally, the same combination of people also worked on the ‘Happy to Help’ series last year. When

asked whether Cape Town is fast becoming a tourist spot for Vodafone and Nirvana, Varma laughs, saying, “Oh no!

It’s just that we are very comfortable with the team there and know what sort of work to expect from them.”

Nagpal adds here that the production cost had to be minimal for unveiling such a large number of commercials.

“Otherwise, our production costs would exceed media spends,” he quips.

Zoozoos: storming the digital world

In the digital space, Zoozoos are currently featured on a specially created microsite – here, one can partake in

quizzes and contests, including the ‘What kind of Zoozoo are you?’ quiz. Each Zoozoo has a unique set of

characteristics and traits allotted to it. The microsite also allows for goodies to be downloaded (including wallpapers,

screensavers and ringtones), and offers details on the IPL. With a specially created YouTube channel on the site, the

TVCs are provided there for people to watch and share.

Apart from the microsite, a Zoozoo fan page has been created on Facebook, which has more than 5,600

members. Fans have access to special tag-me images, Zoozoo sounds (such as Zoozoo laughter and music tracks)

and ad previews. People are also following Zoozoos on Twitter and get updates whenever new commercials go on

air.

Zoozoo ads are fast becoming popular on YouTube, and on certain days, claims Nagpal of Vodafone, some of the

videos even managed to figure among the most watched lot on the site.

The team behind the Vodafone-Zoozoo work includes Rao, along with Kiran Anthony, Elizabeth Dias, Rajesh Mani,

Mehul Patil, Kumar Subramaniam, Kapil Arora, Debaleena Ghosh and Desmond Fernandes.

Zo, what do zoo think?

Zoozoos clearly seem to be a favourite amongst the ad fraternity. From the name ‘Zoozoo’ to the painted eyes and

mouth, Brijesh Jacob, managing partner, White Canvas, says he has not seen anything like it. “They have a certain

madness to them, which makes them likeable and memorable,” he says.

In the past, too, Orange and then Hutch (the earlier avatars of Vodafone in India) had made use of characters – an

animated boy-girl duo – to whip up its VAS offerings before consumers. But those characters were limited by their

definition, unlike the Zoozoos, where an entire world of such characters has been etched. “Zoozoos come in all

shapes and sizes; kids, mother, friends, individuals…there does not seem to be a set format to use them,” Jacob

adds, which makes the possibilities endless.

Satbir Singh, chief creative officer, Euro RSCG, shares his own Zoozoo story: “Every time the commercial gets over,

my two-year old son Angad hands me the remote and demands to watch it again. The other day, a waiter at a club

mixed up my order as he was too busy watching the ad during IPL!” That pretty much sums up the ‘Zooperb’ impact,

as he puts it.

While many would say that Zoozoos are cute, not all are in accord with this new being. Mythili Chandrasekar, senior

vice-president and executive planning director, JWT India, says, “I think Vodafone has made delightful stories in the

past with humans as well. Maybe I’m too old, so I didn’t particularly like the Zoozoos personally.”

She attributes it to her personal dislike of the sci-fi type genre of communication, or the creation of something abstract

that doesn’t exist.

Some feel that the Zoozoos could well become a part of the brand story, instead of just being used for this VAS

oriented campaign. But this comes with a warning tag: one has to be careful about letting the Zoozoos become bigger

than the brand or the message. “Vodafone shouldn’t get stuck with a format,” says Jacob of White Canvas. “They did

suffer this to a certain extent with the pug.”

Vodafone’s ZooZoos, stars of IPL ad breaks

SHARE  ·   PRINT   ·   T+  

Merchandise, bags, T-shirts to be available soon.

Wooing audience… the Vodafone way

It is not for nothing that Indian advertising is seen as coming into its own. And Vodafone advertising campaigns have been at the forefront of it all.

First there was that dog in Hutch campaigns, which captured the imagination of millions. It survived a $19-billion buyout and reached such levels of popularity that it even led to kidnappings of that breed of dogs, called pugs.

And now come those nutty and entirely endearing little men in white, called Zoozoos created by the agency O&M for Vodafone, one of the main broadcast sponsors of the Indian Premier League. They are wowing audiences, and ZooZoo merchandise, bags, keychains, T-shirts will be available soon.

Fans on Facebook are rising by the day. “Day before it was 8,000, yesterday I am told there were 14,000 fans,” says Mr Harit Nagpal, Marketing & New Business Director, Vodafone Essar. It crossed 28,000 on Thursday.

Going the whole way

“When you are spending four months’ advertising spend over one month you might as well make the most of the high, non-repetitive viewership,” says Mr Nagpal. Instead of the traditional repeated ads, Vodafone decided to launch a new film everyday during the league. “There were two barriers to that, one was continuity, the other the cost of producing so many films,” says Mr Nagpal.

In about 10 days, O&M completed the campaign shooting two-three films a day, each selling a product or a service offered by Vodafone. A dozen more films are expected as the league progresses.

The characters, which look like distant cousins of the Pillsbury dough boy, were enacted by professional ballet artists in white body suits. “What makes them so

endearing is that they are innocent people living in a simple world unlike ours, who laugh loud when they laugh. And who seem to be in an in-between world of animation and reality,” said Mr Rajiv Rao, Executive Creative Director, O&M.

The strategy is generating a buzz that lives up to the brand’s image of great creatives and clever marketing. The company spends about Rs 250 crore on advertising across mediums according to industry sources.

“In the first ten days IPL has, despite a few matches being washed out by the rains, reached a cumulative 89 million people, higher than the 70 million last year,” says Mr Nagpal. He would not comment on the role of the ZooZoos after the IPL.

(This article was published in the Business Line print edition dated May 1, 2009)

http://marketingcurry.com/index.php/twitter-campaign-anything4jetta-by-volkswagen/

Yet another superb campaign by Volkswagen, this time they have used Social media.

It was like yet another normal office day, I logged in to Twitter and as a routine looked at the trends. It was

#anything4Jetta at the top. It was curious to see what’s happening there. People are going crazy with it. I too

get little deeper into it to see why Volkswagen decided to go Social.

Why Social campaign by Volkswagen:

Anything4Jetta_MarketingCurry

If we look at the target segment for VolksWagen, we can observe that the demographics are changed a lot in

last couple of years. 4-5 years back, to purchase a four wheeler in 12-15 lakhs segment; companies were

targeting people in age group of 35-50 years. But now this has been changed to 25-35 years.

It means more youth, which is likely to use internet. Social media is a hot trend today, people want to share

every in-n-out with the social community.

#Anything4Jetta Campaign:

http://indianautosblog.com/2011/08/anything4jetta

Volkswagen India recently introduced the all new Jetta in India. We brought you live coverage of the whole event along with some exquisite pics. Sure, the Jetta is a very competent product from VW but with a hefty price tag.At an entry level price of 14.12 lakhs, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. But what if you can win the all new Jetta without spending a single penny?Are you ready to do anything for your new Jetta?The VW Jetta will be marketed in India with the tagline ‘Anything for Jetta’. Pretty soon you will start seeing banners and hoardings on your way to work whereing people from various strata of the society are doing anything for their Jetta. On similar lines #AnythingforJetta is new contest launched by VW where you can win your brand new Jetta.No, you don’t have to eat a snake or jump of the mountain; all you have to do is tweet!First you have to follow @Volkswagenindia on twitter. Then you can do a series of tasks to accumulate points. The person with maximum points wins a shiny new Jetta!Want to know what these tasks are? Head over to http://www.anything4jetta.com/how-to-participateVW is known to launch such contest with their cars. During the launch of the Vento, VW came out with a similar campaign wherein you had to share your innovative ideas and the person with the most innovative one wins a brand new Vento!

Read more: http://indianautosblog.com/2011/08/anything4jetta#ixzz1o2yH3jat

An online win for Volkswagen with the #Anything4jetta campaign

Volkswagen, the German automaker, has achieved an interesting win through its online campaign for its

latest launch the all new Jetta.

All car makers plan an elaborate campaign for their major car launches. These generally include press

releases, print Ads, unveiling the car at big car shows across the world and much more. Volkswagen has

gone a step ahead of all this and added an online contest too to woo its customers.

The Contest - #anything4jetta campaign

Its a simple contest wherein people have to come up with wacky tweets  in response to a single question

– “What you would do to win the all new Jetta?”. The contest has it’s own

sitehttp://www.anything4jetta.com/ wherein you can see the best tweets posted on the front page, a tour

of the all new Jetta and a way to track your scores if you are participating in the contest. Well considering

the mega prize is the all new Jetta and some daily prizes like watches, T-shirts and laptop sleeves,

Twitter is ablaze with #anything4jetta (the hashtag being used to track this contest). Twitter users are

coming up with the wackiest of text, photo and even video tweets to win the mega prize and no doubt

thanks to this the all new Jetta has gone viral on Twitter.

My 2 Cents

Inclusion of online media in Volkswagen’s campaign for one of their most important car launch goes a

long way in emphasizing the importance online social media has gained. Laurels also go to Volkswagen

for coming up with such an amazing contest and for testing the online social media ground.

Another thought process tells me that is this another form of crowd sourcing being tried out by

Volkswagen. If it is crowd sourcing, then for what is Volkswagen utilizing the collective intelligence of the

crowd. Is Volkswagen using the collective effort to just popularize its latest product or would we be seeing

these ideas in future Volkswagen Jetta advertisements. An interesting study would be to analyze the

outcome of such campaigns by measuring the change (positive or negative) in notional brand value

among customers before and after the campaign.

As of now Volkswagen has surely turned heads towards itself with this campaign. So go ahead and give a

try to the #Anything4jetta contest before it ends. More details here: http://www.anything4jetta.com/