Talk Of The Talking Newspaper From Volkswagen

The German carmaker spent Rs.5 crore for one time audio ad in Print but what did it achieve – much talked innovation or brand awareness?

Hitesh Ranot | Delhi | September 22, 2010

Tuesday morning was surely surprising for millions of readers of The Times of India and The Hindu across India when they found their newspaper speaking. The German carmaker Volkswagen once again came up with an innovative print campaign to mark the launch of its sedan car Vento. The concept is common in international magazines but it was first such execution for newspapers in India.

VW team came up with the idea to use such innovation in Indian newspaper which was conceptualized and executed by its media partner MediaCom and creative partner DDB Mudra. VW spent Rs.5 crore for one time audio advertisement in print for which 22 lakh chips were specially made.

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com, Divya Gururaj, Managing Director, Mediacom said, “The execution of this innovation took almost 6 months of planning & has only been possible due to Volkswagen pushing the limits on innovation every time. A huge workforce was deployed by the publishers of the two newspapers to bundle 22 lakh devices that played the audio version of an advertisement.”

“VW, particularly Lutz Kothe and his team are very demanding and at the same time extremely receptive to creative ideas and exciting innovations,” said Madhukar Kamath, Group CEO & Managing Director – Mudra Group.

About the impact of the ad, Rajiv Sabnis, President – DDB India said, “It is one of the most discussed and blogged topics and the most searched subject amongst the online community. So it wasn't just the ad that did the talking but got its readers talking about it too!”

“Volkswagen's objective and aim of this innovation was to be able to emotionally connect to our customers with this product and what better way than being able to directly speak to them with the aid of a newspaper,” said Lutz Kothe, Head of Marketing & PR, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd.

The innovation is claimed to be first of its kind by the carmaker and has certainly grabbed the attention of the audience. It is yet to be seen if the buzz was for innovative campaign or the launch of the car. What is your take on this? Do you think the objective of the innovation was achieved? Did you notice what VW wanted to communicate about its new car or you just ended talking about talking newspaper? Leave your comments below.

Hitesh@BestMediaInfo.com

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