Righting a wrong; Volkswagen's VW suite

 ‘You’ve got to have a problem that you want to solve; a wrong that you want to right.’

-Steve Jobs

Call it a hangover from the movie ‘Jobs’, or call it a happy coincidence. But when I saw this Volkswagen ad today after last night’s movie, it felt like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle just fit in to complete a seemingly pretty picture. Everyone knows this quote by Jobs and the fact that he has single handedly changed the way we look at marketing, design and product development today. But what struck me as serendipity was this lovely initiative by Volkswagen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTRClbgOAq0

The need was one that other auto players didn’t recognized- drivers preferring to drive sleep deprived than pull up at a highway motel. This initiative by Volkwagen screams the message out loud like no other- ‘There is a problem, a wrong that we want to right’. But what they have also managed to convey subtly, or otherwise are:

1. Their inclination to social responsibility: In a day and age when every brand is trying to communicate their message by joining the ‘Social responsibility’ bandwagon, VW has shown it’s a cut above the rest. VW has chosen to drive home (pardon the punning!) a simple thought- Stop. Rest. Go. And they have focused on addressing a real problem - accidents caused by fatigue, on the highway, with a simple yet powerful insight. Dirty rooms, unclean sheets and beds, filthy bathrooms and no amenities disgust people enough to run the risk of driving fatigued. By redesigning and refurbishing one room in every motel, VW offers an immediate solution to a very real problem. While one room on each major highway seems like an inadequate solution, it definitely marks the starting point of the solution.
2. The membership into an exclusive club: What this ad also does is to discreetly create a VW owners club. 'Free with your Volkswagen key'. By offering free stays for VW owners, the brand clearly suggests that this is a privilege that it wants to offer to its customers. A sort of a payback for their purchase. Very similar in nature to the lounge access offered to frequent flyers by airlines, Volkswagen is creating a clear distinction between those who own VW cars and those who don’t.
3. A ‘wow’ factor -Consumer Delight: To a VW owner who travels down the selected highway fighting fatigue, the VW suite could prove to be nothing short of manna from heaven! In one sweeping initiative, VW could earn the loyalty of a satisfied customer. And to a non VW owner, it could potentially stack up the odds of moving VW into his or her consideration set at the time of the next purchase! 

What’s great about this ad is the fact that it addresses a problem that people know they have, yet don’t have a solution to. And by offering a solution, VW has demonstrated that it’s serious about ‘righting a wrong’.

Reality Check

I always find new and fresh approaches to marketing and advertising stimulating to say the least. And that’s what I love about the VW ad approach. However here’s a reality check to put this initiative into perspective.

VW had a market share of 20% in Argentina (the market in which this ad was released) in 2012 which fell to 18% early this year. The overall fall in the car market could be to blame for this drop, yet, it makes one wonder- will one room on a few highways really affect the key brand and sales metrics? Will the current 18% be bowled over with their membership to the Volkswagen family through the VW suites? Will those who don’t currently constitute the 18% be compelled to consider a VW?

Some of the other questions that linger are if this initiative really addresses the problem of reducing the number of sleep-deprived drivers on the road. And hence reduce accidents. Another statistic that I am curious about is whether this initiative will increase the membership of the Volkawagen family.

Though VW still holds the top position in the Argentinian car market, it remains to be seen if this advertising is going to help boost sales and market shares. To put it bluntly, will this initiative show VW the money, honey?

Reference source: focus2move.com

Obesity: An albatross around the neck for Marketing?

I was reading an article on the internet on how large food and beverage companies that earlier sold high fat, unhealthy food and drinks are today jumping on to the health food bandwagon. The article criticized companies for creating the problem of obesity and profiting from it and now trying to introduce diet products and are profiting from it again.

Reading this article (and many more with similar content) made me wonder- can the entire blame for Obesity be placed squarely on the shoulders of the marketing companies in the corporate world? Have we as a population lost our capability to judge and decide the best course of action for ourselves? Are we so influenced by TV commercials, print ads and other media that we can’t look into the mirror and figure out where we are headed?

This is not to say that marketing does not influence us as a species. Being a marketer myself, I believe it influences us in ways that sometimes are not even apparent. However, while reading a slew of articles on the creation of demand for unhealthy snacks, aerated beverages and sweet delicacies, then creating diet versions of the very same products, I began to wonder.

Marketing’s very premise is need identification. Once the need is identified, a product suitable for that need is created. Then a demand for the product is created, so on and so forth. Every company that invests in this process identifies the need first. The first snack in the world was not created by a corporate giant. Murukkus, Jalabies, Paneer Soda, Samosas, Pastas and Pizzas existed way before they became commercially big. Neither were cakes, pastries, sodas and chips. What corporates did was to identify that people enjoyed snacking on these foods and began commercial production, hence making their availability easier and cutting down the effort involved in making any of these items.

The culpability for consumption can only be placed in the fact that marketers identified ways and means to convince us of their ‘benefits’ – tangible or otherwise. For aerated drinks it was about quenching a thirst with a supremely sweet liquid and for food items it was about satisfying a latent need to ‘munch’ or satisfy a sweet tooth.

However, at the end of the day the fact was that these items became easier to purchase, tasted great and satisfied some latent need in us all. We craved for a refreshing change and let ourselves slip in the process. Every bag of chips, can of soda and pack of desserts comes with a declaration of the calorie per serving. Though this may not have always been the case, it has been a mandatory requirement for at least the last 15 years and in some countries since 1990s. Yet obesity numbers continue to rise.

Yet another angle to this is that these very same companies offer ‘diet’ products. At some level, I find it hard to believe that these companies hatched a grand scheme 30 – 40 years ago to create obese people and now plan to solve it through ‘fat-free’ products. The ‘diet products’ bandwagon basically carries opportunists. When the tide is turning towards healthy eating, these companies are trying to ride the wave. Yet nothing stops us from avoiding these products and settling for homemade snacks or drinks.  

Is it really fair to blame the corporates and marketing companies completely? While the blame for many of the world’s challenges today such as environmental degradation, habitat destruction etc. can be pinned on the corporates, can we really blame the corporates entirely for obesity? Aren’t personal things like weight, looks and lifestyles really in our hands? There is no one pointing a gun at our heads forcing us to purchase products that we know harm us. So to me, blaming corporates completely seems like a shift of responsibility off from our shoulders on to theirs allowing for escapism. After all, we hold our own purse strings.