PoloDriver

Last month, Volkswagen Australia launched a cute new 60-second brand TV commercial campaign to ‘celebrate the unique Volkswagen product experience.’ With 30 and 45-second edits to back the full-length ad up, agency DDB Sydney produced the spots, which aim to show the whole range of Volkswagen products available. Only using sounds of everyday life from fictional satisfied VW owners, the commercials are littered with sounds of appreciation, approval and the Volkswagens themselves. And where does the Polo fit in? A yellow example can be seen exiting a corner a second in during the full-length version above…

Volkswagen ‘Word’ TV campaign credits
Agency: DDB Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Dylan Harrison
Creative Directors: Steve Wakelam/Grant McAloon
Art Director and Copywriter: Steve Wakelam
Director: Steve Rogers
DoP: Simon Duggan
Production House: Revolver
Executive Producer: Michael Ritchie
Producer: Pip Smart
Strategic Planner: Nick Andrews
TV Production: Brenden Johnson/Claire Seffrin
Business Director: Patrice Bougouin
Media Agency: Mediacom
Client: Jutta Friese/Nina van der Wees/Loren Elsegood

[Source: Campaign Brief]

It may not have gone quite to plan last weekend (25-26 March) for the BP Volkswagen rally team, just missing out on a first place at the opening round of the 2011 South African National Rally Championship, the Total Tour Natal Rally, but the team still claimed second, third and fourth places. Ultimate victory went to the Ford Fiesta team of Conrad Rautenbach and Nicolas Klinger. Jan Habig and Robert Paisley finished behind Rautenback and Klinger, while Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson crossed the line in third place, while Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries made up the top four. The blue-bonneted Polo S2000 of Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford crossed the finishing line in eighth position, making it a full-house end for the BP Volkswagen team.

Volkswagen also claimed the Manufacturer’s title at the event, with six Polo S2000s in the top 10 finishers. Then there were the privateer entries of Nicholas Ryan and co-driver Geoff Tyrer, and Japie van Niekerk and Dave Lewkowitz who rallied their cars to sixth and ninth overall respectively. ‘Getting all four of our cars to the finish was important,’ said Mike Barnard who manages the BP Volkswagen team. ‘Hard work and reliability have always been important and I’m glad to see it has remained the status quo into the new season.’ The Total Tour Natal was the first outing for the new BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 rally car. The BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1400 of Megan Verlaque and Lirene du Plessis also debuted as the young development team tackled their first rally together, producing a class-winning and impressive performance.

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The Polo has once again been crowned ‘Best Small Car’ at the 2011 Fleet News Awards, with the larger Golf retaining its ‘Best Lower Medium Car’ title from last year. Presented at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, honouring the fleet industry’s top achievers for the past 12 months, the judging panel was made up of fleet industry experts, in addition to senior members of the Fleet News editorial team.

Commenting on the winning cars, the judges said: ‘A broad range of engines with low-CO2 choices and a choice of three door and five door models make the Polo appealing to fleets and drivers.’ Cars were judged on a range of criteria, including operating costs (depreciation, fuel, servicing, maintenance and repair, lease rates, tax liability), suitability for their use as business cars and the level of support from the manufacturers and their corporate sales teams. For more information, visit Volkswagen’s fleet website.

We’ve been doing subtle improvements to the site over the last few days, one of which means that PoloDriver.com is now mobile device enabled. If you have an Apple or other mobile device, the reconfigured site should now display ‘natively’ as an app-type website, making content much easier to navigate. The front page displays a list of the most recent posts, while each individual post can be read by clicking on it. At the bottom of each entry are buttons for sending with a friend, posting to Twitter, or sharing on Facebook. At the top of the display is an arrow, which drops down to show RSS feed links as well as category and tag navigation. We think it’s a worthwhile improvement – let us know what you think.

The PoloDriver.com widget is still available, too. If you’re a Polo driver and a Mac user, you can now get all the latest PoloDriver.com news direct to your desktop. Built to run on OS X 10.4 and above and to sit in Dashboard, the widget displays the latest headlines directly in its built-in viewer when it detects an internet connection. Using the widget is easy. Click on the headline or read the introductory paragraph and then follow the ‘Read More’ link to go to the website for the full story. The article length can be made shorter or longer by clicking on the ‘i’ at the bottom right of the viewer, and can be set to show the full text of each article if so desired. If you’re non-RSS and Twitter-enabled but still want to catch up with all the news on PoloDriver.com, download the desktop widget from here, open the zip file and install.

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Volkswagen has extended its value for money, £500 off, competitive finance package for new Polo models until 14 April 2011. Enticing buyers into showrooms, there’s also three years’ free servicing and free insurance*. As an example, the entry-level Polo S 1.2-litre 60 PS three-door model costs just £9,495, including £500 off. With Volkswagen Finance’s Solutions PCP package, monthly payments are from £99 per month – including up to three years’ or 30,000 miles free servicing (7.9% representative APR). One year’s free insurance is included for drivers over 21 years of age.

This offer applies to all Polo models purchased from stock through a Volkswagen UK Retailer and registered before 14 April 2011. If a customer chooses an alternative funding method, the standalone servicing package is available for £299. For full details and term and conditions, visit your nearest Volkswagen Retailer, call 0800 333 666 or visit www.volkswagen.co.uk/polo. Volkswagen UK sold 45,282 new Polos last year, marking 2010 as the model’s best-selling year since 2003.

*Terms and conditions apply. Available to retail customers only and available on Polo models from stock. £500 off excludes GTI and BlueMotion. Free insurance available until 14 April 2011 from Volkswagen Insurance for drivers over 21 years, excludes Northern Ireland and BlueMotion and GTI models. Volkswagen Insurance is sold, underwritten and administered by Allianz Insurance PLC.

[Source: Volkswagen UK]