Since Volkswagen’s New Beetle launched in the late 1990s with sleek new curves and a flower in each console, it has been the most playful car on the roads. Creatives at Arnold, Boston, ran with the inherent nature of the vehicle and developed the Force of Good campaign for the 2006 Volkswagen New Beetle, which has been slightly modified. The online component is www.ForceofGood.com.
The idea is that the simple sight of the cute automobile brings a smile to people’s faces and the agency looked for a way to extend this phenomenon. The print and television ads along with the site have the New Beetle acting as a force of good and battling annoyances like portable toilets, ringing alarm clocks, overcooked Brussels sprouts and bad ’80s hair. Ultimately the foes are destroyed or changed for the better.
In the battles against its foes online and in the spots, the car and the object never actually interact. Instead the car seems to channel its decency to affect its opponent. The spots end with the encouraging message, “Goodness Prevails.” Directors Jonathan Notaro and Jens Gehlhaar of bicoastal Brand New School directed the spots “Port-A-Potty,” “Sardines” and “Alarm Clock.” All of the elements of this campaign were designed to work together with the traditional ads driving traffic to the site.
Unlike many Internet advertising initiatives, the target demographic for this project is broad. “It’s how we approach all Volkswagen advertising; it’s definitely less of a demographic and more of a mindset. You can be 55 years old and still be young at heart and feel quite happy driving a Beetle,” creative director Colin Jeffery related.
SETTING THE STAGE
On the Internet, the viewer participates in the battle by choosing the color and type of New Beetle (convertible or hardtop) that will face the enemy. Then he chooses the background for the action: a simple white screen with the Force of Good logo, an Asian palace, main street in a deserted Western town, or outer space.
The creatives decided on 35 amusing foes that would appear in the print ads and narrowed the selection down to 12 for the Web site. They wanted some of them to be mundane things like a man wearing tiny swimwear while others are slightly more dramatic, for example a not-so-scary monster. When the New Beetle defeats the man in a banana hammock, he puts on proper swim trunks; the monster is revealed as a sweet child. Again, “Goodness Prevails!”
“It was deliberately meant to be whimsical and humorous and just make you smile, which felt very much in keeping with the spirit of both the campaign and the car itself,” associate creative director Dmitri Cavander said.
Though the car and its foes don’t move during the battles, there is some action. The alarm clock explodes, the Brussels sprout turns into a rose, and the woman with the big ’80s hair gets an updated style–during which a bird’s nest is revealed in her locks. The car’s action is depicted with a glimmer off of its front fender.
Creating the battles online was a bit of a challenge, Cavander explained. The site features Flash animation so it was important to get enough photographs, and the right photographs, during the three-day shoot for print and online images. For the Brussels sprout-to-rose metamorphosis, they shot the vegetable using stop animation with a rose nearby for reference. The images were put together in Flash for a seamless result.
SPREADING THE GOOD WORD
ForceofGood.com also intends to highlight humans who do good deeds. In a nomination area, New Beetle drivers who do kind works can nominate themselves or people can nominate New Beetle drivers that they know. The selected benevolent beings will be featured on Force of Good trading cards in print advertising and online. In phase two of the site, launching Nov. 7, the nomination area will be replaced with the trading cards.
Another element of phase two will be an interactive game. The creatives did not want to reveal too much about the upcoming section, but said that it will involve the New Beetle and the foes with more action.
Arnold is also spreading the Force of Good message with a Force of Good tour. It involves six stylized New Beetles along with Force of Good ambassadors traveling the country and doing good deeds. It began in New York in September and the stops included Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco and finally Miami in November.
On tour, the ambassadors engage in random acts of kindness like putting money into expired parking meters as well as participating in volunteer opportunities with local charities. In addition, when someone builds a New Beetle on the Volkswagen Web site (www.vw.com), one dollar will be donated to one of three charities of the builder’s choosing: America’s Second Harvest, Comedy Cures or Young Audiences. This feature will be available on the site at least through the end of November.
“The Force of Good campaign wasn’t just about battling foes, which is was you see in the print ads and the TV spots, it was really about the notion of spreading a sense of good in a lot of different ways,” Cavander noted.
The Volkswagen account is going to Crispin Porter + Bogusky in December, but this site is expected to stay online at least until the transition.