Resend: Bad Ads - VW's "The Force"

The Super Bowl is around the corner. Prepare for this year's ads by reading my previous article on why I think the most iconic Super Bowl ad of all time kinda sucked...

For anyone new here, I’m the founder of Woo Punch, a brand consultancy rooted in evidence-based brand design. I write about the evidence that debunks brand purpose, differentiation, brand love, loyalty marketing, customer personas, color psychology, mission statements, customer engagement, AdTech, and “hustle culture.”

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Last year I wrote 2 Super Bowl articles.

In one, I analyzed the top 10 worst and best ads from last year’s Super Bowl and explained my keys to an effective ad. You can read that article here. I will be releasing my analysis of this year’s Super Bowl ads next week.

In the other article, I explained why VW’s ad, “The Force,” (widely considered to be the greatest Super Bowl ad of all time) likely didn’t help VW much. It did, however, help VW’s ad agency a great deal.

An Excerpt From the Article:

THE MYTH OF VW’S “THE FORCE”

Volkswagen's ''The Force'' is the most successful Super Bowl ad of all time. It's entertaining, clever, relevant, cute, you name it! It checks all the boxes! Because ''The Force'' entertained and didn't merely sell us a car, customers ''engaged'' with the VW brand.

WHY IT’S BULLSHIT.

Let’s examine VW’s “The Force” for effectiveness, not just entertainment value, with my “Good Ad Checklist.” Does it check all the boxes for a great ad? Or does it merely check all the boxes for a prestigious advertising award?

#1 IS “THE FORCE” WELL-BRANDED?

I have personally used VW’s “The Force” as an example of how a legendary, award-winning, memorable advertisement can still fail to be effective at driving business results.

First, I always ask people if they remember the ad. Everyone does. Next, I asked people which brand was being advertised. Everyone gets it wrong. This may be anecdotal, but it drives home an important point. If we don’t know which brand is being advertised, an ad can be perfect in every other way and still fail.

If we love this ad but don’t know who it’s for, we might share it with our friends (which may or may not increase the likelihood we learn which brand is being advertised), talk about it at work the next day (”did you see that Star Wars car ad?”), watch Star Wars again, or even start looking for a new car.

But, none of these things ensures we buy a Volkswagen Passat. Or any VW for that matter.

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