IT may be more difficult in advertising than in nature for lightning to strike twice in the same place. But when the lightning involves a bug loved by millions as the Beetle, the second time around may well prove to be as affecting - and effective - as the first. The campaign for the original version of the Volkswagen Beetle, sold in the United States from 1949 to 1979, is widely considered the best ever created for a consumer product. The campaign for a much anticipated revival, which Volkswagen A. Is calling the New Beetle, pulls off the tricky task of answering with a resounding 'yes' a question posed in a coming ad: 'Is it possible to go backwards and forwards at the same time?' ' The worldwide introduction of the New Beetle begins with a closely watched American advertising blitz, by Arnold Communications in Boston, that includes television commercials, print ads and posters.
The budget: about $35 million. That is a third of the $106 million that Competitive Media Reporting estimates was spent last year on advertising by Volkswagen of America, which introduced the campaign at a news conference yesterday that drew publications as disparate as The New Yorker and New Musical Express. A bright lemon-colored New Beetle charmed many reporters, who clambered into its snug back seat and scrutinized an engine that has been relocated from the rear. (Or as one new ad explains hopefully, 'The engine's in the front, but its heart's in the same place.'
Volkswagen Drivers Wanted Slogan
Those ads were instrumental in transforming a tiny, tinny car into a symbol of freedom and nonconformity - and thereby revolutionizing the way Americans buy automobiles by abandoning hollow boasts of status and size in favor of low-key, intelligent pitching. For instance, one new ad asks: 'Hug it? ' Another asserts that 'a car like this comes along only twice in a lifetime.' ' A sly ad, speaking to memories of underpowered Bugs, asks '0-60?'
' then replies 'Yes.' ' Another ad displays a green New Beetle above the one-word headline 'Lime' - echoing a classic Beetle ad, carrying the headline 'Lemon,' which explained why a minor defect kept a Beetle off the market. And offspring of hippies may be happy to hear that the first promotional tie-in for the New Beetle will be sponsorship of the 1998 edition of the Lilith Fair, the funky touring showcase of female songwriters.
Yet just as the New Beetle is also being portrayed as a car that has been thoroughly overhauled to meet the needs of contemporary drivers - with side air bags, functional air- conditioning and more horsepower - the New Beetle ads are being imbued with a modern sensibility that would have puzzled flower children, fans of 'The Love Bug' and other aficionados of Beetle I. For example, one new ad describes the New Beetle as 'digitally remastered.'
' A second proclaims that it has been 'reversed engineered from U.F.O.' ' A third ad, to appear in computer magazines, labels it 'Beetle 2.0.' ' In a television commercial, showing a fast-moving New Beetle, these words appear on screen: 'Less flower. ' And there are no offers to 'Meet the Beetles'; the commercial music, in fact, is played by hip, present-day bands like Spiritualized and Fluke. 'There are some nods to the past,' Ron Lawner, managing partner and chief creative officer at Arnold, said in an interview before the news conference, which took place in lower Manhattan. 'But it's a very contemporary campaign for a very modern car.
'You don't want to be all warm and fuzzy,' he added, 'because this car has a fun side. And we don't want to take ourselves too seriously. Advertisement 'The look of the old work didn't flavor the new,' Mr. 'It really comes from the car. Back then, Doyle Dane Bernbach looked at the Beetle and saw a simple, likable, honest car; we looked at the car now and saw the same thing.' ' To be sure, the new campaign resembles the old in its clean, uncluttered look; tongue-in-cheek tone, and single-minded focus on the product. 'The car is the star,' Mr.
'The car makes people smile. The car speaks for itself. What am I doing here talking?' ' As for the campaign's spare appearance, which omits even the New Beetle name, Mr. Lawner said, laughing: 'What else can it be? It doesn't look like a Buick.'
The campaign uses the theme 'Drivers wanted,' introduced by Arnold when it became the Volkswagen of America agency in 1995 and replaced a shop spun off from DDB Needham Worldwide, the successor to Doyle Dane Bernbach that still handles Volkswagen accounts in many overseas markets. Arnold's work has succeeded in selling Volkswagens to consumers ages 18 to 34 with such offbeat pitches as a commercial in which two 20-somethings cruise aimlessly in a Golf. However, according to consumer research, the New Beetle will appeal to a much broader market, Liz Vanzura, marketing director at Volkswagen of America in Auburn Hills, Mich., said at the crowded, carnival-like news conference. 'This car breaks all the marketing rules, all the things you learned in graduate school,' Ms.
Vanzura said, because it 'crosses demographic boundaries from age to education to income to gender - just as its predecessor did.' ' Partly because of 'the tremendous heritage for this car with baby boomers,' she added, 'the New Beetle will really help us provide a very powerful platform for growth in the future' by serving as 'a magnet for the brand, bringing in people who haven't considered Volkswagen or haven't shopped us in years.' ' Volkswagen's American sales last year totaled 137,885, a slim 1.5 percent gain from 1996. For 1998, said Steve Keyes, corporate communications director, the goal is to sell 180,000 cars 'with a lot of upside potential' from the New Beetle as well as redesigned versions of the Volkswagen mainstays, the Golf, Jetta and Passat. Advertisement Ms. Vanzura said: 'The object is not to turn Volkswagen back into the Beetle Company.
There's a strategy to keep the New Beetle as a product in a portfolio called Volkswagen.' ' As winning as the new campaign may be, it does not guarantee the New Beetle's overcoming considerable odds in attracting sales in what Ms. Vanzura termed a 'lot more competitive, overcrowded small-car market.' ' Many models do well in their early days, only to falter as consumers abandon them for newer nameplates. 'It ain't gonna be easy,' said Jerry Flint, a longtime automotive journalist who covered the news conference for Forbes magazine. 'It's a great gamble. 'No one has ever done anything like this before,' he added, 'investing $400 million in nostalgia.'
' The reference was to the estimated development and production costs of the New Beetle. Flint wondered 'whether love and emotion can overcome practical considerations' that include a 'weak dealer organization,' low gasoline prices that benefit larger cars and sticker prices starting at $15,200 that are 'expensive for what it is.' ' 'On the other hand,' Mr. Flint said, 'no guts, no glory.
It's certainly distinctive and it creates a sensation; everyone's head will turn. I'm not saying it can't make it. If it does, it would be really exciting.' ' Initial indications are favorable as Volkswagen has increased production in the Mexican plant building the New Beetle from about 120,000 for the first year ending March 1999 to 160,000 for the second year. Some dealers say their initial shipments are already sold out.
Lawner said he was undaunted by working on the sequel to what is in all likelihood Madison Avenue's greatest hit. 'How cool is that?' ' he asked rhetorically. 'It's just fabulous.'
Despite their value, many lines are not registered as trade marks. There are a number of reasons for this.