It's time to Un-Pimp the auto.

[Toddzilla]

Holy crap are these commercials hysterical or what? Very high in the cheese-factor, but great nonetheless. I also like that the dude that plays the greaseball mafia guy in Prison Break is the german dude in the commercials.

"Do you know vat time it iz?"

"Naw"

"Time to Un-pimp ze auto..."

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[SirFozzie]

GERRRman engineering in tha Hauss..

[colt45]

I also enjoy the Coke Zero commercial where the guy is being sprayed and answers he can't taste a difference... the reaction from the long haired screaming "Come on!" is classic!

[Toddzilla]

Un-Pimp your Ride 1 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=cv157ZIInUk&search=volkswagen%20pimp)
Un-Pimp Your Ride 2 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCIF6JF1O5U&search=volkswagen%20pimp)
Un-Pimp Your Ride 3 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=0I0WfnhVs2s&search=volkswagen%20pimp)

[Toddzilla]

Dola - the actor's name is Peter Stormare and he's also been in Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

Oh SNAP.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

heheheheeee I love these commercials.

[Crapshoot]

The first 17 times- yes, it was funny. Now, not so much. :D

[Wolfpack]

I had the opposite reaction. I went from disliking them to liking them over time.

[Craptacular]

:confused:

[Mustang]

That guy has been in alot of movies...

My particular favorite was Dino Velvet in 8MM...

[Mr. Sparkle]

Slippery Pete!

[Buccaneer]

Yes, they are very hilarious.

[Buccaneer]

GERRRman engineering in tha Hauss..

Ja.

[Dutch]

Dola - the actor's name is Peter Stormare and he's also been in Fargo and The Big Lebowski.

Oh SNAP.

I love the trebuchet action. :)

[kingfc22]

Oh SNAP.

This has got to be my favorite line.

[Ksyrup]

These are the kinds of commercials that make me never want to buy a particular product for the rest of eternity. My wife and I saw this tonight for the first time and both gave each other a WTF? look. Utterly useless. I didn't even think they were trying to be funny (were they?), it was just stupid. I figured it was a BK commercial, except SD was holding outfor too much money so they went German.

Lucky for them, I couldn't even tell what kind of car they were trying to sell, so just by accident, I might not be able to hold it against them.

[st.cronin]

These are the kinds of commercials that make me never want to buy a particular product for the rest of eternity. My wife and I saw this tonight for the first time and both gave each other a WTF? look. Utterly useless. I didn't even think they were trying to be funny (were they?), it was just stupid. I figured it was a BK commercial, except SD was holding outfor too much money so they went German.

Lucky for them, I couldn't even tell what kind of car they were trying to sell, so just by accident, I might not be able to hold it against them.


VW

A good make to avoid.

[SirFozzie]

I'm beginning to believe you're anti-fun dude.

[Ksyrup]

I'm beginning to believe you're anti-fun dude.

I have personal issues with advertising, which I have mentioned numerous times around here. This is the type of stupid shit that pisses me off. I'm one of those people who watches advertising (when I do) to look for reasons not to buy products. Lucky for VW, I wasn't going to be a customer anyway, so I guess it's no harm, no foul for them.

[Young Drachma]

Hadn't seen those. Pretty funny.

[Butter]

I'm one of those people who watches advertising (when I do) to look for reasons to nitpick.

Fix'd.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Lucky for VW, I wasn't going to be a customer anyway, so I guess it's no harm, no foul for them.

By & large, that's pretty much what they're counting on IMO.

I've seen the spots, thought they did a crappy job of selling the product ... but I'm also not the target (evidenced by the fact that I've spent maybe 20 minutes grand total ever watching any of the various ride-pimping shows).

On the second viewing of the spot, I did manage to get the joke. I still didn't think it was particularly funny nor even a good execution of the joke potential that was there, but that matters naught to them, since they weren't going to be selling me one of their little toy cars any time soon anyway.

[Ksyrup]

I don't get it. I'm not nitpicking, I hate the entire concept of marketing and the manner in which it is accomplished. Nitpicking would be, "That commercial wasn't bad, but I would have made the car blue instead of silver." I think my reaction was a bit less nitpicky than that.

That commercial wasn't informative in any fashion, and neither was it entertaining to me. There's a fine line there that they obliterated. What I took from that commercial was, "Our cars suck and are overpriced, so we'll try to con you into remembering our name with this humorless 30 second sketch comedy while saying nothing about the product we're trying to sell." No thanks.

[Ksyrup]

By & large, that's pretty much what they're counting on IMO.

I've seen the spots, thought they did a crappy job of selling the product ... but I'm also not the target (evidenced by the fact that I've spent maybe 20 minutes grand total ever watching any of the various ride-pimping shows).

On the second viewing of the spot, I did manage to get the joke. I still didn't think it was particularly funny nor even a good execution of the joke potential that was there, but that matters naught to them, since they weren't going to be selling me one of their little toy cars any time soon anyway.

True. But down the line, I have kids who will be the target audience, with only me as their means to pay for this particular product.

[JonInMiddleGA]

True. But down the line, I have kids who will be the target audience, with only me as their means to pay for this particular product.

And now you're coming dangerously close to giving way too much credit for an ability to think ahead to people who design & approve ads like this one.

Seriously, I'd be shocked if anything past six months crossed the minds of a single person involved with this spot from start to finish. That (I'm sorry to say) just isn't how it's done in my business anymore.

[JPhillips]

Did anyone else hear the original radio spots? They aired in the DC area during the Kornhieser show. They aired here for about a month before the TV spots showed up. I'm guessing they tested well enough to go with the full campaign.

It will be interesting to see if sales are affected. About the only thing I learned in my broadcast advertising class was that you have to get the target audience to try the product. If the ad doesn't get people to the VW dealers its a failure.

[Buccaneer]

Ksyrup, as one who pretty much never watches TV anymore and never, ever click on internet ads, I eschew advertising and marketing like the plague. I have very low opinions of mass consumerism and those swayed by advertising to buy most of the shit they are trying to sell. It pains me to see the amount of dollars going to advertising, esp. when many ad campaigns are way, way overpriced (think Pepsi - why do you think you pay $2.50/6pack instead of a nominal markup over the cost/shipping of less than $1? Same thing with Nike.). But...I do appreciate these spots for their entertainment and artistic value. esp. since I dream of blowing up pimpmobiles myself. I would never buy a VW and since I can view these spots without watching TV or any other commercials, I just watch these as I would a short, short film.

[Cringer]

At post #16 this thread took a horrible turn.

BTW, first time I have seen the commercials. Funny stuff I guess.

[Buccaneer]

Did anyone else hear the original radio spots? They aired in the DC area during the Kornhieser show. They aired here for about a month before the TV spots showed up. I'm guessing they tested well enough to go with the full campaign.

It will be interesting to see if sales are affected. About the only thing I learned in my broadcast advertising class was that you have to get the target audience to try the product. If the ad doesn't get people to the VW dealers its a failure.

I have been railing against internet-based ad revenue models for over 10 years now, which is the same thing as your conclusion. A lot of sites may pay Google and Google gets rich but somewhere along the line, actual revenues have to come in from consumers for products sold. Placing banner ads and even getting users to click on them (thus making fake money for someone) still does not make any real revenues.

[Butter]

But...I do appreciate these spots for their entertainment and artistic value. esp. since I dream of blowing up pimpmobiles myself. I would never buy a VW, ...(so)... I just watch these as I would a short, short film.

There you go.

[Ksyrup]

But...I do appreciate these spots for their entertainment and artistic value. esp. since I dream of blowing up pimpmobiles myself. I would never buy a VW and since I can view these spots without watching TV or any other commercials, I just watch these as I would a short, short film.

And that's the difference. I didn't find it funny at all, commercial or not. As a commercial, however, it appeared to be a total failure in my eyes. But outside of that, I guess I just didn't get the joke.

[Ksyrup]

At post #16 this thread took a horrible turn.

BTW, first time I have seen the commercials. Funny stuff I guess.

So this thread need only be about how funny everyone thought these spots were? Sorry for crashing the party.

[Cringer]

So this thread need only be about how funny everyone thought these spots were? Sorry for crashing the party.

Oh no. Do as you like. Please. It's very entertaining.

[Ksyrup]

So by horrible, you mean entertaining? Gotcha.

The issue's been vetted enough, anyway. Carry on with the yuckfest.

[Cringer]

yuck yuck

[ISiddiqui]

Great commercials :D. The guy just makes me laugh (though all I can think of him with a ferret ;)).

[LoneStarGirl]

The only movie I ever saw him in was Minority Report. Everytime I see one of those commercials i picture him all nasty with snot all on his nose stealing Tom Cruise's eyes.

[st.cronin]

A lot of sites may pay Google and Google gets rich but somewhere along the line, actual revenues have to come in from consumers for products sold. Placing banner ads and even getting users to click on them (thus making fake money for someone) still does not make any real revenues.

I have been skeptical of this for a long time, myself. I think it can work, but I think 99.99% of the internet ads we see are wasted money.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Placing banner ads and even getting users to click on them (thus making fake money for someone) still does not make any real revenues.

As far as the effectiveness of 'net ads, I'm pretty much in the same camp as you it appears.

But here's where we start to part company I think:

actual revenues have to come in from consumers for products sold.

My response to that would be something like "not neccessarily". One of the sad truths of advertising today (IMO) is that there's an awful lot of money being spent simply to make sure it gets spent (and therefore isn't taken out of the budget next year). There's also a LOT of money that gets spent that doesn't have moving product at the register as even a secondary goal, focusing instead of being visible to a very small number of key people (product buyers, executives, investors, etc) in order to make an impression in the minds of those who control budgets & such. One of the most consistent problems ad/marketing people face is the incredible inability for influential people in other specialties to grasp that they aren't not neccessarily the target audience for their own product, instead falling prey to the idea that "well, if I watch/listen to Program X then it must be great & everybody must be watching/listening to it". Trust me, virtually everyone here would be amazed at how prevelant this shortsightedness is; Hell, I've been around a pretty long time and I'm still amazed by it.

Combine those things with the insatiable need that some decision-makers have to be viewed as "cool", "hip", or "cutting-edge", and you see billions of dollars wasted every year (including some of those who throw money at Google, et al).

[Buccaneer]

Oh schnap. I can't stop watching these over and over. I just think they are great entertainment value.

[Desnudo]

And that's the difference. I didn't find it funny at all, commercial or not. As a commercial, however, it appeared to be a total failure in my eyes. But outside of that, I guess I just didn't get the joke.

I think the commercials are unfunny and try to hard. Had some potential with the subject matter, but the execution was lame.

[JPhillips]

Jon: I think that also plays to my theory that a large percentage of ad money is spent as a reaction to what everyone else is doing. From the little I know ads are most effective for a new product or a new branding of an old product. They work best before opinions have been set about a product.

But take Coke/Pepsi. There are very few people that haven't made up their minds about soda. Both companies could cut advertising by 50% and it wouldn't affect their sales relative to each other. However, once one company starts to spend on advertising the other company, rightly or wrongly, feels the need to keep up. It ends with a sort of cold war of advertising.

[Buccaneer]

I think the commercials are unfunny and try to hard. Had some potential with the subject matter, but the execution was lame.

Why? You connect to ricers?

[Desnudo]

I told you why. I thought they weren't funny because they don't execute. If ricer is your term for Japanese, then join the 21st century.

[Buccaneer]

I told you why. I thought they weren't funny because they don't execute. If ricer is your term for Japanese, then join the 21st century.

No, it isn't. Look it up.

[Craptacular]

I have personal issues with advertising, which I have mentioned numerous times around here. This is the type of stupid shit that pisses me off. I'm one of those people who watches advertising (when I do) to look for reasons not to buy products.
I heart Ksyrup.

edit: Well, I don't purposefully watch for reasons not to buy products, but I will make a conscious decision to not spend my money on their products if something hits me the wrong way. For example, I stopped eating at Chili's after they had one of those boy bands do a commercial years ago, and haven't gone back.

[Ksyrup]

I will make a conscious decision to not spend my money on their products if something hits me the wrong way.

That's probably the more accurate way of describing how I am. I guess what I meant was, I hate advertising, and 9 times out of 10, I'll be negatively affected rather than positively. If I have no opinion, than fine, but if I have an opinion, that usually doesn't bode well for whatever ad got my attention.

[EagleFan]

These are the kinds of commercials that make me never want to buy a particular product for the rest of eternity. My wife and I saw this tonight for the first time and both gave each other a WTF? look. Utterly useless. I didn't even think they were trying to be funny (were they?), it was just stupid. I figured it was a BK commercial, except SD was holding outfor too much money so they went German.

Lucky for them, I couldn't even tell what kind of car they were trying to sell, so just by accident, I might not be able to hold it against them.

Here's a dollar, go buy a sense of humor and a vallium to lighten up.

[Ksyrup]

Welcome to 3 days ago.

[Esquared1]

These are the kinds of commercials that make me never want to buy a particular product for the rest of eternity. My wife and I saw this tonight for the first time and both gave each other a WTF? look. Utterly useless. I didn't even think they were trying to be funny (were they?), it was just stupid. I figured it was a BK commercial, except SD was holding outfor too much money so they went German.

Lucky for them, I couldn't even tell what kind of car they were trying to sell, so just by accident, I might not be able to hold it against them.

Funny, I read somewhere that the same firm that has the VW account also has the BK account.

[Ksyrup]

Funny, I read somewhere that the same firm that has the VW account also has the BK account.

Wouldn't surprise me. They probably have Old Navy, too.