Writing, marketing and technology
I saw this at Hammersmith Station today and I thought it was really cool. As a writer, I like the way they have used plain text and typographic conventions to convey a really subtle message about efficiency. It also works on different levels of detail: the gag, the key message and then the whole text which gives you more information about what VW are trying to say. It’s like an advert that has a power-user setting.
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Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He edits Golf Hotel Whiskey and writes the Forbes Aviator column.
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Almost brilliant, but I read it as “Blue Motion money” – missed the “saves you” on my first scan.
My feedback to the creatives would have been: design-wise, less emphasis on the red line, it dominates the image, and grey-out the “deleted” text.
Interesting that you missed it. I think I did too when I first read it but maybe that’s the point of something like this. As Richard Feynmann said ‘if it’s easy enough to explain to the man in the street, it wouldn’t be worth a Nobel prize’!
The eye naturally scans right accross the page as you were reading normally, which should have allowed you to see the words ‘saves you’ first, but I understand that you wouldn’t be the only only one to miss this the first time. My personal opinion is that this is a create typographic avertisement.
I agree. I really like those works of design that play just with words, typographies and other visual elements related with writing.
(I love, for example, this video –most surely you’ve seen it- that plays with images and words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G7rzjF_hKI )
What I like of this advertisement is that induces you to read behind the red line, after making a strong point about what was pointed out as the car’s biggest virtue.
I’ll check it out, Sebastian. Thanks. M
I think the ad is very clever. The red lines through the text captured my attention and I read through the ad. It didn’t make sense so I re-read it, this time reading the “saves you” that I had missed on the first read. I liked it.
Here’s a couple, Matthew, that you might enjoy. They’re video ads for a personal injury law firm. I found it on Collateral Damage, a blog about business and marketing. Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://collateraldamage.wordpress.com I found the ads to be very clever and very funny.
Take care and thanks for your site. I look forward to your posts.
Cool. I’ll check out those vidoes. Interesting that several people had to re-read the ad. It’s probably clearer on the billboard than in my dodgy iPhone camera shot but perhaps reading it twice is the point. Make you look. Make you think.
Fabulous! That kind of spammy faff that clogs up long form ads is EXACTLY the sort I think needs to be slashed with the red pen. I love it for making fun of the stuff I hate the most.
… ok, VW. Who’s been in my head?
On the design front, I don’t really have an issue with the layout. The poor lighting and the typeface colour / weight made my eyes automatically bounce back through the lines of deleted copy to find what I knew was missing.
Glad you like it, Bridget. I completely agree with you.
I’m a Top Gear Magazine subscribers, so I’ve seen a lot of these ads and they’re great. The thing is, they don’t seem to be the only brand doing it. Simple, copy-led ads seem to be ‘in’ right now. And actually, I think Volvo does it better… http://bit.ly/cEnAjn
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