Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 08:37:48 EDT
Reply-To: GMBulley <GMBulley@AOL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: GMBulley <GMBulley@AOL.COM>
Subject: Advertising & the Demise of the Westy, longish, lite VW bashing
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In a message dated 98-04-13 22:30:59 EDT, s_j_wacker@JUNO.COM writes:
<< However, I don't see a company that sells millions of vehicles world wide
spending a lot of time catering to a thousand or so owners to 8-15 year old
vans >>
VW hardly caters to its prospective BUYERS, much less vintage owners. So I
wonder: Does anyone know why VW _*barely*_ advertises in the US? This
mystifies me. They have fantastic vehicles, but don't bother TELLING folks
about them.
There is an advertising technique, TOMA, Top Of Mind Advertising, that most
companies use. It requires repitition and frequency. An ad firm develops a
theme, and everywhere the prospective buyer goes, they hear or see the theme.
When I say "The best part of waking up..." your mind is dying to sing "...is
FOLGERS in your cup," because of TOMA.
The airwaves are loaded with ads for Buicks; Saturn does a good job of drawing
interest from the un-Saturn-fied. Almost no ads for the new Passat, a few for
the Jetta/Golf Trek. And here is VW, with an unbelievable motor (the TDi) that
will go 700 well-powered miles on $12.00 fuel...have you seen or heard ONE ad
for the new TDi Jetta? Did you ever see a TV ad for the Euro-bago, ever? If
you weren't VW savvy, you'ld never know about these things.
Why do you have to go to the dealer to find out about a VW?
I hold this lack of advertising greatly responsible for the demise of our
beloved VW "Camper", be it Westy or other. By far, one of the neatest vehicles
ever built, the Synchro Westy, is virtually unknown to the car-buying public.
I'm VW savvy, and only learned through this list about VW's 4-WD camper. Ugh!
Currently, VW is missing a HUGE chunk of the car-buying population: the folks
that drool over SUVs. All SUV ads use the same theme..."Overworked in your
horrible urban/suburban life? Buy our SUV and you can take Fridays and Mondays
off to stand in a stream, fly fishing in remote Montana."
What they forget to mention is what a pain in the kiester camping is. Think
you're over worked now: take up this new hobby, camping with your family out
of your Explorer!!! Sort, load, and tote all of your camping gear, get where
you are going on 12 mpg. Spend the next few hours setting up places to sleep,
cook, wash, etc. When you are done, clean, mothball, and store your gear for
the next time. Foggetaboutit. You can HAVE all the SUV's. Ugh.
The VW Camper, was the salvation for this quandery. Self contained. Sleeps
four. Goes almost ANYWHERE (New Lunagon goes even farther!). Looks nice. Gets
good milege.
But God-forbid VW tell anyone about a great idea. Import it quietly, then
scratch your German heads (Kopf?) when things don't sell so good. Then stop
importing them, just when folks are finding out about them. Dumbkopf.
A smart man once told me that starting a great business without advertising
it, is like winking at a pretty girl in a dark room. So why doesn't VW
advertise here???
gmbulley
cary, nc
Prov.17:22
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