Two years after a children’s game called punch buggy provided the basis for a popular Volkswagen commercial, VW is turning to another children’s game for a commercial to help introduce the 2012 Beetle.
The Beetle commercial is scheduled to begin appearing on television this Monday. Volkswagen of America, which likes to release teasers for its spots before they make their debuts, is doing so again with the Beetle commercial.
The teasers are going to turn up in coming days on social media Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; each teaser is 15 seconds long. The full version of the commercial, which runs 45 seconds, began appearing on YouTube on Thursday.
The Beetle commercial uses the 1965 tune “The Clapping Song” by Shirley Ellis, the lyrics of which describe a clapping game; the song is also known as “Clap Pat Clap Slap.”
In the commercial, a man driving a black 2012 Beetle is greeted by everyone who sees him with high-fives, fist bumps, claps, slaps, pats and other hearty hand gestures.
The man even gets a congratulatory paw from a dog that sees him driving by.
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The Beetle commercial evokes a spot called “Punch Dub,” which made its debut in the 2010 Super Bowl. That spot showed people punching each other in the arm each time they see a Volkswagen passing by.
The “Punch Dub” spot, with a surprise cameo appearance by Stevie Wonder, paid tribute to punch buggy, also known as punch bug.
The echo effect between the new Beetle commercial and the 2010 commercial is not an accident, Eric Wilson, marketing communications manager at Volkswagen of America in Herndon, Va., said on Thursday.
The Beetle is “the world’s most iconic car,” Mr. Wilson said, and “when people see it, they smile, they connect with the driver, and the driver connects with them.”
The new commercial is “similar to ‘Punch Dub,’” he added, “in a fun, engaging way.”
The concept of connection is a part of the introductory campaign for the 2012 Beetle, which Volkswagen of America showed to reporters in April. The 2012 Beetle is being described i as “the 21st century Beetle.”
Whatever its moniker, the 2012 Beetle is a successor to a car that Volkswagen of America brought out in 1998. That car, called the New Beetle, was a redesigned version of the original Beetle – also known as the Bug – that was sold in this country from 1949 to 1979.
The commercial for the 2012 Beetle is the second that Volkswagen of America has run this year. The first appeared during Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6 and showed a black beetle racing wildly through a forest as a version of the rock tune “Black Betty” played on the soundtrack.
It is probably no coincidence, then, that the Beetle in the new commercial is also black.
After the spot with “The Clapping Song” appears on Monday, Volkswagen of America will roll out other elements of the campaign for the 2012 Beetle. They will include print, digital and outdoor ads.
@The New York Times