Campaign Review: Auto brands go wheel-to-wheel

In Campaign Review, Mumbrella invites industry creatives and strategists to offer their views on recent ad campaigns.

Brand: Volkswagen

Campaign: ‘Batteries Included’

Agency: DDB Group Sydney

The verdict: An enjoyable watch.

Kerry Scott-Jackson, senior creative manager at Acast, gave it a 9/10 and said: 

I absolutely love this new chapter for Volkswagen, which really embraces the joy of play and childlike wonder that resonates with all of us. Even the most serious or dry of individuals have something that helps them find joy and let off some steam through play — the strategy behind Volkswagen being the vehicle to unlock that sense of play is a smart one.

Kerry Scott-Jackson

I love the beautiful shots and use of colour that spark nostalgia, playing around with colour palettes and cinematic style that feels a bit Wes Anderson-esque, even further driving that real sense of playfulness.

Unlike the usual high-tech, sleek and cold shots of the vehicle, which can feel all kinds of complicated and robotic, this campaign embraces a sense of real playfulness, making those tech options feel like new toys to play with.

Simple tagline and a smart strategy that lets beautiful creative do the talking — it was an enjoyable watch.

Sean Cummins, founder and creative strategist at Cummins & Partners, gave it a 7/10 and said: 

Car advertising is a sea of sameness. The biggest challenge can be summed up in one word: misattribution. The cars look the same. The advertising looks the same. Now go do something that stands out.

This group of car ads is heavy on features and aesthetics. Which makes it is easy to forget who the ad is for. In this confusion the brand has to land. Otherwise, you get misattribution. Lots of product features, but few brand assets.

This one breaks the cars and guitars format and creates a series of tableaux to view the range. And as it is a range ad for its electric vehicles it does the job skillfully enough. Showing the metal is crucial and promotes the Volkswagen design aesthetic to those who are fond of the brand.

I’m not sure if the “inner child” line makes a lot of sense and whether that inner child is old enough to drive. So, I’d lose that and probably end with the all-electric ID range.  The “batteries included” line is a bit hackneyed. Much more thought should’ve been given to the landing of the advertising punchline of this otherwise pretty-looking piece.

Brand: Mitsubishi

Campaign: ‘Long Way To The Shop’

Agency: Richards Rose

The verdict: Go big or go home.

Kerry gave it a 8/10 and said: 

I don’t think there’s much more quintessentially Aussie than AC/DC! And what a fun nod to the Aussie spirit of family road trips and yearly camping holidays. With this campaign, I commend Mitsubishi for really thinking about classic Australian culture and doing it right. I’m certain the budget to licence AC/DC wouldn’t have been cheap, but for me it is worth its weight in gold.

Sometimes when brands lean into nostalgia it can feel a bit like a cheap shot, but watching this unlocked some great memories on family road trips with my dad singing along to the songs he loves. The campaign has such a beautiful sense of connection.

In my role, I really experience first hand how important it is to get the music right to make creative really shine, feel impactful and tell a story. I love that they thought even deeper about the creative, rather than just featuring the iconic track as background music. They’ve put great thought into Australia’s connection to AC/DC by leaning even further into childhood moments of sports days or silly road trip karaoke with their families with the ode to ‘It’s a long way to the shop if you want a sausage roll!’.

My only consideration is that the campaign felt a little more geared towards an older demographic — I don’t think younger audiences will resonate with it the same way.

Sean gave it a 6/10 and said: 

The Mitsubishi brand in Australia has always fascinated me. And I see what they are trying to do here. They are rightly trying to connect with and reside in Australian culture. With the mildly amusing Russell Coight efforts, and now this, they are certainly not shy of going big.

Sean Cummins

Mitsubishi make reliable cars and have been a stalwart in the Australian automotive landscape for 45 years. This one is a typical cars and guitars piece. Shows the product faithfully and the product looks really good. But people don’t buy products. They buy brands. I feel the Mitsubishi brand needs to truly find its own voice rather than leveraging the voice of others.

Because when the rights to these voices expire what will they be left with?

Toyota created their own voice beautifully and became a quintessential and trusted “Aussie” brand. They did so and have stuck at it with “Oh what a feeling, Toyota” for over 40 years.

But hey, it’s a long way to the top.

Brand: GWM 

Campaign: ‘Ooooh’

Agency: Thinkerbell

The verdict: Misses the mark. 

Kerry gave it a 3/10 and said: 

Ah GWM — this was a miss for me. It might have been because I was listening through my earphones, but the ‘Ooooh’ made me feel a bit weird.

I appreciate it’s meant to feel quirky in nature… but I really didn’t like it. It didn’t sound like there was much clarity in the recording, the sound design doesn’t feel dynamic or experiential, which I am sure is what they intended — but it had the opposite effect for me.

I was so focused on how much I didn’t like the sound that I couldn’t even really hear or pay attention to the VO. There are a lot of great features of this vehicle, but unfortunately I didn’t notice any of them because I was too preoccupied with the jarring noise.

Haval has a real opportunity to showcase all the benefits but this creative just doesn’t cut through. I would have loved to have understood the strategy and creative process behind choosing this direction. ‘Go With More’ is a great tagline, they could have played on this so much more — especially with the amount of features included in the car.

Sean gave it a 5/10 and said: 

This is a cute piece for (insert brand name). Is it the new GWM Ooooh? I dont know. Cos that’s what I’m left with. Great specs shots of a keenly priced product and a bit of harmless fun.

But this piece sums up my main observation of all three of the ads I’m reviewing here. There are no strong reasons to buy any of these cars. No competitive endline, no proposition, no reason to purchase. Will I let my inner child buy a Volkswagen? Will I buy a Mitsubishi Outlander because it is a bit rock and roll? Will I buy whatever this car brand is because of Ooooh?

Australia has had a proud advertising history of building automotive brands. Now, with the flood of truly incredible new products from China (who don’t yet know how to build brands, with the possible exception of BYD) we need to get more automotive intellect in this category. Or car brands won’t matter anymore. Ooooh.

As submitted to Lauren McNamara.

If you are a senior creative or strategist who would like to take part in Campaign Review, please email me at lmcnamara@mumbrella.com.au.

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