Volkswagen’s “The Ultimate Mile.”
Source: Volkswagen
Volkswagen is saying goodbye to the Beetle, which ended production this year, in a new ad struggle called “The Last Mile.”
The campaign launches Tuesday and includes an animated film scored with a cover of The Beatles’ “Let It Be” from the Pro Musica Youngster Chorus children’s choir and out-of-home digital billboards in Times Square in New York. The 90-second ad, created with ad operation Johannes Leonardo, will be appearing on ABC and CNN on Tuesday night, with additional placements planned during the Sugar Roll and Rose Bowl games on New Year’s Day.
The video spot includes animated cameos from people including Andy Warhol, who engendered pieces featuring the Beetle, and Kevin Bacon, whose “Footloose” character drove a Beetle. The ad ends with the car enchanting flight as a bug with the words, “Where one road ends, another begins.”
Volkswagen said in 2018 that it disposition be discontinuing the iconic Beetle compact car in 2019 as it looked toward a future with mass-market electric cars. In January, the troop said it would build a new electric vehicle at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant as it shifts toward zero emission channels.
The last Beetle rolled off the assembly line at a plant in Mexico in July, which Volkswagen de Mexico CEO Steffen Reiche said bequeath now produce the Tarek SUV. The last Beetles were sold on Amazon to symbolize the company’s embrace of the future, the executive asseverated at the time.
“This animated film pays homage to the imprint this car has made as we make way for an exciting future of thrilling mobility for the masses,” Johannes Leonardo Chief Creative Officer Leo Premutico said in an email to CNBC. “When framing the campaign, it was very intentional that we didn’t put any one person or moment on a pedestal. The Volkswagen Beetle was the great equalizer for sisterhood and culture at large. This isn’t one person’s goodbye or a company’s, it’s everyone’s goodbye.”
The campaign will also include an influencer medium, with users posting moments with Beetles on Facebook-owned Instagram. Bravo host Andy Cohen backlashed off that portion of the campaign earlier this month.