Silence Speaks Now-a-days! Or, Vibrates?

When we see the Volkswagen 'silent' commercial that says car features speak for itself, what does this ad convey?
Did it chose the timing just before the release of the much acclaimed Bollywood movie 'Barfi', intentionally?

What usually happens before a car purchase or any high involvement product for the matter, is that people compare brand features, so by the time they visit the showroom, they have narrowed down on what they want and know what the features are...in the showroom, all they then finally do
1) is experience those features
2) Check how true those claims have been and if it matches their own expectations as imagined.
So in this ad, I thought it was an affirmation of all the expectations being met and delivered. The target is clearly the young working class and the emerging-to-rich-class people, mostly in Tier-A cities of India.
                         
Innovative press advertising is not new to Volkswagen. From the ‘Talking Newspaper’ campaign in 2010 to the ‘Silver Newspaper’ in 2011, Volkswagen is credited with some of the most innovative marketing initiatives in India. On a Tuesday morning in 2010 (September 22), when the readers of The Times of India and The Hindu opened their newspaper, they were surprised to find their papers talking about Volkswagen cars. The German carmaker had spent close to Rs 5 crore for that much-talked about print innovation.

Volkswagen came up with another similar innovation exactly after two years yesterday, also a Tuesday (September 11). The luxury car brand used a vibrator to create a ‘shiver’ effect. The German automotive giant launched this innovative campaign for the Polo and Vento in The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu. The opening page simply read: “Feel the shiver of excitement?”

Yesterday’s print ad including the vibrator innovation included four pages talking mainly about different features of Volkswagen’s Vento and Polo. The vibrator was inserted on the last page. The innovation has been implemented nationally with The Times of India editions in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore; The Hindu in the south; and Hindustan Times in Delhi – thereby covering a major part of its target audience.

Volkswagen is learnt to have spent around Rs 7 crore to execute the campaign on this scale. DDB Mudra is to be credited with the innovative campaign.

So, first it talked. Then it shone. Now it shivered, or vibrated. Next what? Would it shake? Lets hope for another innovative campaign!