Volkswagen is back in the Super Bowl for its first time in a decade

Volkswagen will advertise in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2014. The ad from Johannes Leonardo will begin a yearlong campaign marking the German brand’s 75th anniversary of coming to America. VW declined to share the length of the spot or in which quarter it will run. The German automaker first entered the U.S. market on Jan. 17, 1949, making today its official anniversary date. The first model arriving on shore was the Type 1 vehicle, later known as the Beetle, which would go on to secure a permanent place in American culture. Volkswagen of America discontinued the German-born Beetle in 2019, as more U.S. buyers gravitated to crossovers and SUVs. And while it is unusual—if not unprecedented—for a Super Bowl ad to prominently feature a product that is no longer sold, the brand is poised to use the reference to remind viewers the role that VW has played in U.S. culture. VW teased the ad with a video depicting the Beetle’s early days in America when it was not universally accepted right away. VW in a press release described the yearlong campaign as “a love letter to the American people, and an invitation to be part of Volkswagen’s electric future.” It noted that “exactly 75 years ago today, two Volkswagen Type 1 vehicles landed on the shores of New York.” Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Enter here The Beetle was born in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and was known as the “people’s car” for its value price. The original Beetle was sold in the U.S. from 1950 to 1979, then was resurrected in 1998 with a new design featuring a built-in flower vase. It cemented its status as a U.S. icon thanks to associations such as its starring role in the 1968 movie “The Love Bug,” in which the Beetle starred as Herbie. VW has sought to revive its place in culture in recent years, including by using its history to market vehicles such as the all-electric van, called the ID Buzz, which will debut in the U.S. this year—its retro design pays homage to the 1960s-era VW Microbus, which was beloved by hippies. “Over the past 75 years, Volkswagen has grown from a tale of two Beetles into a part of America’s cultural fabric,” said Rachael Zaluzec, senior VP of customer experience and brand marketing at Volkswagen of America. “We carry people in our name and our heart. As we look forward to the next 75, we will celebrate the real people and real-life moments that have made Volkswagen brand the people’s love story it is today.” “Moments are being planned throughout the year to spotlight the people, products and places that have defined one of America’s best-known brands,” VW stated in the press release. The Super Bowl ad will mark the automaker’s highest-profile marketing event in years and follows the automaker’s nine-year absence from the Big Game. VW once had consistently advertised in America’s biggest sporting event. It is behind what is considered one of the best Super Bowl ads of all time, 2011’s “The Force,” which showed a boy dressed as Darth Vader unsuccessfully using the Star Wars force around the house, until he remote-started a Passat, thanks to some help from his dad in the background. That ad from Deutsch and directed by Lance Acord was considered a smash hit, partly because it was released early. It wasn’t the first spot made public before the game, but VW’s early release set the standard, earning more than 10 million views and 10,000 social media comments before the game even started, according to Ad Age reporting at the time. Releasing Super Bowl ads early has of course since become a standard practice, so much so that the hurdle for breaking through amid the clutter is much higher. VW in 2015 ended its five-year Super Bowl advertising streak and went on to sit out the game every year until now. For several of those years off, the brand was distracted by a global diesel emissions scandal, in which VW admitted to installing “defeat device” software in vehicles so they would run at legal emissions levels during testing, but otherwise spew harmful toxins. VW has paid more than $31 billion in fines and settlements since the controversy and later leaned heavily into electric vehicle production as one way to move beyond the scandal. VW later leaned heavily into electric vehicle production as one way to move beyond the scandal. Johannes Leonardo was hired as lead U.S. agency in late 2019 and has survived several changes atop Volkswagen of America’s marketing department. In January, Zaluzec was promoted into the newly created position of senior VP of customer experience and brand marketing, which came in the wake of the departure of senior VP of marketing, Kimberley Gardiner. Globally, Volkswagen is cutting costs under a plan made public in November that involves staff cuts to improve productivity and make its vehicles more competitive. VW is the second automaker to confirm a Super Bowl 2024 ad, following BMW.

Volkswagen is back in the Super Bowl for its first time in a decade

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