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Over the past 10 years, Super Bowl ad spending has reached 1.6 billion dollars. Brands spend millions each year for the buzz and eyeballs around America’s biggest night for sports and television.One of the commercials that caught the web’s attention last year was ‘The Force’ Volkswagen spot, which has garnered over 48 million eyeballs.
A year later, the Darth Vader themed commercial is back with a spin. The teaser called ‘The Bark Side’ features dogs barking in symphony to the iconic dark side themed Star Wars music. Advertising agency, Deutsch, are the masterminds behind the viral success of the campaign.
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Deutsch PR Executive, Vonda Lepage, explained the strategy behind their latest Super Bowl teaser and what’s next come game day:
This video is not part of the actual 60-second spot that will be aired during the game.
The Bark Side teaser was created to hint toward some of the exciting elements and characters that will be in the Super Bowl spot. The teaser aired on ABC’s ‘The Middle’ on January 18th, at 8pm EST and has since gotten over 6 million views on YouTube. Keep an eye out for the actual spot in the coming weeks. You can count on this year’s ad to continue to build on Volkswagen’s brand heritage of human stories, told simply. .Are these professional barkers?
They’re trained to bark on command. We recorded each dog’s bark separately and all together, and pieced it together in edit.
What characters are portrayed among the barkers?
Each dog was selected based on their resemblance to a Star Wars character, and those characters include Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, Yoda, a stormtrooper, an Ewok, a Rancor monster, and an AT-AT.
Why did last year’s commercial resonate with so many people?
We think this spot has resonated with so many people because we’ve taken this very rational car feature and made it larger than life. We’ve transformed something already pretty cool into a fantasy for our ‘Mini-Darth.’ And the feature helps the Dad realize his child¹s fantasy. The Dad is the real hero of the spot. Our job is to both reflect and create pop culture. This spot has been so successful because it does both.
Where’s the young mini-Darth actor now?
Max Page is the little Darth Vader from last year. He continues to act in commercials and some daytime TV.
Did the awareness around the brand from Super Bowl translate into sales?
Results The Passat was the model in the car and was not available until 3rd Q 2011. This article explains how Volkswagen AG’s U.S. sales surged 26 percent last year due to the buzz around the products and commercial.
