The original name for the "people's car" was Kdf - Kampf Durch Freude - The Strength through Joy Wagon.
VW - A radical product purchased only by the counter culture.
Featured an air cooled engine (in back), superior mileage, tires that last
60,000 miles, no "this year's" status model, so replacement parts were
always the same. It took you
places cheaply.
Volkswagen - Major German automobile manufacturer, founded by the German government in 1937 to mass-produce a low-priced automobile Headquarters in Wolfsburg. The company was originally operated by the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), a Nazi organization to build "the people's car."
Ferdinand Porsche was brought in to design the car and he conceived the original design in September 1931. Porsche's design, Hitler's mandate, was to be called the Kdf (Kraft-durch-Freude, Strength through Joy Wagon) permanently ruining any possible marketing future.
His promise to the workers was that if people saved $5 R.M. month, he would deliver. Production was interrupted by World War II, and by the end of the war both the Volkswagen factory and the city of Wolfsburg were in ruins. The Savers lawsuit settled in 1950's.
Doyle, Dane, Burbach 1959 - ad agency.
VW originally wanted "The Assault" - cars dropped from planes, keys in
ignition, people drive away. All showgirls had to be trained as engineers. DDB
broke all the rules. Humor is forbidden in advertising (people don't buy from clowns).
Sex sells. Use dreamy illustrations.
DDB used photos instead of illustrations, humor in advertising. Period at the end (not a newsflash). Helvetica type.
They were given a $800,000 annual budget (Edsel spent $8 million in 4 months)
Notes from "Think small." by Frank Rowsome JR.(1971, Ballentine)