• NY Times, Friday, February 17, 2006 11:15 AM

A new ad campaign from Volkswagen's new ad agency returns the carmaker to its German roots with the introduction of German-style catchphrases and a leggy blond named Helga. The effort is the first from ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, a Miami-based creative hotshop that won the $350 million account in September. The campaign supports Volkswagen's GTI Mk V hatchback and made its debut on telecasts of the Winter Olympics last week. "We're going to celebrate our Germanness," said Kerri Martin, the director of brand innovation for Volkswagen of America in Auburn Hills, Mich. The effort is quirky, and additional executions take a different approach in which a new slogan is introduced--"Make friends with your fast"--along with a bizarre little robotic character who sounds like Darth Vader and issues commands to drivers. Volkswagen is struggling in the U.S. Sales have been slumping in the last few years, and the company announced last week that it would cut up to 20,000 jobs in the next three years in an effort to streamline the company.

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