Best Car Adverts

Another car ad that definitely deserves its place on the “Best Car Adverts” list is the BMP (now adam&eveDDB) produced advert for Volkswagen “Changes”.  This classic car advert not only defined a brand, it defined how people now see the decade.

Volkswagen Golf Advert

The 80s is remembered for “big” – big hair, big shoulder pads, big attitude – and this ad has them all. The materialistic air of the 80s is encapsulated in the big jewellery, the fur coat, the perfect tailoring. Paula Hamilton gives them all up, but even she can’t bear to give up the real star of the show – the Volkswagen Golf.

Volkswagen Golf “Changes”

Originally planned as a long-term replacement for the Volkswagen Beetle, the Volkswagen Golf was definitely in the “Hot Hatch” genre. This advert helped change minds about the car. With Paula Hamilton made up to look like Princess Diana, the ad was firmly marketing the car not to boy racers, but to women drivers.

Although the car was being marketed to young working women, it was done in a way that didn’t alienate male drivers or older women.

Volkswagen “Casino” Advert

1987 was definitely a great year for Volkswagen Golf ads. The Volkswagen Casino ad shows the unluckiest man in the world (or the stupidest, depending on how you take the advert!) after a long night at the end of a long losing streak. But fret not – because he drives a Golf, and despite all his hardships, he can rely on a Golf ;).

Clever Golf Advertising

These two ads are very much of their time, and still stick in the mind over 25 years later. They are part of a long timeline of fantastic and innovative Volkswagen ads that stretch back to “Think Small” and “Lemon”, voted the top ad campaign of the 20th Century. These two ads aren’t the only Volkswagen ads that are part of our list, so keep your eyes on the blog as there are more ads still to come.