Since we are on the topic of promotional strategy, I would like to bring us back to our adorably diligent pint-sized Vader. I must say, this was one of the best commercials I have seen in a while. In addition, I would like to take this opportunity to bring in a blog post from outside UBC, by the name of Sasha H. Muradali, who runs the Little Pink Blog. In her blog post, she commented on the message and tactics Volkswagen used to promote their 2012 Passat.
Sasha first starts off with the comment made on Volkswagen’s Youtube channel, regarding the message conveyed in the commercial as,
…a pint-sized Darth Vader who uses the Force when he discovers the all-new 2012 Passat in the driveway.
As we all know, promotion is about getting the right message to the right audience using the right media. Most of us would definitely have a close association with the Star Wars saga, and how such phenomenons in a fictional story cannot be applicable to the world we live in. So in using Darth Vader and our knowledge of the Force, we have clear symbols and images which we can easily relate to, and this is called encoding.
Now we continue on the the second part of the comment made on the Youtube channel
It leverages humor and the unforgettable Star Wars™ score to create an emotional commercial.
This here is the decoding process in which consumers decode based on perceptions, attitudes, and learning. We see that this commercial is humorous and emotional, because of the fruitless efforts of a pint-sized Vader trying to use the Force whilst playing the unforgettable Star Wars score in the background.