Volkswagen Releases Never Before Seen Behind-The-Scenes Videos of Wildly Popular Super Bowl Ads

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. has released behind-the-scene videos of the two popular :30 spots, "The Force" and "Black Beetle" which aired during Super Bowl XLV.

Bringing Star Wars to one of TV's most talked about events, "The Force," is a humorous and heart-warming ad for the all-new 2012 Passat. Accompanied by "The Imperial March" from John Williams' iconic score, the spot features a child dressed up as Darth Vader who uses the Force when he discovers the all-new 2012 Passat in the driveway. The spot has become a viral phenomenon and is one of the most talked about ads in Super Bowl history, with over 23 million views on YouTube to date. Additional milestones include:

• #1 most popular Super Bowl spot on Hulu's "AdZone"
• #1 spot on BrandBowl.com (presented by social media monitoring companies Radian6 and Mullen)
• #1 best spot as ranked by the site, AdBowl.com
• #1 on the leading social media news site, Mashable.com
• The 2nd highest rated video of all time in the "Autos and Vehicles" category on YouTube worldwide
• #3 spot on USA Today's "Ad Meter"  

Outtakes released today for "The Force" follow the pint-sized Darth Vader through additional scenes as he tries to use the Force at home.

"Volkswagen is proud to have received such acclaim for our Super Bowl strategy and creative," said Tim Ellis, Vice President of Marketing, Volkswagen of America, Inc. "By launching our spots days prior to the Super Bowl, we successfully dominated the national dialogue around the advertising before the game even started."

"Black Beetle," the commercial for the 21st Century Beetle has received over 2.8 million views on YouTube to date, and was ranked #3 best Super Bowl Spot on Hulu's AdZone, and voted #2 favorite automotive spot on AdBowl.com. In a bold move for an automotive brand, the spot does not feature any actual images of the car, and relies on cutting-edge CGI creative to tease the vehicle. An animated Black Beetle rules, runs, navigates and outperforms all the other creatures in a lush digitized forest, paying homage to the greatest car chase scenes in the history of film and TV. The spot is set to the song "Black Betty," rerecorded by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

The newly released behind-the-scenes "Black Beetle" footage follows the creative process behind the spot, from storyboard concepts to the creation of a 20x40 foot forest on a soundstage using trees and other materials gathered from a farm in Marin County to serve as template for production. It documents how the creators of the spot tapped entomologists from the London Natural History Museum for counsel to design a series of believable 3D insects for the spot.

Created by Deutsch LA, the ads will have extensions that live beyond the Super Bowl on the Volkswagen website, Facebook and YouTube pages, and ESPN Mobile. 

Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Eos, Golf, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. All 2011 Volkswagen vehicles come standard-equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC). This is important because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America online at www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.

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SOURCE Volkswagen of America, Inc.