New Doc Reveals Thinking Behind Classic VW Ads

Joe Marcantonio, a director at Annex Films, has just released this new, near-20-minute documentary about the classic Volkswagen ads of the 1960s. 

With archive footage of former DDB New York art directors George Lois and Helmut Krone, plus contributors including Dave Trott, Sir Alan Parker, Sir John Hegarty and Alfredo Marcantonio (Joe's father) the film is a brilliant and very interesting insight into some of the most revered advertising ever made. 

You can view the film, called Remeber Those Great Volkswagen Ads?, above, and, below, the director tells us how and why the documentary was made. 

Where did the idea for a documentary about VW’s early advertising spring from?

I’ve always thought this was the best ad campaign of all time and clearly, massively influential. I knew a little of the back-story to the ads as my dad (who features in the film) wrote a book about the campaign many years ago, with David Abbott and John O’Driscoll.

I always like to be working on a personal project, and my last two were fairly successful (Flattrack and Things That Can Kill You). When I was looking for a new idea to work on, it seemed like a nice idea.

I only released it on Monday, and it has had an overwhelmingly positive reaction from everyone. The interesting thing has been the feedback from people who aren’t interested in advertising; a really varied audience have all been telling me how much they love the ads, how funny and charming they were.

Is VW advertising always something you’ve had an interest in?

My dad is a fairly well-known ad man, so I’ve always had an interest in advertising in general. I spent a lot of my childhood sitting in his office flicking through Campaign and shots.

There is an anecdote in here somewhere… this is a bit long-winded, and may be boring, but bare with me…

Before he was a copywriter and creative director, my dad used to work as a client for VW, in the marketing department. He worked under a guy called Alan Priest, and used to work a bit with David Abbott - who did the legendary British VW ads for DDB.

When my dad decided to swap being a client for writing the ads, David Abbott was a massive help to him, and was essentially my dad’s mentor. They stayed in touch, had a keen freindship and, many years later, my dad became creative director at AMV.

The funny thing is that Alan Priest’s son, Ben Priest, is my dad’s godson - and he is now the boss at adam&eveDDB, working on the same campaign.

How long did it take to collate all the old footage and was it hard to find?

There is actually very limited footage of Ferdinand Porsche with the car and Hitler riding in Beetle, so it was’t too bad [to collate].

What was the most difficult element of this project for you?

The whole thing was difficult! I did literally everything myself; producer, camera, questions, sound, edit, graphics… even the grade and audio mix. It has taken almost two years from my first look through the archive interviews, to now.

And the most rewarding?

Without a doubt, I loved meeting Sir Alan Parker. They say you should’t meet your heroes, but he was absolutely fantastic. We went for a nice long lunch after the interview and I quizzed him about his directing tips and techniques.

I got a note from him a few days ago saying how much he enjoyed the film, and that means an awful lot to me. He is one of the finest filmmakers this country has ever produced, and a big hero of mine.

Do you think that current advertising suffers in comparison to the VW work from the 60s?

Lock 100 people in a room and make them agree on a favourite flavour of ice-cream; they’re going to say vanilla.

These days ads seem to be made by committee, so we end up with vanilla. [Advertising] is about appealing to the most people, and offending the least. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it doesn’t make it easy to get inventive and forward-thinking ideas through research. Sometimes chocolate ice-cream is what you want.

I love the idea of a client having faith in the opinion of a handful of expert people, trusting their opinion. But i think the world may have moved on.

What’s your favourite VW ad of all time?

The most self-depricating ones are the best. I love ‘If it runs out of gas it is easy to push’, The moon landing's 'Its ugly but it gets you there' [above], and  "How to save for a Porsche" - the brilliant idea of using a rival car as the headline in your own ad.

And keeping up with the Kremplers is one locked off shot, with just good writing. So simple, yet really funny. You can see where my dad got his famous Hamlet Bunker ad from [below]!