Strategy gets death by execution.

Today's post offers a perfect example of a promising strategy gone horrible wrong.

The wrong turn here is likely the result of a runaway creative team or a client who refused to shell out the cash to get a quick consumer gut check - or both.

Here it is - a new spot for VW Jetta:



The tagline is smart, and I presume plucked directly from the strategy. All that would have been needed to go right with this would have been a clear articulation of that tagline, which by the way, it nearly delivers until the end where it simply crashes and burns.

So, the folks at VW made a great automobile - with all kinds of bells and whistles, capable of passing all sorts of safety tests; it drives fast, handles well, etc, etc. Great. Literally, great.

Then they priced it just over $15k. That's a price point hard to find, let alone for a vehicle we just determined to be great.

Things are looking good so far.

So, why would the people who built the car fall over, crying at the end when the price is revealed? If you follow the logic, the only way one can interpret that is that these are greedy scumbags who want to take more money from people and put it in their own pockets.

Does that sound like the sort of company you would want to buy a car from? Better yet, what justice does it do the strategy? Forget logic, how does it advance the story being told?

The takeaway should be "The new VW Jetta is a great car for the price of a good car". Instead, it's a great car for the price of good car, made by people who aren't happy about it, in fact they're downright beside themselves and if you choose to buy one of their cars, you'll be stuck in a thankless marriage with a car company who won't be willing to shell out a cent to help you along the way, so let's hope those brakes work."

Sadly, this is a case of good strategy dismantled by bad execution. And since the the consumer never sees the strategy, all the intelligence is virtually undone.

For VW's case, let's hope no one sees the commercial and all they see is the price sticker on the car.

OFF STRATEGY.