In 1999, a year after the launch of the original New Beetle, safety tests were conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The New Beetle was named Best Pick in its class, after receiving the Institute’s highest rating for overall safety. That’s all we had to say, really. These three newspaper ads ran in automotive sections of publications like The New York Times.

This is the story of speed.

Back in 1999, we were hard at work, developing TV, print and outdoor for the launch of the new New Beetle Turbo, the sophomore follow-up to the launch of the New Beetle. (Read the full Turbonium case study here.) With less than three weeks to the TV air date, we had a creative/media idea…

The Internet was expanding rapidly. But few auto marketers had embraced campaign integration between their off and online efforts. What if we created a companion website that further developed the ideas expressed in TV and print?

What if we created turbonium.com? And tagged our TV, print and outdoor with the URL, directing viewers online to complete the story? (Remember, this was in 1999.)

A very small team went to work. We decided to use Macromedia’s Flash, at the time an innovative design/animation display application. And we based our efforts on the core concept: a new, powerful element, Turbonium, had been discovered in the universe. The site’s navigation was based off stereotypical charts of the elements.

The site provided an interactive guide through the Turbo’s engine design, as well as the more prominent features. We also provided background on Ben Neill, the composer of the Tubonium theme, as well as an e-commerce engine to purchase limited edition Turbonium t-shirts.

All this was developed in less than three weeks. 

Besides helping drive record sales for the launch of the Turbo, turbonium.com helped Volkswagen better understand the changing relationship between traditional and digital media and consumers’ interest in integrated ideas. The site also won Best of Show at the 2000 One Show Interactive competition.