Volkswagen is, as usual, doing things differently and getting some some positive attention for it.
This morning a composer friend of mine posted a video on Facebook of "piano key" stairs. His post had nothing to do with VW advertising and less to do with marketing in general. He just found the video interesting because of his relationship with music (I'm sure of this because he posted the Swedish version of the video and he definitely doens't speak their language). After finishing watching the video, I clicked on the link, expecting to be directed to some sort of music school related experiment site, and was (momentarily) suprised to be directed to a lightly branded VW website proclaiming (once I ticked the UK flag for English):
"This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."
This mini guerrilla campaign/behavioral experiment is doing exactly that:
The piano installation was created to encourage people to make the healthier choice to take the stairs instead of using an escalator. The before and after shots of the staircase vs. the escalator prove the trick works.
The next video depicting "The World's Deepest [Trash] Bin," an outdoor public garbage can that makes a cartoonish sound of something falling very very far, had the effect of getting park-goers to not only throw away their own trash, but also to clean up the rest of the park just to hear the falling sound again.
Next, they promise to come up with a fun way to recycle.
I say, GO TEAM VOLKSWAGEN (BDB Stockholm)! This bare bones project of theirs sure is a great example of a lot of good things advertising: marketing as service, combining online and offline, and making a good idea viral by keeping it open-ended and by not shoving a ton of branding down the throats of those who couldn't care less about cars (i.e. my buddy the composer).
Having grown up in the music industry, I can tell you that if you're a performer, you can get the bulk of your money doing tours. Sure, you can make a ton of it by selling your albums and cds, but your record label takes a big chunk of sales. And now you have a new proponent - the internet, which has eroded said sales from the number of free downloads and file-swapping devices in cyberspace. If you have downloaded a track for free that you otherwise would have paid for, then you are contributing to the problem. I know you have done it. You know you have done it. Don't try to deny it. 
