The baby boomers are turning fifty, but only reluctantly.  Faced with the prospect of wrinkles and liver spots, they are gobbling up vitamins, tonics and diet pills at a ferocious pace.  While that may tune up their bodies, their spirits are seeking a different kind of tune up—they are looking to the past.  Unwilling to charge aggressively into the new millenium like 1980s crazed shoppers and investors, they seek a return to a quieter, gentler time—a time when flower power reigned and the nation loved Lucy Ricardo.

         Nostalgia is the longing for another period; a turning away from times of pain, confusion and doubt.  At the end of the twentieth century, U.S. consumers are embracing nostalgia as if there were no tomorrow and some concerned about the millenium believe there might not be a tomorrow!  As divorce rates remain high and job security declines, is it any wonder that Americans of all ages long for the past.

         Seizing the moment, marketers have brought back dead brands and reinvigorated moribund ones.  Burma Shave signs are re-lining the highways; Charlie the Tuna may yet find good taste in the twentieth century;  Coke has its hourglass figure back and Volkswagen has brought back the Beetle—the quintessential car beloved by flower children.  Nothing reminds us of the 1960s like the beetle and the daisy, so it’s not surprising that VW has used an ad where a daisy appears on the TV screen with new Beetles on each petal.

         Consumer response to the New Beetle has been wildly enthusiastic.  Buyers pressed their noses against the dealer’s windows to get a glimpse of it before it went on sale and waiting lists at most dealerships in the country exceeded three months within a week of the car’s introduction.  Incredible stories of Beetlemania circulated in the media.  One woman in Ohio followed a transporter loaded with Beetles all the way to a dealer in Livonia, Michigan and refused to leave until she was allowed to buy one.  Wally Leach of Gray, Tennessee bought one at the standard price as a gift for his 16-year-old son.  Two days later someone offered him $27,000 for the car and another would-be buyer offered $23,000.  When Wally told him no, the buyer responded “Can I give you more?”

         When introduced in March, 1998, VW sold 2,365 New Beetle and 4,870 in April.  Since then the New Beetle has fueled surging sales for all VW products as buyers snap up Passats, Jettas and Audis as well.  VW sales increased by 59% in 1998 to over 202,000 vehicles in November 1998.  Not bad for a carmaker that almost withdrew from the U.S. market six years ago when sales dropped to 50,000 vehicles.

         Helping to sustain the sales momentum for the New Beetle is limited supply.  The are made only in Puebla, Mexico in a plant that only produced 107,090 units in 1998 of which 55,842 landed in the United States.  Although plant capacity will be increased to 160,000 in 1999, there is still likely to be a backlog of demand for these cars.

         What’s so fascinating about the Beetle?  “The brand has a unique magnificent history of being this trusted friend—more than a car, and people have such affection for it, even people that had bad experiences with the Rabbit,” says John Slaven, a former VW ad executive.  “No other car brand in this country has that ‘magic’ ”, he says while noting that no other car marketer can boast that one of its models starred in Walt Disney movies (The Love Bug and Herbie Rides Again).

         Who would buy a New Beetle?  People who are iconoclastic, unique, confident and unafraid of being the center of attention reports an Adweek study.  Given the attention that the new Beetles get when one drives them, buyers have to be unafraid of attention.  As Marcia Ruff, journalist, reports, “This is not a car you can drive anonymously.  Everyone smiles and waves.  Wherever you stop, people want a closer look.  It was amazing - and eventually a little wearisome - to discover how many people have a Beetle story to tell.”   As for iconoclastic, another writer has stated that the New Beetle is a thumb of the nose at Middle America, a defiance of convention.  Could there be shades of hippie rebellion here?

         Without a doubt the New Beetle builds on its past image and the memories it brings, but this is not just a cleaned up 60s bug.  While the silhouette is much the same, it actually has more in common with a Golf under its skin than the old Beetles.   It has twin airbags, air conditioning, six-speaker stereo, a CD player, remote central locking system and alarm.  Options include anti-lock brakes, alloy wheels, leather interior and heated front seats.  The old Beetle’s famous air-cooled rearmounted engine has been replaced by a choice of front-mounted two-liter 115bhp petrol or 1.9-litre 90bhp turbo-diesel engine.  In a nod to the past, it does have a flower vase on the dashboard.  Unlike its predecessor, the New Beetle offers loads of headroom and legroom in the front seats although only small children will enjoy the ride in the back seat.

         One reason buyers are attracted to the New Beetle is its safety.  It got rave reviews from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety which gave it their highest rating for a variety of test crashes.  It was the only one of sixteen small cars to be labeled a “best pick” for among other reasons, having airbags that actually deployed automatically during test crashes.   Quite a turnaround for the car that Ralph Nader once told the U.S. Senate:  “It is hard to find a more dangerous car.”

         Style has something to do with the Beetle’s appeal.  In a sea of lookalike cars, its half moon shape, rounded corners and oversized oval headlights stand out. It’s just different.  Despite its heritage, the New Beetle is one of the most evocative designs of this century.  It has a fresh, cute appeal—it looks like it’s smiling.  Recalling the lady bug era, one owner in Arizona painted twenty black dots on her shiny, new red Beetle.  How can we not smile in return?  Just looking at it makes one feel good.

         And VW has capitalized on those wonderful old ads with such a wry sense of humor.  One showed a Beetle next to a house with the caption “It makes your house look big.”  Modern ads for the Beetle use such slogans as “Less Flower.  More Power”;  “Hug it? Drive it?  Hug it?  Drive it?”;  “Comes with wonderful new features.  Like Heat.”; “Is it possible to go backward and forward at the same time?” or “If you sold your soul in the ‘80s, here’s your chance to buy it back.”  Humor and joy seem to be constant themes in reviews of the New Beetle and its advertising.

         Maybe in the end, it’s just all about youth.  Perhaps baby boomers like the New Beetle because it reminds them of their youth and helps them leap backwards to youth and bond with their children.  As Greg Stern of Santa Monica says “In 1967, my Dad got me a VW.  I loved it…I’m getting the New Beetle as a surprise for my daughter…”  And Jeff LaPlant, sales manager of VW of Santa Monica says, “I’ve never seen a car that had such a wide range of interest, from 16 year-olds to 65 year olds.”  The New Beetle—the intergenerational car for the new millenium.
 

Questions for Discussion

1.  What kind of needs might buyers for the New Beetle have?  Innate?  Acquired?
2.  What are the goals that they might be seeking to satisfy?
3.  What might purchase of a New Beetle indicate about a 50 year old boomer’s perception of him/herself?  Self image?
4.  What are rational motives for purchasing a New Beetle?  Emotional motives?  Which do you think are stronger?
5.  In the case, how was frustration over inability to achieve the goal of buying a New Beetle expressed?
6.  How might an individual rationalize inability to buy a New Beetle?  Use projection to deal with the frustration of not being
     able to buy a New Beetle?
7.  What kinds of needs do the New Beetle ads arouse?
8.  In Maslow’s hierarchy, the New Beetle arouses what category of needs?
9.  Is nostalgia strong enough to maintain sales of the New Beetle?  If yes, why?  If not, what would?
 

Source:  -----, “Beetlemania,” ADWEEK Eastern Edition, July 13, 1998, v39, n28, p24(1);