Volkswagen continues its legacy of award-winning adverts

Volkswagen’s advertising campaigns are still delivering silverware after more than half a century of innovation

• Volkswagen’s memorable and sometimes quirky adverts date back to the 1950s
• Latest YourVolkswagen campaign features real customers and their stories
• YourVolkswagen success has been honoured with a prestigious IPA award

Milton Keynes – Volkswagen has been producing innovative and award-winning advertising campaigns for more than half a century, and that legacy is continuing with a major honour from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

Volkswagen’s memorable and sometimes quirky adverts date all the way back to the 1950s, when the ‘Think Small’ Beetle campaign used self-deprecating humour to turn the car’s small size into an asset. That has continued right up to the present day, via campaigns such as ‘Singin' in the Rain’ in 2005, to promote the Golf GTI, and 2011’s ‘Force’ Darth Vader advert for the Passat, which became one of the most-watched Super Bowl TV commercial spots of all time.

That legacy is continuing now with the carmaker’s YourVolkswagen marketing campaign, which has been honoured with a prestigious Silver Effectiveness Award from the IPA.

The campaign – developed with Bernbach – turned the spotlight away from products and offers and instead shone a light on genuine Volkswagen customers and their heart-warming stories. These real Volkswagen drivers became the stars of advertising, social media, retailer communications and customer engagement – and the car-buying public loved it.

The results speak for themselves. By focusing on people, trust and real-world experiences, Volkswagen’s likeability and trust scores climbed to an all-time high in the UK. Social media sentiment also improved, with more than three times the usual level of positivity, and some of the stars of the YourVolkswagen campaign – such as Luke, the owner of an original Herbie Love Bug – went on to be featured in mainstream media.

“Thank you to everyone at the IPA for this huge honour, which the team and I are incredibly proud of,” said Sarah Cox-Thornley, Head of Marketing at Volkswagen UK, after the Silver Effectiveness Award was announced. “Right from the beginning, the YourVolkswagen campaign has been all about authenticity. The name Volkswagen translates from German as ‘the people’s car’, so it was important for us to feature genuine customers – and that has clearly hit the right note with the general public.

“The brand has owners’ clubs up and down the UK, an unbelievably passionate online social media community, and people from all walks of life drive and love Volkswagen cars. By leaning into this trust, familiarity and heritage – rather than focusing just on products and offers – we have been able to highlight what makes Volkswagen different to so many other brands and car manufacturers.”

About the IPA Effectiveness awards
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is the UK’s professional body for advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. Founded in 1917, it represents much of the UK advertising industry and runs some of the sector’s most respected awards programmes.

The IPA Effectiveness Awards are often regarded as the advertising industry’s ‘gold standard’ because they focus on proving commercial results, not just creative excellence.

“The IPA Effectiveness Awards set the benchmark for our industry, recognising the world’s best creative and the real-world difference it makes,” said Sam Lecoeur, Chief Client Officer at Bernbach. “YourVolkswagen put customers and their stories at the heart of the campaign and its success proves the value of putting feeling first. We couldn’t be prouder of the recognition and enduring partnership with the brilliant team at Volkswagen.”

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About the Volkswagen brand:
A total of 178,607 new Volkswagen passenger vehicles were registered in the UK in 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This equated to a market share of 8.84 per cent – ahead of the brand’s market share in 2024 (8.52 per cent) – and made Volkswagen the UK’s best-selling new-car brand for the fifth year running. The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand has a global presence, producing vehicles at 28 locations in 12 countries, and employs 170,000 people. In 2025, Volkswagen delivered around 4.7 million vehicles worldwide. These included bestsellers such as the Polo, T-Roc, T-Cross, Golf, Tiguan and Passat, as well as the successful all-electric ID. models. Volkswagen handed over about 382,000 all-electric vehicles to customers worldwide in 2025 and, with its BOOST 2030 strategy, it is consistently driving forward its development into the most desirable brand for sustainable mobility.