First thing to be aware of is that this is all part of a huge marketing campaign by Volkswagen of America, but don’t let that put you off, it’s not in the least bit self-promotional or corporate, in fact it’s rather silly and all the better for it.

The first rule of any good social media campaign is to make the audience your focal point and Volkswagen have a track-record of doing this better than most. We (in our Drivers Republic guise) had a great time working with VW and other agencies in launching the MK6 Golf GTI using a driving competition that whilst not on a par with Nissan/Playstation’s GT Academy was nevertheless engaging and addictive for millions of enthusiasts. VW’s TankWars site challenges VW TDI drivers to produce a world record mileage score and has been an excellent tool for raising awareness as VW introduces more diesel-powered cars to the American marketplace.

PunchDub however is perhaps their most ambitious project to date. It began with a $6 million TV spot during the 2010 Super Bowl weekend, part of an integrated campaign to introduce a new game called ‘PunchDub’. This is a reworking of the classic kids travel game Punch Buggy (or Slug Bug), which is essentially a play-fight version of ‘Eye-Spy’ that entitles anyone who spots a VW Beetle to call out ‘punch buggy’ before dealing their unsuspecting fellow passenger a punch in the arm…

Volkswagen’s new ‘PunchDub’ game extends the rules to all models in the range, with each model having its own special style of punch to qualify for a subsequent points score.

You can read all the intricacies of the rule-book in a 23-page electronic guide on Volkswagen’s website, which explains how to deal virtual punches to your friends via Facebook Connect and the prizes available for the most successful players of the game.

The Machine Gun: continue punching rapidly until your pal moves away. Goes best with the Golf GTI

Another technique used by Volkswagen to foster engagement is the leaderboard on the PunchDub site, this shows the total number of punches recorded (273,303 as of 30-03-2010), most punches by a user and top vehicles which in case you’re interested ranks as follows;

1. Passat CC (42,823)
2. Golf GTI (36,510)
3. New Beetle Convertible (29,589)
4. Eos (25,068)
5. New Beetle (25,010)
6. Tiguan (23,706)
7. Touareg (23,464)
8. Jetta (23,372)
9. Routan Minivan (19,996)
10. Golf (16,702)

Now, getting back to those 8 videos that are currently available in the PunchDub series. The series kicks off with a short mockumentary starring a character called ‘Sluggy Patterson’ who allegedly started the PunchDub pastime 50 years ago.

There are even some similarities between this make-believe character and the likeable ‘Aleksandr Orlov’ from those Compare the Meerkat adverts on UK television, with a Blog and Twitter feed capturing the activities of Sluggy and his surly outlook on life.

Comedian Tracy Morgan and soul legend Stevie Wonder star in VW

Volkswagen are hoping to create a genuine phenomenon that will outlast the campaign and introduce many new customers to the brand. So has it worked? Well let’s introduce you to the current series of videos and then let you decide…

User views are just one measure of a campaign’s success, another relevant outcome would be evidence of user-generated videos of which there are few – although several VW dealers have created a few.

Nearly 3,400 people are following Sluggy Patterson’s twitter feed which is being updated regularly and there are daily retweets and conversations on both Twitter and Facebook, so in terms of awareness and user engagement we’d judge this campaign as a success, although perhaps the high-volume of videos and fictional theme may have confused a few people.

Take a look for yourself at Volkswagen’s Channel on SkiddPlayer, they’re well executed, humorous and a good example of the type of social media campaign you can expect to see more of in future.

*Source: YouTube/SkiddPlayer as of 30th March 2010

The spoof advert was shown before the 9pm watershed and resulted in 50 viewers complaining to the broadcast and communications regulator, stating that it was too graphic and unsuitable for the time it was broadcast.

Ofcom has ruled that the episode broke broadcasting rules since there was no information before the spoof advertisement which would have prepared viewers for its potentially disturbing nature and alerted adult viewers to the fact that it may be unsuitable for younger viewers.

Top Gear will return to BBC Two this Sunday, but the start time has been put back to 9pm to avoid clashing with ITV’s X Factor show. Conveniently this now places it after the watershed, so expect more antics despite the Ofcom ruling.

Incidentally, viewers also complained about the use of the word ‘pikey’ in another Top Gear episode but this was found not have breached broadcasting rules…

VW Scirocco – First Drive Video