Volkswagen sunk to new advertising depths for Shark Week, a beloved Discovery Channel yearly institution, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last week.
Volkswagen’s Great White advertising hope took the shape of an underwater drive-able VW Beetle, which revs around the ocean floor, chasing sharks, and getting some incredible footage in the process. Open Waters meets open-topped classic, if you will.
The Beetle is something of a cross between a shark cage (albeit not a particularly safe-looking one) and James Bond’s dream, made from tubular aluminum, with alloy wheels, propellers, and an inbuilt air system that allows the driver (diver?) to plug into before taking it for a spin, under the surf.
Engineered from the ground up, using blueprints for the actual VW Beetle, the Volkswagen team and marine biologist Luke Tipple said the car took approximately three weeks to build and is only about an inch off the above-water version.
The car was featured in a three-part short-form series aired during Shark Week, where viewers got a chance to check out the design process, the construction, and eventual submersion of the Beetle.
Marketing ploy or not, this is a pretty cool reinterpretation of the iconic Beetle applied to a shark cage. Not sure I see the value of racing around chasing sharks under ground, but then again, Shark Week is one popular show.
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