Super Bowl Commercials 2012: Volkswagen Outdoes Itself with Star Wars Dogs

Crafting a perfect Super Bowl commercial is not an easy thing to do, but the folks at Volkswagen came up with a nifty solution last year.

All they had to do was ask themselves a simple question: What's the only thing people love more than the Super Bowl?

Answer: Star Wars.

This thought process gave birth to this commercial:

There's no formal competition, but this commercial won the battle of Super Bowl commercials last year. In addition, it won the internet. The video has nearly 50 million views on YouTube, making it one of the most watched videos in YouTube history. It has a ways to go to catch up to all of Justin Bieber's music videos, but it's up there.

However, the question now is how long the little kid in the Darth Vader suit can stay ahead of the theme song-barking dogs:

This video hasn't been on YouTube for 10 days, and it's already approaching 10 millions views. By the time we actually get to the Super Bowl, this thing could already have over 20 million views. 

The funny part, though, is that this video is not Volkswagen's actual Super Bowl commercial. According to a report in The New York Times, it's merely a teaser meant to "stimulate interest" in the real commercial, which will apparently feature a dog going through a Star Wars-y adventure.

As you can tell, Volkswagen takes their Super Bowl commercials quite seriously.

To borrow and turn around one of Yoda's most famous lines, that is why they win.

I'm not about to go out and buy a Volkswagen, but you can't help but tip your cap to the strategy the company has developed. It's simple to the point of being lazy, yet totally brilliant at the same time.

All Volkswagen is doing is taking something people love (Star Wars) and pairing it with something everyone watches (Super Bowl). Those who have no love for either will love these ads because they're cute. Internet-goers will love them for all three reasons.

This formula gave the company the best Super Bowl ad campaign in 2011, and it's upping the ante in 2012. Volkswagen is going for a repeat.

Kinda makes you wonder what we're going to get in 2013. 

Maybe Volkswagen will boldly go where no Super Bowl commercial has gone before.