The launch is one of the company's biggest since the introduction of its fourth-generation Golf in 1998. VW is supporting it with more than double the marketing spend for last year's Touran.
The new Golf will be available in the UK from the end of this month.
Marketing activity, which has been developed by VW head of marketing Andrew Coombe and ad agency DDB London, kicks off in the UK on January 26 with an outdoor burst. The ads feature a picture of the car with the strap-line '30 years in the making. The new Golf'. Press advertising will break at the end of the month.
The TV campaign breaks on February 8 and follows the career of a VW designer who has worked on the Golf since 1974. Online ads and direct marketing will support the above-the-line activity.
The Golf is being marketed across Europe. It has a distinctive profile and target market which varies by country. In the UK, the Golf competes in the lower-medium class as a direct rival to cars such as the Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus. But it generally appeals to a more fashion-conscious market than either Ford and Vauxhall.
VW hopes to sell 55,000 of the new Golf in the UK during 2004. VW sales in the UK this year are expected to total 174,000. Last year VW's sales grew by 0.02%, compared with market growth of 0.6%.
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