The parallels between the history of VW and their recent marketing strategies that rely on today’s music culture, including giving away free apple iPod’s, make a VW sponsored “Mali Bug” tour predictable.

Among many music driven commercials, Volkswagen returned for the second consecutive year of a three-year sponsorship as the exclusive automotive sponsor for Downloads and the V-dub Road to Download club-events (concerts in club venues interspersed between the Download Festival dates). VW hosted the V-dub Garage, an authentic garage-style environment where festival attendees can jam with supplied instruments and have their music digitally recorded and spotlighted on vw.com. Volkswagen also hosted an artist interaction stage where select Download bands extend to the fans a rare look into their lives on the road during free form Q & A sessions.

“The Volkswagen/Download music partnership is a logical extension to our history of supporting emerging musical artists,” said Keith Price, Public Relations Manager, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “The Download Festival is innovative in combining music with technology, and directly speaks to the people who buy Volkswagens”.

As the fourth leading automobile manufacturer in the world, Volkswagen has established a well-earned reputation for reaching its target audience through innovative, memorable marketing campaigns that capture its unique brand essence and now the “Mali Bug” will assist them in keeping up with their cutting edge rep.