- Steve Miller, Brandweek

DETROIT Struggling Volkswagen will harken back to its German roots as "the people's car" in its new ad campaign breaking next month.

The effort, tagged "It's what the people want," will star a talking 1964 Beetle named Max, according to dealers.

Max will tell consumers about the heritage of the German carmaker with the help of Heidi Klum, David Hasselhoff and other celebrities of German lineage. The campaign will be unveiled April 7 at a press conference in New York. Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, handles.

Max will be the voice of the brand, said Richard Fisher, chairman of the Volkswagen National Dealer Council. "He can speak about anything having to do with Volkswagen, about products or offers."

The campaign has been previewed for dealer bodies around the U.S. after a showing of rough creative during a dealer meeting in Orlando, Fla., in January.

In a TV spot to be launched in early May, Max will introduce Volkswagen's new Tiguan SUV to Americans. Klum and her husband, the singer Seal, already appear in ads for the Tiguan in Europe where it debuted last year.

The new Max campaign will be the first for Tim Ellis, VW's new vp of marketing who was hired in November to replace Kerri Martin.

The company, which is moving its U.S. base to northern Virginia next month, has seen a stream of departures in key ranks, losing nine upper-level employees in the past 20 months. Many in the marketing department are not being asked to make the move to Virginia.

VW, whose marque is 18th in terms of U.S. sales, has seen its sales plunge 32 percent in the last five years, per Autodata, Woodcliff Lake, N.J. The number of vehicles sold has fallen from 338,125 in 2002 to 230,572 last year.

VW is looking to recapture a little of the brand's magic from the past. The ad campaign recalls "the fun-to-drive idea that Volkswagen began with," said another dealer. "And Max will be the common thread for VW marketing going forward."

"They have managed to combine humor and dignity, and the two add up to credibility," Fisher said.

However, the heritage strategy can raise questions, said Gordon Wangers, an auto marketing consultant in San Diego. "The theme is based on Volkswagen's older days, and the only question is that since it's a brand that appeals to younger buyers, will the heritage message work? I'd bet the conversations in the boardroom were that the older drivers will remember and the younger consumers will think it's cool."

Volkswagen and Crispin declined to speak about the pending campaign, which sources said would also involve extensive driving events with the same heritage theme.

The new effort will be a switch from past campaigns that have been critically lauded but failures in terms of driving sales, including the ubiquitous "Safe happens" spots. The jarring ads included violent car crashes at unexpected moments.

The "It's what the people want" campaign will back Volkswagen's ambitious schedule this year. In addition to the Tiguan, VW plans to release a Passat CC sedan in September, a Routan minivan in the third quarter and a new Jetta diesel in the fourth quarter.

The marketing budget was not revealed. VW spent almost $185 million on U.S. media in 2007, down from $295 million in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.