For most of our lives, or at least the portion that we've known about Brooke Shields, we've found ourselves in what we assume to be a minority: We didn't like her. The Calvin Klein ads, that naked-on-an-island movie, Suddenly Susan. She kind of pissed us off with all that. Then came Lipstick Jungle, and we repented for our sins, finding the version of Ms. Shields that we can actually adore. And now, a new reason to pine for her cheekbones: Her very fat deal with Volkswagon.

Shields is starring in a new series of TV spots to push VW's latest offering, the Routan minivan. And they've gone the very clever route! Funny ads in a time of declining car sales and a recession. This we love! The premise: Shields accuses parents of having children just so they can get away with buying a new Routan, or "to put German engineering in your driveway." Shields counts off the ridiculous lengths Americans are going to: With IVF, adoption, and "even reverse visectomies, more and more people are having babies simply for the love of German engineering." They're calling it the "Routan Baby Boom." We call it: Advertising Love.

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Parking your car sure can be hard. Even if you have a license and have done it before!

Getting the word out about a nifty feature on one of your cars can also be tad bit difficult. Because people are inundated with THREE HUNDRED MILLION marketing messages a day!

So Volkswagon – or so their "guerilla" video clip would have you believe – went around a parking lot in Brazil and applied stickers to all the cars sporting dents, dings, scratches, and scuffs, alerting them to a standard feature on the VW Polo: the parking sensor.

It's the most basic marketing pitch in the history of all marketing: You've got a problem, we've got a solution. And also, if you want those stickers removed properly without leaving that crappy film when you rip them off, you should head to your local VW dealership, 'cause they're probably the only ones who are going to be able to do that for you.

"Last month, VW unveiled a key element in the buzz-building campaign, a 3,685-square-foot interactive billboard in New York's Times Square. It pictures the bug parked behind his microphone, alongside the headline 'The people want their voice to be heard.' VW is the first brand to utilize the interactive technology of the ABC SuperSign, which allows a two-way dialogue with passersby via SMS. Using their cell phones, pedestrians text their yes or no responses to the poll questions appearing on the sign, and through WAP technology, their texted votes are recorded live on a news ticker.

"After any poll reaches 1,000 votes, the results are displayed via Web banners using advanced keyword tagging to match up relevant content. For example, an ad on an article page about the Democratic primaries uses keyword targeting to ensure the most relevant user-generated statement is displayed. The polling questions range from philosophical queries such as 'Do you want to live forever?' to the topical such as 'Do you want to know the truth behind gas prices?'" [Adweek]