As a campaign component and reach/frequency driver, this widget comes so close to hitting the mark, it's scary. Rolling off the current "V-dub" campaign aimed at a younger audience, the VW team clearly understands that half a widget's worth is in design, and the other is in user-focused utility.

It really only does two things: show you the Rabbit logo and display free events in a particular large city from Yahoo's upcoming.org. After all, when you're young, hip and broke, you want to find something free to drive to.

The application

• This widget is a Web 2.0 purist's dream come true: a big brand spending to develop technology that provides user-generated content in a convenient, usable, accessible format. There's no corporate call to action. No link to a VW site.
  
• VW is confident that after looking at this Rabbit logo a few times every day, widget users will naturally remember it when the time comes to buy.

• There's no corporate call to action? Providing a small text link, even a ZIP code entry to find a nearby dealership, wouldn't be a widget-killer. This BDA is so user-focused, VW has earned itself a little self-serving real estate. Users would feel fine about it, and VW would get a few hundred-thousand deeper exposures, seemingly tossed away.
  
• While the Rabbit logo is cool, I had to think for a moment on it. How does it relate to VW? Did they put this on the front of the car instead of the familiar V-dub they want young drivers to know so well? Anytime a user has to stop and think, they're not using the app anymore.

• Utility = awareness. When it's a utility or convenience first and brand second, everyone wins. Your audience gets a valuable feature that makes their lives easier, while you get persistent desktop real estate and real-time, actionable communication. Oh, and around 30 views per week.
  
• What are your customers' habits? What needs do you fill that can be extended as a utility? You already do a lot of this work to understand an audience's relationship to your brand. Look at it again, and think about the ways they use the computer to achieve everyday tasks related to your brand. There's your BDA.