Unfail
Volkswagen
Issue 51 | June 2019
Agency
DDB Sydney
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Ben Welsh Executive Creative Director Tara Ford Creative Partner Vince Osmond Creative Partner Jade Manning Senior Creative Tommy Cehak Creative Jared Wicker
Production Team
Head of Integrated Content Sevda Cemo Producer Sam Harris Production Company Riot Director Matt Weston
Other Credits
Managing Partner Mandy Whatson Business Director Oliver Gould Senior Business Manager Alexandra Lawton Clients General Manager Marketing Ben Wilks Marketing Communications Manager Rowena Kanna Brand Communications Specialist Hayley Phillips
Date
June 2018
Background
The Volkswagen Polo was a car tailored for young, urban Aussies. Its biggest selling point was its safety technology. But there was one big problem. For this generation, safety wasn’t actually a selling point. Not even close. In fact, they would rather catch an Uber than even deal with a car. The task was to make a car packed with safety feel directly relevant and appealing to younger car buyers.
Idea
The Volkswagen Polo is packed with safety tech, which, while it may not be exciting, does help drivers fail less.
The idea was to find a way into their social feeds by creating a fail video, with a twist.
There was no fail. Instead, Volkswagen safety tech saved the day.
An unbranded version of the video was leaked online to the viral sites and meme pages the target market loved.
Then, everyone sat back and let it do its thing in the viral universe.
The views racked up immediately across dozens of websites, on YouTube and in TV shows.
Remarketing tools then allowed promising leads who had viewed the video to be shown a branded version in their Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat feeds.
Results
The result was 147.6 million views (and rising), with $17.8 million in earned media, leading to a record 11.8% increase in market share, smashing the intended business goals. A targeted brand-lift study also revealed a 5.3% lift in awareness, a 4.2% increase in safety association and a 5.9% increase in affinity and brand perception. The campaign even increased unique visitors to the Volkswagen homepage, with a 9.4% lift.
Our Thoughts
Per Pedersen is the Chairman and creative panjandrum of Grey Worldwide. At D&AD in May he told his audience that one of the new rules of advertising is that it shouldn’t look or feel like advertising. This is a perfect example of what he means. Anything that identifies itself as a commercial will get skipped or zapped. It means that today’s creatives need to think like YouTubers and publishers themselves if they want to get through to Gen Y. And clients need to release the handbrake. Because the only way you can get the internet to take notice is by being amazing.
Full credit to agency and client for cracking it.