Cannes Lions
OGILVY CAPE TOWN, Cape Town / VOLKSWAGEN / 2010
Overview
Entries
Credits
Description
Volkswagen's Citi is a South African icon. It's the best selling car in our history and an irreplaceable part of our culture. So in 2009, when Volkswagen announced that the car was to be discontinued, it was heartbreaking news for everyone.
We were briefed to create a farewell campaign for the car.The idea: We took the last Citi ever made and set out on a journey around the whole country, so that everyone could say goodbye to the car and sign it - like a giant farewell card.
People followed the journey live from our website. We also opened social media pages so that people could say goodbye online.
And at the end of the trip, we parked the last Citi in the Volkswagen Museum, where it will stand forever, covered with goodbyes. We then turned the memories from our epic journey into a commercial for national television.
Execution
The campaign was launched with a website. The site went live 11 days before the road-trip began. The site linked to a variety of social media channels where people could say goodbye to Citi, watch videos, view photos and bid in a charity auction of the 3rd last Citi. During these 11 days, we built South Africa's excitement and gave people a chance to interact with the campaign.
Then, the road-trip began. For the next 11 days, we drove the last Citi around the country, and gave everyone a chance to sign it. The whole journey was tracked from our website - with daily videos from the road, photos and daily diary entries.
At the very end, we parked the last Citi in the Volkswagen Musuem, where it will stand forever, covered with goodbyes. We then took all the footage from the trip and made a commercial for national television.
Outcome
About 7000 people signed the car in 11 days on the road.
Over 10 000 said goodbye on social media.GoodbyeCiti became one of the fastest growing Facebook pages in SA history.
About 59 000 people followed the journey from our website.
R12.6 million in free publicity was generated.
Our campaign turned the last few 1000 Citi's into collector's items. They sold in record time.
The 3rd last Citi sold for almost 3 times it's market value in a charity auction from our website.
And, the client was happy.
VWSA's communications manager, Carrin Merkel said this: I would like to thank the Agency for the amazing GoodbyeCiti tour. The results speak for themselves. Thank you for delivering - and then some – a magical and once in a lifetime event that had everyone talking and wishing they had thought of it first!The end result is truly sensational.
Similar Campaigns
12 items