In the 90s, the UK loved Renault. The original Clio hit the market as a stylish, fun way to travel that really resonated with a generation of young women finding their independence. So much so, that sales increased for 7 straight years.

But now, just 2.1% of potential buyers would make Renault their first choice.

Awareness was still high, but we needed to reignite that lost brand love - not just with the generation who remembered Renault fondly from their youth, but with a new generation of car buyers.

Before 1991, the number of "Nicoles" born in the UK was so low it wasn’t even recorded.

Enter Renault’s iconic Papa & Nicole campaign and an icon appearing on screen that would become one of the first true influencers of the girl power decade. Suddenly, so many Nicoles were born that the name became one of the UK's most popular.

Those Nicoles are now grown up and living out their own stories: a living continuation of the original ad.

On Father's Day, to mark the launch of a new generation of Renault electric cars, we met these Nicoles and their Papas. Bringing the story of their own heartfelt father-daughter relationships to life to form a new chapter of the iconic campaign - 30 years on.

From overcoming illness to chasing a number one album, their ambition, passion and lust for life is proof Nicole’s irrepressible independent spirit lives on.

We needed to reach two audiences:

1. 40-somethings with the budget to buy a Megane and a driveway to park it in. TGI data told us they were more likely to be male, married, and have kids. So well-to-do dads were our sweet spot.

2. 20-30 year old women entering the car market. They couldn’t afford a Megane but were an audience the Renault brand needed for long-term survival.

TGI data told us these widely disparate generations had a few interests in common - but nothing that unlocked a big idea.

However, both had experienced the pandemic, an episode that triggered increased nostalgia across the nation (based on Google search data). And, according to YouGov's reporting, this nostalgia was rooted in a strong shared affection for the 90s - a decade both age groups adored. And Renault's heyday.

So we decided to revive a classic 90s Renault campaign.

In 2022, Britain was emerging from Covid. Nostalgia for better times was high. 90s culture was back in vogue.

And, after the long separation of lockdown, family was more important than ever. We'd seen searches for Father's Day surge in '20 and '21 - so the first post-Covid Father's Day was the perfect moment to revive Renault's much-loved 90s father-daughter epic.

Nicole: The Story Lives On. A new chapter in the long-enduring campaign. This one a moving portrait of modern fatherhood and female independence, told through the eyes of 3 real-life Nicoles, each a namesake of the original.

Launching on Father's Day to maximise the cultural relevance of the father-daughter dynamic, the film was seeded in social and promoted through targeted paid media partnerships.

Reach:

- Coverage in the Daily Mail (Britain's biggest daily), Telegraph and Guardian.

- 137M impressions

- 26M video views

Engagement:

- Completed video views across digital platforms were 1.6M above target, thanks to a completion rate of nearly 50%

- Completion rates on social were even higher, exceeding benchmarks by 80%, and helping us beat every benchmark on Cost Per View we had

Brand:

- Renault achieved its highest Fame and Popularity in two years (YouGov Ratings)

- Brand Preference grew 53%, 4x category norm for this kind of activity (Spotify Uplift study)

Business & Sales:

- Purchase consideration grew 52% over the course of the campaign (YouGov Survey)

- Renault sold an extra 4,069 units year on year during the key campaign period (June-August), an increase of 32%

- Renault's UK market share increased from 2.8% to 4.4% year on year during the campaign period (June-August)