Background

One of Volkswagens main strategic objectives is to increase the perception of Volkswagen as an innovative brand in the volume market segment. In the area of new technology and innovations the premium brands traditionally are better positioned, but among the volume brands Volkswagen want to be the #1.

The launch of the new Passat was somewhat a challenge, as the design was not indicating this was a completely new car.

Advanced driving assist systems, though, are main features in the new Passat including Trailer Assist. The optional Trailer Assist steers automatically while the driver is still responsible for gear shifting, acceleration and braking.

In the post launch stage Volkswagen wanted to put more emphasis towards new technology by using Trailer Assist as an example of the new innovations the Passat offers.

The creative idea

The solution was to perform a stunt where we wanted to demonstrate an exceptional manoeuvring with a trailer in reverse at high speed.

In ordinary streets and along ordinary roads where the public should believe they observed a 100% real reverse driving with a trailer.

In order for the illusion to be absolutely realistic, we build a trailer around a car, which we stripped for the body. This way we allowed the “trailer” to reverse with a new Passat, giving the illusion that the Passat was reversing.

The trailer and the car were driven by stuntmen and everything was recorded on video, which gave us two films: One that shows the actual stunt and one behind-the-scenes film. Both produced primarily for the use on social media.

The strategy

In the Norwegian market the majority of family cars are sold with a trailer hitch. Passat estate is segment leader, and most of them are equipped with this device.

The target audience was adult men with a family and the need for a roomy car, which often also means from time to time a need of a trailer.

We also build on one basic insight:

Most people find it difficult to reverse with a trailer and hate to do it.

A system that will help them out will obviously create attention.

Since social media to a large degree is about entertainment, and surprising videos always create a large number of viewers and involvement we decided to move along that path.

This gave us the communication strategy and the idea for the campaign.

The results

The campaign reached the following results in a country with 5 million people:

• We created a Facebook reach of more than 63 million, of which 69% was organic

• The behind-the scenes film had 23 million views on Facebook

• More than 1.200.000 liked it

• 470.000 shared it

• 133.000 commented it

• We reached 2,1 million views on YouTube,

• The stunt was described in more than 250 online articles in more than 46 countries, with more than 396 million potential readers.