#GiveHerTheQ3 was an unexpected cultural event that began on Twitter. Charlene, a Wheel of Fortune contestant, was denied an Audi Q3 due to a technicality in her answer. And when former Jeopardy! All-star Alex Jacob shared the episode clip on his Twitter account, the internet latched onto it. Audi stepped in to turn the moment into a viral, trending topic as the brand promised to give Charlene the car all of Twitter thought she had rightfully won.

On December 22, 2021, M/H came across a Wheel of Fortune episode clip that had created an unusual amount of Twitter conversation around Audi and its Q3 model. So when we saw that Charlene had been unfairly denied her prize, we began working with Audi’s customer service, marketing, and PR teams to find a way to right the situation.

The brief was simple: get Charlene the car, and let the Audi community know that they were responsible for making it happen. Allowing this moment to be community-led created more space natural brand joy.

We had to #GiveHerTheQ3. But a realtime creative response comes with challenges, and our biggest was solving for unknowns. The moment was unplanned, we didn’t have Charlene’s contact information, and we had to keep our community updated to inspire customer delight.

The first QRT, “You’re a winner in our eyes Charlene. Now, let’s get you a prize. Time to #GIveHerTheQ3.” was posted so community knew that we heard their outrage, and were there to help Charlene.

We also needed to tell our audience we found Charlene. So, a few hours later we quote tweeted: “There's no community like the Audi community. With your help, we tracked down Charlene! More to come as we help #GiveHerTheQ3.”

Finally, at the start of 2022 when we were able to deliver the car, we tweeted one final update - a photo of Charlene beaming next to her Q3.

Our strategy was rooted Kundenbegeisterung; an Audi philosophy about inspiring customer delight. On a platform where there's constant noise, brand messaging, and anxiety (hello, doom scrolling), Kundenbegeisterung can spark unexpected yet welcomed joy to the community.

Upon identifying the conversation on Twitter, we set up social listening feeds to monitor and engage with groundswell of reactive comments from Wheel of Fortune viewers. It became clear that if the gameshow wasn’t going to reward Charlene, it was on Audi to do so.

Stepping in wouldn’t be a win for only Charlene, it would be a win for an entire online community and fanbase. These fanatics won't hesitate to call out wrongdoings on Twitter, and are willing to become advocates when brands show up correctly.

We tapped into the conversation, engaged with fans, stoked excitement along the way, and turned a negative situation into an unforgettably positive one.

The entirety of the moment spanned across 30 days, with Charlene’s appearance on Wheel of Fortune on December 20th, 2021 being the point of ignition, and coming to a wrap on January 20th when she received her Q3. Key moments that developed between this window include:

December 21: former Jeopardy All-Star Alex Jacob tweeted his disapproval of Wheel of Fortune’s Decision

December 22: Audi customer service and community management identify the opportunity, and join the conversation as a result

December 23: Audi begins trending on Twitter across Travel and Automotive

December 23-25: widespread media coverage, including 835 national and international media placements. Audi amplified media coverage by whitelisting multiple publications on Twitter

#GiveHerTheQ3 was an unexpected, milestone moment for Audi and its agency partners. Our two initial tweets generated 47,000 engagements and over 7 million organic impressions. With the support of PR, Charlene’s story and Audi were mentioned in over 600 broadcast segments, generated over 1.4 billion earned impressions, and had 100% positive brand sentiment. The power of listening to your community can never be understated, and #GiveHerTheQ3 is proof of the wonders it works for a brand when done in an authentic, timely manner.