The GTI hijack is a media idea at its core as it took one of the most traditional channels, television, and turned it into an interactive live mobile racing event. Thanks to a highly collaborative relationship with media partners, we were able to guarantee the first ad spot in high profile commercial breaks that we knew our competitors would be in. Stealing their media money for ourselves with a significantly smaller budget. Transforming a 30 second ad into a 3-minute event was something never done before.

We were tasked with launching the latest model of the iconic Volkswagen Golf GTI. The situation was challenging to say the least. Not only did media data tell us that Australian car brands are the second biggest advertisers on TV, but our media budget was 14 times less than the segment leader. So, to stand out, we had to completely rethink how we behaved. The objective was to introduce the Golf GTI to Australia and generate test drives and leads, while framing the new model as an exciting, modern hot hatch.

In Australia, car brands are the second biggest advertisers on TV. So, to launch the new Golf GTI, we did something to make sure people saw ours - we hijacked the entire ad break and turned it into a live gaming platform. We purchased the first ad in prime-time ad breaks and, using a QR code, let people launch an in-browser racing game via their phones. Players raced live against everyone else watching, for the exact length of the ad break. This turned a 30-second ad into a 3-minute brand experience and made sure our ad was the only one people watched. The ad break races were so popular we even then started hijacking OOH, socials and pre rolls, to take eyeballs away from our competitors everywhere we could. Once the races were over, users could customise their GTI, practice on three custom tracks and even book a test drive.

The new Golf and Golf GTI were tech-heavy hot-hatches, which made the target audience primarily younger and tech-savvy. By embracing a gaming format, we were able to talk to this younger demographic, but by making the game an in-browser experience (thereby removing the need for app downloads) we made the barrier to entry incredibly low.

Our strategy relied on research that told us that due to an over-saturation of car ads in the market, consumers had grown more weary and less engaged. By buying the first spot in ad breaks and giving consumers a way to enhance the commercial break experience with their mobile phone, we were able to capture a much more engaged audience and make sure while they were playing our game, they also weren't watching our competitors ads.

Working with high-profile mobile gaming company ‘Art of Play’ we pushed the limits and capabilities of in-browser mobile gaming. Removing the barrier of requiring an app download, creating an in-browser game is significantly challenging, but we were able to develop three tracks as well as a customisable Golf GTI garage. The tracks were designed to be difficult enough that they would take most of a standard 3-minute commercial break to complete, but not so difficult that people would give up playing. The campaign received a major launch and we hacked 12 ad breaks, over a three-week period. The main event races ran during prime time during the ad breaks of Australia’s most popular shows. After the initial activation we then rolled out boredom busting OOH, social and print that ran on over 500 placements across transit, digital and social.

The GTI Hijack had a major impact on a budget 14 times less than the segment leader and that paled in comparison to our competitors. We received over 70,000 game sessions, and more than 90,000 visits to the campaign page which was a traffic increase of 97%. It clocked up a total of 5,000 hours of active game time, hijacking over 2.7 million dollars in media from other brands whose ads appeared in the same commercial break. We made a major impact on our brand perception, doubling brand metrics for both ‘inspiring’ and ‘exciting’. Dealer call backs went up 436%, stock enquiries went up 97%, and test drives went up 725%. Most importantly, sales of the Golf went up by 55% in our active campaign period, making it the most successful GTI launch ever.