Tom from Volkswagen delivers the tough sell in brand new content campaign via DDB Sydney
This week Volkswagen has launched a content campaign via Facebook to support the iconic Golf in Australia. In a response to the changing media landscape this is the first time Volkswagen has invested entirely in digital channels to deliver their brand message.
It is a collaborative effort from DDB Sydney, Mediacom, Facebook and Robber’s Dog Films that has resulted in a video series set in the Australian Outback, where ‘Tom from Volkswagen’ is trying to sell the innovative Golf to a group of skeptical locals. He’s a fish-out-of-water in the remote town of Blinman in the South Australian Flinders Ranges but his persistence and belief in the product slowly wins over the locals.
Says Toby Talbot, chief creative officer, DDB Sydney: “In a world where a four-week TV investment will buy you a six-month video presence on Facebook, it’s clear we need to change the way we do things, look for new opportunities and think about campaigns in different ways.
“A traditional TV campaign wasn’t going to give us the freedom to explain the Volkswagen Golf’s advanced technology properly while also allowing us to target specific audiences, as we are able to do with Facebook. Ultimately, this will help us both educate and entertain our audience over many months to come.
“From a creative point of view we needed an idea that not only demonstrated the specific innovations but did it in a way that was entertaining and sticky. We decided to take the Golf to an environment (and people) that it would rarely be found in to see if it could impress even them. We challenged our hero to sell one of the most advanced city cars in one of Australia’s most remote towns to a cynical audience. We called it the ‘Tough Sell’.”
Says Ben Wilks, general manager of marketing, Volkwagen: “The aim was to tell the Golf’s technology story in more detail. We wanted to respond to our shifting audience. The key has been collaboration; we didn’t separate conversations about message, media and channel. The result was a greater focus on effectiveness in our first all-digital brand campaign.”
Says Sean Pattison, group director, Mediacom: “It was extremely refreshing to work on this campaign. The evolution of the strategy was a joint effort and we were able to work closely with Facebook and YouTube to deliver an innovative and highly targeted campaign that will not only be highly entertaining, but highly effective.”
DDB and Robber’s Dog produced content for the five-month campaign for distribution through Facebook and other video channels.
Says Wade Kuhn, creative strategist, Facebook: “This campaign is a great example of a brand that understands the true potential of Facebook as a video platform. The collaborative spirit of all the agency partners has meant we could bring our platform expertise to a process that has produced some fantastic creative work.”
Says Sam Peacocke, director, Robber’s Dog: “The fact the films will exist solely within a social media space meant some traditional TVC narrative norms no longer made sense. Online, a film lives or dies within the first three-seconds. It was an interesting challenge; engage the viewer, set a tone and not give away the story in such a short amount of time.”
Client – Volkswagen Australia
General Manager Marketing – Ben Wilks
Brand Communications Manager – Peter Stewart
Sponsorship Specialist – Peter Watkins
Creative agency – DDB Sydney
Chief Creative Officer – Toby Talbot
Creative Director – Cam Hoelter
Senior Copywriter – Matt Chandler
Senior Art Director – Ben Pearce
Managing Partner – Amanda Wheeler
Strategy Director – Sam Payne
Senior Producer – Caroline David
Producer – Harriet Burton Taylor
Content Director/Editor – Robert Crispe
Business Director – Carla Hizon
Creative Technology Director – Shaun O’Connor
Production – Robber’s Dog
Director – Sam Peacocke
Executive Producers – Loren Bradley and Mark Foster
Managing Director – George Mackenzie
Post – The Editors
Editor – David Whittaker
Post Producer – Nicoletta Rousianos
Colourist – Billy Wychgel
Sound – We Love Jam
Music Composition – Hylton Mowday
Sound Design/Managing Partner – Andrew Stevenson
Creative Strategist – Wade Kuhn
Mediacom
Group Director – Sean Pattison
Digital Manager – Victoria Brennan
9 Comments
Wow.
I can’t believe this is what advertising for one of the best brands in the world has come to.
Everyone pack your bags…
Nothing soft gets in.
Behind the scenes: http://tmblr.co/Zdsfak1kJBJtc
i love the fact that they’ve taken a harder path here. Literally. Well done DDB. Ignore the sad sacks who expect more of the same old 30 second ‘ads’. This is actually fresh and brave and not just because it’s only running on Facebook either. Although the context of that helps heaps.
For what it’s worth I think some of those are nice, but 7.27 how are they conceptually anything like nothing soft gets in?
Having dealt with VW and DDB in the past I bet these were produced with the same budget as a 30 second TV spot.
This should be very very funny. But Isn’t. Why is that? I don’t believe any of this. And it should be. Style over substance.
Rubbish. Seen it before and better before.
Yeah I’m not sure that these pseudo documentaries cut the content mustard. Clems tried it recently for Origin with a couple driving around Australia and I just don’t who in their right minds would watch this stuff unless it was forced on them by a huge online media buy. It’s branded entertainment but the pendulum is so far towards ‘brand’ that it never had a hope of being entertaining.