The challenge Volkswagen faced was to re-establish themselves as a performance-driven, fun-to-drive brand, as perceptions of VW as a performance brand had lagged in recent years. The re-launch of the 2019 Jetta GLI, with more horsepower and performance features, presented an opportunity to do just this.

The agency’s strategy centred on a core idea: that Volkswagen is the People’s Car. While most performance car companies use slick camerawork, exotic backgrounds, and elaborate CGI to prove their car’s driving dynamics and generate excitement, Volkswagen went the other way, choosing instead to bring the performance to the people.

The team brought the GLI to the small town of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, got a local Nascar driver to take a spin on the streets where she learned to drive, and let the people of the town shoot, curate, and even distribute the resulting content. The high-performance production model was flipped on its head. The team invited film students, VW fans, and local residents to bring their phones, GoPros, drones, or cameras to the town, using a combination of targeted CRM email deployments, geo-targeted social and digital ads, and a custom web portal for participants. As part of the PR-led media strategy, the team decided not to hire a traditional production company, instead partnering with Hoonigan Media Machine: a content-creation team known for nail-biting car stunts. After the campaign got traction, they offered to feature the brand on their show Tangents, a YouTube series with more than 2M regular viewers. Leading up to the shoot, people were even invited to help choose stunts and camera angles using social media surveys, fostering an emotional investment in the final outcome and demonstrating that Volkswagen was truly handing over power to the people.

The final story - as well as over 20 pieces of unique content - was stitched together with multiple shots taken by nearly one hundred people, showing Nascar driver Maryeve Dufault’s adrenaline-charged joyride through her hometown of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Since campaign launch, GLI sales made up 12% of all Jetta sales, compared to the target of 9% - more than 30% above plan. VW Canada YouTube subscribers increased by 18% in the first two weeks the campaign was live, with 400% higher social engagement than the category benchmark on pre-launch assets. The company also saw a 676% increase in organic reach linking VW to performance conversations, proving that sometimes, in order to go forward, you have to look back to your roots.