Campaign: Volkswagen’s Tough Sell Of Its Golf

This week Volkswagen has launched a content campaign via Facebook to support the iconic Golf in Australia.

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.

DDB Sydney Chief Creative Officer, Toby Talbot, commented, “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’.”

Ben Wilks, Volkswagen’s general manager of marketing added: “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.”

DDB and Robber’s Dog produced content for the five-month campaign for distribution through Facebook and other video channels.

“This campaign is a great example of a brand that understands the true potential of Facebook as a video platform,” said Wade Kuhn, creative strategist, Facebook. “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.”

See the video series here:

http://volkswagenaustralia.com.au/thetoughsell/

Credits

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

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

Facebook

Creative Strategist – Wade Kuhn

Mediacom

Group Director – Sean Pattison

Digital Manager – Victoria Brennan

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