FLUBBER CAR

TitleFLUBBER CAR
BrandVOLKSWAGEN
Product / ServicePEOPLE'S CAR PROJECT
CategoryA01. Corporate Identity Schemes
EntrantPROXIMITY CHINA Beijing, CHINA
Entrant Company:PROXIMITY CHINA Beijing, CHINA
Design/Advertising Agency:PROXIMITY CHINA Beijing, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Georg Warga Goodstein & Partners / Proximity China ECD
Niko Tziopanos weareflink CD
Daryl Villanueva/Felipe Ferreira Proximity China CD

Brief Explanation

To deliver the People’s Car Project we needed an iconic device that would be instantly recognizable, both as a Volkswagen initiative and in it’s own right. The device needed to deliver the following values: Engaging – Something people want to touch and to change. Playful – Fun, loaded with personality, but not childish. Branded – Proudly powered by Volkswagen Iconic – Celebrating the heritage of the beetle as the original people’s car. Unique – A design people could personalize, customize and make their own.

The Brief

Volkswagen has always built cars for the people. Their brand name in both German and Chinese literally means the ‘People’s Car’. Today in China, Volkswagen faces increased competition and falling market share. To counter these challenges they decided to change not only their advertising but also their products. Instead of building cars for the people, Volkswagen would start building cars with the people. We called it: ‘The People’s Car Project.’ – a long term social CRM and co-creation program to generate consumer dialog and re-invent how cars are ideated, designed and built.

How the final design was conceived

We created the ‘Flubber Car’ - a unique 3D visual that morphs according to the ideas of consumers and activated it uniquely across multiple channels: • Web Films arrested people’s attention by introducing Flubber car personalities. • Stunts made the virtual real by bringing life-size Flubber cars into local neighborhoods. • Events put Flubber cars into people’s hands via augmented reality, interactive kiosks and physical models. • Online Platform enabled people to design and customize Flubber cars with their own ideas. • TV, OOH, Print brought the Flubber car to the masses and sparking broad awareness. • Mobile Apps enabled Flubber cars to travel anywhere.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

We launched on May 19, 2011 and achieved the following results in only 10 weeks: Innovation & Brand Metrics I* • Increased Brand Innovation by 18%. • Increased Brand Advocacy by 22%. • Highest Share of Voice Of Any Auto Brand in Social Media. • PR coverage of 789 clippings valued at 8,017,317 USD. Channel Metrics** • Weibo - 263,040 Followers. • Viral Films – 3,258,979 Views. • Web Videos – 3,458,133 Views. • SNS (Combined with VW) – 2,944,360 Fans. • Guerrilla Stunts – 7,462,752 Weibo Views. • Online Advertising – 19,622,710 Clicks.