The Campaign

We ascertained that people tend to gravitate toward those who share coinciding philosophies. Clever appreciates clever. There is an unspoken moment when no language is needed, yet people feel connected to each other, this is called “Coincidence”. Although ŠKODA was not a mainstream car brand in Taiwan, from ŠKODA driver clubs, we uncovered that ŠKODA motorists recognise each other’s superb automotive taste – often with a surreptitious nod. They are a special group who have commensurate taste in cars and truly understand ŠKODA’s refined characteristics. Meanwhile, we identified that ŠKODA’s “Simply Clever” tag-line created a fortuitous play on words with the Taiwanese word for dance. By using these commonalities, we were able to connect with our target audience and begin building long-term relationships. Instead of traditional claims that “Škoda stands out from all other cars”, we enabled consumers to stand out with the engaging idea of “Coincidence+Dance = CoinciDance”.

Creative Execution

We had 5 phases of viral video for our campaign: 1. Teaser (Nov.30): Leveraged the surprise video on Facebook before the flash mob. 2. Flash mob (Dec 2nd) Video (Dec 8th): Held in Taipei to capture the public’s interest. 3. ŠKODA MV (Dec 14th): Kept the excitement roaring with the music video and seamlessly sprinkled in ŠKODA driving scenes from emotive locations that Taiwanese instantly recognize. 4. Tutorial Video (Dec 21st): We reformatted for another burst of activity with the tutorial video. The four viral videos were posted strategically to amass awareness and create buzz on ŠKODA’s Facebook fanpage, attract video lovers on YouTube, and reach maximum netizens on the Yahoo homepage and it’s diverse channels. 5. Bonus Scene (Jan 4th): Shot at many iconic landmarks in Taiwan, and nestled in YouTube and Facebook, to garner audience attention.

“SKODA CoinciDance” swept across Taiwan. By tapping into a growing cultural phenomenon, we reached roughly 60% of the population and embedded ourselves as the brand of choice for car buyers. We surpassed all metrics for any previous brand campaign: 1. Triggered a jaw-dropping 23,600 comments in 4 weeks (averaged a comment every 90 seconds). 2. Won over 1/2 population views– leading to multiple YouTube awards. 3. Sales of ŠKODA Rapid Spaceback spiked with a four-fold leap, a new monthly sales record without significant increase in media investment. 4. Taiwanese instantly associate “CoinciDance” with ŠKODA –even trying to remake our video! 5. Earned media from 12 news channels in Taiwan and around the world, including ŠKODA’s home nation – Czech Republic. Interestingly, the video was quickly snapped up by every karaoke chain, one of Taiwan’s most popular and revered pastimes. Taiwanese now continue singing and dancing to the rhythm of SKODA!

Adeptly applying and integrating different digital media successfully drove the “CoinciDance” campaign. The launch times of our 5 viral videos were posted strategically, one by one to amass awareness of ŠKODA Taiwan’s Facebook fanpage and create buzz (Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Taiwan, it was critical to get this right to make sharing easier). Moreover, we placed the videos on YouTube to attract video lovers to continually watch the videos; on Yahoo’s homepage, the biggest portal site in Taiwan; and on its news, auto, entertainment and lifestyle channels to reach the maximum number of netizens.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Underpinning the “CoinciDance” concept, we channeled energy from the popular video “CoinciDance”, which was created by the Handsome YouTube duo from New York, “Chi Chi and Choo Choo”. In the 4th quarter of 2017, “CoinciDance” attracted many young Taiwanese and influencers to imitate and broadcast their own “CoinciDance” on Facebook, even though the pair had never visited Taiwan. Rectifying this, we invited the originators, Handsome Dancers, to Taiwan to leverage their eye catching and irresistible “shoulder-shaking dance” as the mechanism to engage our audience, spread ŠKODA’S electrifying brand image and rev up consumers’ hearts and minds. Since our video enjoyed the highest penetration among our audience in terms of their digital behavior, we adopted a series of video edits to ensure continuous interest, attention and excitement. It also served the purpose of seeding ŠKODA within the domestic automotive scene in a seamlessly natural way.