JETTA - SOUND DESIGN

TitleJETTA - SOUND DESIGN
BrandJETTA
Product / ServiceAUTOMOTIVE
CategoryG04. Sound Design
EntrantMETADESIGN CHINA LIMITED Beijing, CHINA
Idea Creation METADESIGN CHINA LIMITED Beijing, CHINA
Additional Company WHY DO BIRDS Berlin, GERMANY

Credits

Name Company Position
Sally Anderson MetaDesign China Limited Creative Director

Background

Born from Volkswagen. Built in China. JETTA helped put China on wheels 25 years ago. Today, the iconic car is reimagined as a sub-brand. Designed for China’s young millennials, JETTA opens the door to a more mobile way of living in some of the world’s busiest cities. As the largest automotive market in the world, China is a hugely crowded and competitive market. JETTA is designed specifically to provide affordable German design and engineering to compete with locally manufactured entry-level brands on a national level. With first time-buyers the primary audience, this is an important offering given the desire and perceived value for German car brands.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

While China has changed significantly in 25 years – JETTA’s purpose has not. The challenge lay in revitalizing the spirit of its pioneering days and reinventing JETTA with a younger personality, modern design language and attitude that appeals to the new generation on the channel where they spend most of their time – mobile. Facing highly product-driven competitors, JETTA needed to differentiate itself by creating an emotional and design-led brand which connected with millennials, their lifestyle and aspirations. The contemporary and bold design language needed to showcase the brand experience while clearly introducing the JETTA product family – VS3, VS5 and VS7.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

At the core of JETTA’s visual identity is a signature two-line graphic, which represents the brand’s “Proud Past, Bright Future”. This recognizes the model’s legacy and its transformation into a new sub-brand. The flexible supergraphic is integrated into a modular layout system that allows easy applications, no matter the format or channel. Further building on the visual appeal of JETTA is a people-centric image style that captures the authentic life moments. Backed by a bold color palette, the overall visual feel is energetic, optimistic and young. Finally, JETTA once more acts as a pioneer by bringing the brand beyond the visual with a new sound signature that is confident, dynamic and optimistic. Light, crisp tones capture the playful positivity of youth. Deeper, bassier notes evoke a sense of sure-footed confidence. Structurally, the sound follows JETTA’s “Proud Past, Bright Future” signature graphic, aurally building and opening towards the end.

List the results (20% of vote)

With a bold and energetic identity, the JETTA brand has been lifted from an iconic model into an exciting new brand – once more being poised to put the next generation of drivers on wheels. This not only provides the crowded Chinese auto market with a fresh alternative, but means drivers can enjoy reliable German engineering while also owning a car that feels modern. Since its unveiling, it has already began making waves in the Chinese auto market. During JETTA’s first 3 months of pre-sales for the VS5 model, orders exceeded expectations by 230%. In 2020 JETTA will officially launch the pre-sale for VS3 and VS7, which are expected to achieve similar success.