Background

Amarok with the new 3.0 V6 engine was launched in 2018 with low unaided awareness / vague image. In order to create a market buzz and huge awareness as well as convey the two key strengths of Amarok, the German originality and its powerful V6 engine, the strategy of adopting “Hollywood style movie trailer” is developed. 1. Hollywood movies, 75% of total box office in 2017 in Taiwan, are popular. 2. European cars are highly appreciated in Taiwan. So featuring an Amarok in this Hollywood trailer strengthens the western originality. 3. With impatient social media users, movie trailer is an attractive style of audiences’ retention. 4. Target audiences: males mid 30’s, therefore the genres of adventure, suspense and romance are decided. 5. One of the key messages: this inspiring journey not only exists in this movie trailer, but can be your adventurous life style, if you own an Amarok.

Describe the creative idea

It’s not only the "Hollywood type movie trailer". We still tell a complete story with a climax and a resolution. This film embodies a mix of “Suspense Thriller”, "Life Changing Road Trip", "Romantic Mystery", and "Adrenaline Rushing Car Commercial". The struggle and realization of the main character was illustrated, interweaving with other dramatic conflicts with his friend. Amarok means "wolf" in the Inuit language, and the wolf itself is known as mysterious, adventurous and powerful in Taiwan. In this film the wolf logo, shown on various occasions, symbolizes the unknown power that leads the main character to overcome the obstacles throughout the journey. Based on the navigation system of google map, on which the travelling time is indicated respectively. In this film, a special route / short cut for the Amarok (only Amarok can make it) is shown on the navigation system to emphasize the off-road capability of Amarok creatively.

Describe the strategy

Two tasks 1. Create a movie trailer that is as exciting and high quality as “Fast and Furious”, but without Vin Diesel, explosions and special effects? (with a restrained production budget of EUR 70,000.) 2. A duration of 3 minutes, to tell a full story with the main character’s struggle and realization as well as illustrate the off-road capability of Amarok. Various approaches: Narrative • Omniscient voiceover • Suspenseful and romantic plot as the hook • Sophisticatedly craft the dialogue to propel the plot and build up tension. • Character’s inner conflict, interweaved with car-driving scenes, to enhance the excitement and dramatic tension. Production • Casting: Hollywood star like actor and actress. • Cinematography: Drone shooting, constantly flowing camera movement and high contrast color tone are applied, and to divert the attention of the audience from those recognizable Taiwan scenery and landscapes. • Editing: fast-paced and synchronized with the score.

Describe the execution

In marketing communication, this film is packaged and promoted as the latest Hollywood movie trailer with a media investment of EUR58,000. Moreover, in Taiwan, Volkswagen and 21st century Fox movie company use exactly the same Chinese name, “福斯 Fu-Sih”. Therefore, in the beginning of the film, the subtitle shows “Proudly presents” by “福斯 Fu-Sih”, creating a subtle double meaning that further convinces audiences that this is a movie trailer from Hollywood. This film has its world premiere in the new Amarok national press launch event in Taiwan, where the leading actor and actress were also present on March 28th. This film, communicated as a new Hollywood movie trailer, was also launched on March 28th on Youtube and Facebook of VWCV Taiwan as well as the “Auto” and “Movie” channels on Yahoo, the biggest portal site in Taiwan.

List the results

The target audiences are males over the 30’s. This film completely surprised the audience, therefore went viral and became the talk of town instantaneously. Considering Taiwan’s population is only 23 million, within 3 weeks, this film has been viewed 4 million times in total on Facebook and Youtube in Taiwan. (which is equal to 17.3% of the population.) High engagement rates and extremely positive “Likes”, “Comments” and “Shares” were abundant. Most importantly, the overall feedback includes, 1. So exciting and inspiring that they want to buy Amarok after seeing this film. 2. Is this a real movie trailer with the Amarok placement? Or it’s a car commercial? The sales result of Amarok has significantly increased by 16% compared with the same period last year in a highly competitive market.