BYE BYE BEETLE

TitleBYE BYE BEETLE
BrandVOLKSWAGEN CHINA
Product / ServiceBEETLE
CategoryA05. Automotive
EntrantPHD Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation PHD Shanghai, CHINA
Media Placement PHD Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Cindy Xu PHD China General Manager
Delinda Pu PHD China Media Planning Director
Ray Li PHD China Media Planning Manager
Tiffany Liu Senior Media Planner tiffany.liu@phdmedia.com

Why is this work relevant for Media?

This campaign shows the effectiveness in reaching young people not only by using their preferred platforms and their social language but also the power of creating an authentic, emotional connection in telling a brand’s story, and how it can directly translate into favourability with the brand.

Background

After 81 years of building Bugs, Volkswagen announced that it was finally retiring its Beetle model in June of 2019. Much like in other parts of the world, in China, the Beetle model has long been seen as a classic, stylish car, but not necessarily the most functional or investment-worthy. For VW’s China launch of this final edition, we needed to convince those already curious about the Beetle, turning it from an item on their wish-list to a must-have. At the same time, we wanted to find a unique and memorable way for Beetle to say a final farewell to its fans.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

To effectively launch this last edition in China, we needed to use nostalgia to make our target audience (young females aged 20-40 years old) realise Beetle was essential to their lifestyle and that this was their last chance to purchase it. To properly reach those potentially interested in Beetle and evoke their personal experience with the car, we leveraged the popular Strawberry Music Festival for on-target communications. Created by China’s biggest indie label, Modern Sky, the festival includes three days of indie, dance, rock and electro music across different cities to reach music fans everywhere. Just as the original Bug was driven to the first-ever music festivals like Woodstock, this music festival was the perfect venue for a vehicle that’s long been a symbol of freedom, fun, and counter-cultural cool.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

By utilizing young people’s language, we aimed to impact the target audience in an immersive musical party and further activate their demands with celebrity endorsement and a special goodbye song to truly put the ‘beat’ in Beetle. To reach our target audience from all angles, we planned a series of online-to-offline activations to build hype around the launch. Using Modern Sky’s resources, we invited popular rapper Tizzy T to create a tailor-made song (“The First Time I Saw You”) and shoot an exclusive music video with Beetle to further engage with the target audience and enhance the emotional connection. The nostalgic video tells the story of a little girl coming of age and shows the Beetle there for all her important life moments.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The video was released on top social media platform Weibo and the song on QQ Music (Spotify equivalent) as well as into a specially-made H5 page to create excitement leading up to the launch. At Shanghai, Changsha and Xi’an’s Strawberry Music Festivals, exclusive brand zones were built on-site, with live dance performances and Tizzy T himself attending, providing an ideal opportunity for the target audience to interact with Beetle. Visitors to the zones were also allowed to pre-register to purchase the car, ensuring they could be one of the last to drive away with the final edition. Additionally, we used Modern Sky’s official app to display ads, amplifying exposure and reinforcing the farewell message from Beetle.

List the results (30% of vote)

Across all the co-activations, the campaign reached a total of 22 million people. Tizzy T and Modern Sky’s posting of the music video on their official Weibo accounts saw 17 million Weibo page views and 59K likes in less than two months’ time, increasing user-generated content to be used in social material and further creating social buzz, resulting in the overall Weibo index of Beetle experiencing a 770% increase. Importantly, the comments on the video were primarily from females—correctly matching the target audience—and showed that the song touched fans, with users spontaneously sharing their own personal stories and memories of the Beetle. With 220,00 visitors to the music festivals, there was ample opportunity to interact with the brand, and all the visitors to the brand zones and the pre-registrations for the car proved that China was ready to join Beetle on its final road trip.