#MARKiesAwards 2021 case study: Volkswagen SG humanises brand with creative take on KOL relations

Consumers today are increasingly concerned about brands being purposeful and supporting a cause. As such, brands always seek to ensure that their branding and marketing initiatives somehow bring purpose and give back to the community. Volkswagen Singapore wanted to find a way to stand out in a saturated automotive market, and decided to tap on the power of key opinion leaders to turn consumer perceptions around. However, the UNIFORM team knew it had to stay away from the well-trodden path of using KOLs to merely go for test drives and showcase the car's capabilities.

Hence, the team took it a step further by using KOLs to showcase how Volkswagen is giving back to the community, especially during these challenging times. Its #VWithPurpose campaign touched the hearts of judges and saw Volkswagen and UNIFORM walk away with the gold award for Most Creative - Influencers/KOLs at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's recent MARKies Awards 2021.

Challenge 

UNIFORM found that online chatter showed that people mostly associated Volkswagen with mechanical issues. To drive sales, the automotive brand had became increasingly reliant on a discount strategy, which UNIFORM felt hurt its brand image as well. With the discontinuation of the Beetle model in 2019, UNIFORM's research found that consumers were unsure what to associate Volkswagen with anymore. 

To make matters worse, Volkswagen Singapore began discussions for the project last May in the middle of the circuit breaker, while its showroom was closed to the public. The automotive brand was intent on launching its rebooted brand design which had been directed by its global headquarters. Its goal, Volkswagen said, was to partner with influencers and KOLs to communicate the new look and personality of the brand - more human, inviting, and inspiring. 

Nonetheless, it could not be blind to circumstances and the brand knew that relaunching a car brand in the midst of the pandemic would be tone-deaf. This was especially if everyday Singaporeans were struggling to get by as their livelihoods and jobs were affected. Hence, the team thought to itself: "How can Volkswagen give back to the community during this difficult time?" 

Strategy 

By empowering different communities and causes, Volkswagen's campaign aims to ground the brand as truly human-centric. As it dealt with the aftermath of COVID-19, Volkswagen worked with its agency UNIFORM to give back to the individuals and communities that have been doing good, and raise awareness about issues that were brought to light by the virus.  

Volkswagen had four specific car models that they wanted to use during this campaign - the Passat, Tiguan, Golf, and Touran - so the team also had to bear in mind that the cars should suit the chosen KOLs’ various needs and causes as well. 

The team eventually decided on these four areas:  

1. Art: Individuals have consumed much more creative content than ever before during the lockdown. Hence, Volkswagen decided it would be good to give back to the community. Artist Sam Lo was to use the spacious, sporty Tiguan to visit other artist studios, helping to transport bulky art materials where necessary. 

2. F&B: Hawker heroes Beng Who Cooks gave away free food during the CB. With its powerful engine, the Volkswagen Golf would come in handy for Jason and Zhen Long’s ongoing deliveries. 

3. Animal Welfare: With low funding already a prevalent problem, circuit breaker measures meant that volunteers could no longer help out. Thenugar Vijakumar, president of the Cat Welfare Society, would make use of the Touran’s van-like capacity to transport stray cats to and from their sterilisation appointments, and also to deliver orders of cat food to customers. 

4. Food security: With emptied-out supermarket shelves, there was a growth in interest in sustainable farming and living. Bjorn Tan, co-founder of Edible Garden City, and his team transformed the boot of the Passat into a mobile gardening station, which served both practical and educational purposes. It also used the Passat to deliver orders of their locally-grown fruits and vegetables. 

At the heart of it, the team wanted Volkswagen to be seen as open, honest, real, supporting the individuals it believes in, empowering communities, and changing perspectives through unseen stories. 

That said, Volkswagen wanted to do something out of the box instead of going down the beaten track by using KOLs or influencers to drive the new car model and share its features. According to the automotive brand, it wanted to use the campaign to truly collaborate with its KOLs and empower them to do good. 

Besides creating content for social media and the Volkswagen showroom, the KOLs were each loaned a car for three weeks for their own use. This was not only an expression of the KOLs' passion but also a means for them to reach out to and give back to their individual communities. Coupled with the stories told online, this engagement with KOLs would help Volkswagen create positive brand sentiment, revive brand interest, and show Volkswagen as human and inspirational. The intended media channels for the campaign were Instagram, Facebook, Volkswagen's showroom, and its campaign website. 

Execution 

1. Car designs:

For KOLs who did not have in-house design capabilities, UNIFORM designed the stickers that would embellish the cars that they drove. It took the essence of Beng Who Cooks and Cat Welfare Society, and translated it into designs for the Volkswagen Golf and Touran respectively. It also oversaw the designs of Sam Lo for the Volkswagen Tiguan, and Edible Garden City for the Volkswagen Passat. The idea was to create eye-catching looks for these otherwise ordinary Volkswagen cars, which create buzz on the roads as the KOLs and cars made their way around Singapore.

2. Teaser videos and Instagram Stories:

To communicate the new Volkswagen, the team created a series of teaser videos for the Volkswagen Instagram and Facebook pages. The two layers of the teaser artworks showed a transition from a surreal collage of seemingly random elements, to an easily recognisable secondary layer made up of snapshots of parts of everyday life. These comprised of different forms of purposes, interests, and passions, including the KOL pillars. 

The abstract and quirky form of the collage showed that the brand is all about unexpected, unconventional stories that will surprise you. Sounds from the environment heard in the collage and later in the lifestyle photo, gave way to the new brand sound. According to the team, this was a demonstration of how Volkswagen can be heard and experienced in all parts of life.

Instagram Story templates were also created for the KOLs to share on their Instagram pages, driving initial interest and engagement. Each KOL was also tasked to share work-in-progress teasers of the collaboration on their social media platforms.

3. Campaign photography and copywriting:

This campaign content was adapted into social media posts, branded content ads, and GoogleDiscovery advertisements by Volkswagen’s incumbent social media agency.

4. Informative posts:

Volkswagen and UNIFORM wanted a softer, human-centric approach to "selling" the cars. The KOLs were tasked to create aseries of Instagram Stories, showing how each car helped to empower their purpose, and it combinedtheir stories, behind-the-scenes shots from the campaign shoot, and quotes from the KOLs’ experience from driving the cars into a series of carousel posts that were published on Instagram and Facebook.

5. Showroom activations:

The final stage of the campaign was to drive traffic to the Volkswagen showroom, once it hadreopened. To do so, the KOLs took their causes off the streets and into the Volkswagen showroom.

Results 

Volkswagen received positive brand sentiments in the form of comments and online engagements. Although car sales contracted by more than a third last year due to the closure of showrooms and the suspension of CoE bidding, UNIFORM found that Volkswagen's sales, in relation to the top 11 car brands in Singapore increased from 2019 to 2020.

During the period of active social media posting for the campaign from 1 August to 1 October 2020, Volkswagen's Instagram grew by 248 followers, more than 80% higher than the growth in the previous two months. Audience engagement was also at its peak in 2020 for the same period.