DDB Sydney Proves It's Quite Difficult To Sell a VW Golf In The Outback

This week Volkswagen has launched a content campaign via Facebook to support the iconic Golf in Australia. In a response to the changing media landscape this is the first time Volkswagen has invested entirely in digital channels to deliver their brand message.

It is a collaborative effort from DDB Sydney, Mediacom, Facebook and Robber’s Dog Films that has resulted in a video series set in the Australian Outback, where ‘Tom from Volkswagen’ is trying to sell the innovative Golf to a group of skeptical locals. He’s a fish-out-of-water in the remote town of Blinman in the South Australian Flinders Ranges but his persistence and belief in the product slowly wins over the locals.

DDB Sydney Chief Creative Officer, Toby Talbot, comments, “In a world where a four-week TV investment will buy you a six-month video presence on Facebook, it’s clear we need to change the way we do things, look for new opportunities and think about campaigns in different ways.”

“A traditional TV campaign wasn't going to give us the freedom to explain the Volkswagen Golf’s advanced technology properly while also allowing us to target specific audiences, as we are able to do with Facebook. Ultimately, this will help us both educate and entertain our audience over many months to come.”

“From a creative point of view we needed an idea that not only demonstrated the specific innovations but did it in a way that was entertaining and sticky. We decided to take the Golf to an environment (and people) that it would rarely be found in to see if it could impress even them. We challenged our hero to sell one of the most advanced city cars in one of Australia's most remote towns to a cynical audience. We called it the 'Tough Sell’,” concludes Talbot.

“The aim was to tell the Golf’s technology story in more detail," said Ben Wilks, Volkswagen’s General Manager of Marketing. "We wanted to respond to our shifting audience. The key has been collaboration; we didn’t separate conversations about message, media and channel. The result was a greater focus on effectiveness in our first all-digital brand campaign.”

“It was extremely refreshing to work on this campaign,” said Sean Pattison, Group Director, Mediacom. “The evolution of the strategy was a joint effort and we were able to work closely with Facebook and YouTube to deliver an innovative and highly targeted campaign that will not only be highly entertaining, but highly effective.”

DDB and Robber’s Dog produced content for the five-month campaign for distribution through Facebook and other video channels.

“This campaign is a great example of a brand that understands the true potential of Facebook as a video platform” said Wade Kuhn, Creative Strategist, Facebook. “The collaborative spirit of all the agency partners has meant we could bring our platform expertise to a process that has produced some fantastic creative work.”

Sam Peacocke, Director, Robber’s Dog, says, “The fact the films will exist solely within a social media space meant some traditional TVC narrative norms no longer made sense. Online, a film lives or dies within the first three-seconds. It was an interesting challenge; engage the viewer, set a tone and not give away the story in such a short amount of time.”