How Volkswagen Used Humour to Introduce Its Electric Future
With many car brands going all-electric, the future of the automotive industry seems uncertain and more concerning than exciting to some. Subsequently, Volkswagen’s recent string of announcements, marking its move towards an all-electric future, has been met with mixed reactions. To hopefully quell any further outcry, Volkswagen Canada has unveiled its latest spot in the Quebec market, ‘Le Pompiste’, a humourous story featuring a struggling rural gas station owner and his reaction to the first vehicle to appear in a long time - Volkswagen's all-electric ID.4.
The spot presents a different, comedic approach to the electrification of the brand and responds to some of the public’s concerns regarding the growing electric vehicle (EV) market. Developed by agency partner Type1/TAXI, the spot has gained a lot of attention and currently airs on Quebec TV and on social media.
LBB’s Tamara Felemban spoke with Alexis Caron-Côté, creative director and Allen Kwong, group creative director at Type1/TAXI, to find out more about the origins and the making of this creative project, and to discover how ‘the people’s car’ decided to make the change to electric “fun and enjoyable.”
LBB> How did this project come about? What was the brief like - and what were some creative ideas that immediately sprang to mind?
Allen> Quebec is an important market for Volkswagen. It also happens to be one of North America’s biggest EV markets. Our strategy team saw an opportunity to tell Volkswagen’s EV story with something super relevant for Quebec. But EV advertising for the most part has been serious and tech-focused. So, we found an opportunity to tell a story using VW charm and humour.
LBB> Why did you choose to use Pier-Luc Funk in this campaign? What does his involvement add?
Allen> We introduced actor and comedian Pier-Luc Funk as Volkswagen’s Quebec-market spokesperson at the end of 2021. We wanted someone who embodied the spirit of VW’s brand platform ‘Be the Change’ – someone modern and progressive, but also approachable and fun. For VW, and for this spot especially, Pier-Luc was the perfect fit.
LBB> The spot plays off the lyrics of the song ‘Le Pompiste’ (the gas station attendant) by Jean-Jacques Cramier, is this where the idea for the spot started?
Alexis> It’s a bit of the chicken and egg situation. We had a version of the script without ‘Le Pompiste’ by Jean-Jacques Cramier, but when one of our writers suggested the song, we knew we had something interesting. Funny story - when our writer suggested the song, he had no idea that it was written by Renaud, before he became a famous singer in France. Renaud also happens to be our copywriter’s favourite artist. That made it extra special.
Allen> Plus, early on, this script kept moving to the top of the pile because the idea is pretty universal. Anyone can relate to being in a store and seeing the shopkeeper’s disappointment when you don’t buy anything. And with sky-high gas prices, being able to say no to gas is a fun thought. For me, the song is the cherry on top.
LBB> The electrification of the brand may raise concerns for some - like the shopkeeper in the spot - why did you think comedy was the best approach to tackle this topic?
Allen> Automotive brands are all talking about EVs in similar ways. It’s either scary (save the planet or else!), serious and virtue signalling, or some unapproachable techy-vision of the future.
But Volkswagen is the ‘people’s car’. Look at VW’s best work and you see that joy, humour, and optimism are at the core of its brand DNA. So, for us, it was simple. To help people make the change to electric, we need to make it fun and enjoyable.
LBB> How does this spot/campaign fit into the ‘Soyons le virage’ (‘Be the Change’) motto? How are you helping Volkswagen and its customers become the change the world needs?
Allen>‘Soyons le virage’ was designed to inspire all of us to take the steps (big and small) to create the world we want to live in. To embody that motto, we've launched the globally-recognised ‘Carbon-Neutral Net’ initiative – where we significantly reduced the digital carbon footprint of Volkswagen’s website.
For Earth Day this year, we shut down Volkswagen’s website, except for a single page talking about the internet’s digital carbon footprint. And now, with ‘Le Pompiste’ we’re changing the EV conversation to one that’s fun and approachable.
But keep an eye out. There’s lots more coming soon!
LBB> The ‘Soyons le Virage’ platform incorporates partnerships with charities - how have you helped develop this strategy?
Allen> Volkswagen Canada has a partnership with Electrify Canada, who is building a network of ultrafast charging stations nationwide. VW is also a long-time sponsor of Campfire Circle. In the last two years, we’ve worked with organisations including Website Carbon and One Tree Planted as part of our ‘Be the Change’ platform.
LBB> Who worked on the production for this spot? And how was the shoot?
Alexis> We used Franie-Éléonore Bernier. She’s an amazing up-and-coming director from Nova Film. Super talented! The production was pretty smooth with no speed bumps (pun intended). We were lucky to find our location. It had everything - rural and stuck in time, but with room for our art director to create the perfect mood. Also, Pier-Luc Funk is one of the best improv guys. Google him!
LBB> You went with a cinematic approach to get people invested in the story - how did you go about that?
Alexis> We feel that this kind of approach tends to hook viewers a bit more. The casting also helps a lot. We wanted people to cheer for the gas station attendant at first glance. We fell in love with him the second he entered the Zoom call for his casting session.
Allen> We wanted the cinematography to help elevate the story and humour because everyone knows what a gas station looks like. They can be quite mundane.
LBB> What was the hardest challenge you faced on this project - and how did you overcome it?
Alexis> I’d say, the song. Our producer went above and beyond and a few sleepless nights later, we got it. Turns out, these guys made music in the ‘70s… so, they didn’t really remember who did what. It was a bit of a puzzle to figure out.
