What’s the problem?
ŠKODA used to be the marque of the middle-aged, the
middle-of-the-road,
and the middle-motorway-lane. Our challenge was not merely to get
young, testosterone-fuelled drivers to take the new ŠKODA vRS
seriously. But also to take it for a test drive. And whatever we
did, it had to integrate seamlessly with the existing
above-the-line 'lovely and mean' campaign.
…what people value
The ŠKODA vRS was – and still is – a very
hot hatch. But that meant nothing
until we got young bums on bucket seats. To give the car the
street credibility it required, we decided to engage our target
audience via a medium that they felt comfortable with, in a way
that wowed them. What was needed was a 'digital first' backed up by
the chance to win a car or two.
The creative innovation
We held a competition on Facebook to find the 'loveliest' or the
'meanest' person in the UK. The two winners would win a Fabia hatch
or Fabia vRS respectively. Our home-grown Facebook app allowed the
8,000+ participants
to find out, through their Facebook activity, just how lovely or
mean they were. Then the viral element kicked in with friends being
asked to vote for them.
All this was backed up by a campaign microsite, 3D modelling,
interactive banner ads, a YouTube channel and some good ol' hard
copy DM.
...and the reaction
