CASE STUDY

Volkswagen – Improving brand perception with heartfelt, human-centered engagement honoring those impacted by breast cancer.

Role

Lead Designer

Timeline

4 months (Aug - Oct 2019)

Responsibilities

Sole Designer: Research, Strategy, Ideation, Design, Implementation

200+

Attendees participated

CONTEXT

The journey ahead

In November 2018, my team and I–as part of WPP’s North American, multi-agency pitch team–helped win Volkswagen’s creative advertising account in North America. As a result, our agency and team was awarded creative duties for VW USA’s dealerships, and would collaborate with both corporate headquarters and their franchisees across the country at the national, regional, and local levels.

It was an amazing experience to participate in such a massive new business pitch, not to mention win and get the chance to work with one of the world’s most iconic brands.

But at the time, Volkswagen was popular for a different reason.

Dieselgate was still making headlines by the time we began working on Volkswagen, and the emissions scandal had demolished their relationships with consumers as well as their franchise dealerships.

As a new agency partner, our primary objective was to help Volkswagen win back the hearts and minds of America–one project at a time.

CHALLENGE

Hit the road

On October 19th, 2019, Los Angeles' 97.1 AMP Radio hosted the 7th annual We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The event raised money and awareness for breast cancer research and the American Cancer Society, and this year’s lineup would feature popular performers such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Lizzo.

Volkswagen’s Southern California (SoCal) dealerships had sponsored the event for the past three years, but previous campaigns and event activations produced poor attendee engagement, making them unsure if We Can Survive was worth another piece of their limited marketing budgets.

As Volkswagen’s new advertising agency for dealerships nationwide, they tasked us with developing and executing a sponsorship campaign that would improve brand perception and included:

A campaign concept, visual treatment, and messaging
Supporting marketing materials for digital and social media
An on-site event activation to engage with concert attendees

Volkswagen Clients

External

Sales Operations Manager, Pacific Region
Southern California Volkswagen Dealers

Concert Attendees

External

The project brief did not provide any information regarding our target audience, so my team and I would need to figure out how to best proceed.

The Hollywood Bowl

External

Our activation had to fit into the event space provided by Volkswagen’s sponsorship, and our campaign materials needed to be flexible enough to adapt to a constantly changing set of media formats.

Creative Team

Internal

Senior Copywriter (my partner)
Experiential Creative Director
Creative Director
Executive Creative Director

Account Team

Internal

Account Manager, Pacific Region
Account Director

Production Team

Internal

Senior Producer

PROCESS

Off the beaten path

My copywriting partner and I were thrilled to work on a project fighting breast cancer. However, without a strategist, we knew lacking a consumer-focused strategy could make our work superficial and ineffective. So in addition to our usual responsibilities, we conducted research and developed a strategy by ourselves.

Note: In advertising, the ideation and design phases are typically conducted simultaneously. This is both due to time constraints as well as one phase informing the other.

PROCESS / RESEARCH

Heading in the right direction

We needed to gain a better understanding of the event, its attendees, the role breast cancer research plays in the experience, and where Volkswagen and their sponsorship might best fit. No project strategist meant no budget for consumer research or interviews, so we would need to be resourceful and get a little scrappy.

Methods

Stakeholder Interviews

At our project kick-off, we learned that previous sponsorships mainly centered around giving away merchandise during on-site event activations. Our project brief also emphasized this. Therefore we asked our account team and clients many questions to understand past event activations, the preferences of the SoCal Volkswagen Dealers, and any other business details that could guide our creative approach.

Online Research

We analyzed news articles covering previous We Can Survive concerts as well as past attendees’ social content and commentary. The latter also gave us a better understanding of who attended the event and insight into their motivations for doing so.

Insights

PROCESS / Strategy

We distilled our insights down into a focused strategy statement that was still broad enough for us to explore during ideation:
‍

Demonstrate Volkswagen’s commitment to “Drive Bigger” by going above and beyond past sponsorship activations at We Can Survive to connect with those affected by breast cancer.

PROCESS / Ideation

Highways and byways

My copywriting partner and I brainstormed together and produced a handful of concepts and activation ideas. We refined these into brief write-ups with reference imagery that we presented to internal and external stakeholders until we landed on a final campaign concept and activation.

Campaign Concept

For our target audience of breast cancer fighters, survivors, and caregivers, this concert is an emotionally-charged event, and could lead to feelings of love and celebration, but also loss and loneliness.

The We Can Survive concert is itself a rallying cry to work together to cure breast cancer, and our campaign should further that feeling of unity through action, not just words. That is how Volkswagen can demonstrate what it means to “Drive Bigger” in the fight against breast cancer.

On-Site Activation

While the supporting marketing materials will help get the word out and improve brand visibility, it is the on-site activation that could really enable us to make a lasting impression on We Can Survive’s attendees.

DETOUR

During Ideation, we found out that our client spent half of our activation budget on giveaways: pink feather leis with lights on them. So we had to take a step back and refine our activations to be a bit more cost-effective.

Our solution? Demonstrate Volkswagen’s commitment to “Drive Bigger” by transforming our cherished vehicles into a platform for concert attendees to honor those affected by breast cancer and visualize their collective support of one another in the fight against breast cancer.

Why our activation idea works

Having a company’s product on-site for the concert would typically be seen as self-serving, so by transforming them into canvases for attendees to voice their individual and collective support of one another in the fight against breast cancer reinforced the message we wanted to convey with our activation.

1. Engagement is meaningful

Attendees will fill out a cling sticker with the name of someone affected by breast cancer that they want to recognize or honor.

2. Participation is easy

Once they filled out their cling, all they had to do was place it on the exterior of our on-site featured vehicles.

3. Action is rewarded

Each cling sheet had a tear-away stub that also served as an entry into a raffle for seat upgrades and other prizes.

PROCESS / DESIGN

In the driver's seat

While my partner and I were ideating, I also needed to start designing. My visuals needed to deliver on our strategy’s promise of engaging and connecting with our target audience, and needed to be both dynamic and captivating.

Inspiration

As I searched for inspiration and references, I realized that the same adjectives could also describe an epic performance at We Can Survive, or a sleek Volkswagen driving through a city at night. So for one of my visual treatments, I explored the world of concerts and live performances through the lens of Volkswagen.

Campaign Key Visual

Based on previous experience with Volkswagen stakeholders, we knew that selling our ideas required going beyond concept summaries with reference imagery; we had to make our campaign more tangible to them. So as part of my visual exploration I created key visuals–print ad-like images that combined our ideas and messaging with a visual treatment–to illustrate each concept.

The clients chose this visual treatment for several reasons

Product is hero: It highlights the vehicles’ sharp design through the use of product photography.

Product feature integration: It transformed concert lighting into its automotive equivalent: hi-beam headlights.

Grounded in partnership: A vibrant gradient combined Volkswagen’s dark blue with We Can Survive’s color palette, strengthening the sponsorship connection.

PROCESS / IMPLEMENTATION

Put the pedal to the metal

With our delivery and production deadlines fast approaching, we applied and adapted our approved key visual’s messaging and visual treatment across a wide range of formats and media.

Sponsorship media

As a paying sponsor of We Can Survive, Volkswagen was able to publish digital marketing assets to drive awareness on AMP Radio’s properties, including page takeovers and banner ads.

Event activation assets

For our activation site we developed informational signs, posters, co-branded giveaways, and cling stickers for our engagement activity.We also created animated digital banners and a Volkswagen highlight reel that would be shown on screens around the venue and on the stage backdrop between performances.

On-site vehicles

We worked with our Volkswagen clients and local dealers to identify the most popular (and likely to sell) Volkswagen models in the Los Angeles area.We borrowed a Tiguan (mid-size SUV) and Jetta (sedan) for our engagement activity, as well as a hot pink VW Golf (compact car) that would be displayed out in front of the venue to drive attendee interest.

RESULTS

Arriving at our destination

By the start of the concert, both on-site vehicles were covered in cling stickers, creating a simple, powerful visual of all the love and support attendees shared for one another in the fight against breast cancer. Our on-site event activation was a success!

Our account team informed us that the clients were thrilled with the level of engagement and that the engagement activity also got attendees up close to check out our featured vehicles, encouraging people to sign up for a test drive and consider purchasing a VW in the future.

200+

Attendees participated

REFLECTION

In the rearview mirror

Start small and stay flexible

When my partner and I received the project brief, I was excited. Having recently completed a 6-week UX design course, I was eager to apply my new skills to a project without a strategist, where we could engage directly with consumers through an event activation.

However, I had to temper my expectations. Not only was the project's scope limited, but none of the other internal stakeholders were familiar with UX. Our agency's standard process rarely included primary research, testing, or collecting consumer feedback. Trying to implement these changes would require significant effort and budgeting well before the project started.

Instead of pushing for broad changes, I focused on what I could do: apply my UX knowledge to my individual tasks and promote user-centered thinking during collaboration sessions, reviews, and presentations.

These small efforts allowed me to better understand our target audience's emotional needs. As a result, my team and I elevated the sponsorship from a simple swag giveaway to a meaningful experience that resonated with concert attendees and demonstrated that Volkswagen could in fact, Drive Bigger.

Keep things simple

Let’s face it: writing names on stickers and placing them on a car is about as simple as it can get when it comes to engaging with a target audience. But that was why it was so effective:

It was quick and easy to participate.
The result was immediately visible and tangible through the cling-covered vehicles.
Participation provided both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards:

Intrinsic Reward - Feel recognized and connected with other attendees affected by breast cancer.
Extrinsic Reward - Receive free co-branded merchandise and accessories, plus a chance to win a meet-and-greet with one of the performers.

Volkswagen – Improving brand perception with heartfelt, human-centered engagement honoring those impacted by breast cancer.

200+

Hit the road

Buckle your seatbelts

Off the beaten path