Cannes Lions

An American Love Story

PARK PICTURES, New York / VOLKSWAGEN / 2024

Awards:

1 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
Film

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

2024 is an important year for Volkswagen of America. It opened with the 75th Anniversary of the Beetle’s arrival to the US and concludes with the arrival of ID. Buzz, one of the most anticipated vehicles in automotive history. Away from the zeitgeist for years, VW asked us to reignite love for the brand to prime the market for this important launch.

Our approach was to seize America’s grandest stage — the Super Bowl — to deliver a love letter to the people. We dispensed with expected celebrity-fueled bombast to convey the brand’s appreciation to the American people for turning a humble bit of sheet metal into an icon.

Execution

Set to Neil Diamond’s “I am… I said,” our film tells a classic underdog tale. The Beetle — a small, funny-looking foreigner — arrives in America full of hope and intimidation, initially struggling to make it. Once it finds its people, everything changes. We flash forward through various eras of cars, the communities that embraced them, and moments in history and pop culture that turned this immigrant into an American icon. The story culminates in a full-circle moment, a baton pass from Beetle to the new all-electric ID. Buzz that invites a new generation to shape Volkswagen in the electric era.

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