We had to engage our audience in those environments where they were looking for information about used cars. We briefed the advertising agency to create specially tailored ads that would talk in the language of the used car salesman. We ran spoof advertising within classified used-car environments. We created sponsorships and content within used-car buying editorial. We built a bogus car dealer website supported by various online advertising formats.

Our campaign shifted people’s beliefs about the importance of a V5 when buying a used-car but crucially it also resulted in a fundamental change in their behaviour. During the campaign period, the average monthly percentage of cars sold without a V5 fell from 35% to just 11%.