For a lot of people, especially those not living in urban metropolises, there’s still not really a well-working alternative to cars in their everyday life.

Mobile.de, officially “Germany's Biggest Vehicle Marketplace Online”, wanted to emphasize this fact to a target audience roughly between 25 and 50 years old.

The objective was to dramatize that if you need to manage your daily routine successfully, you have to have the right vehicle. And that you can get any vehicle on mobile.de, “Germany's Biggest Vehicle Marketplace Online”.

We hired the most car-dependent man in history: David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight! Then we put him on the wrongest ride possible: a moped! A talking moped, of course. On which he does what Michael Knight always does: Chasing the bad guys. Very slowly.

Thus, we created proof that if to champion the cause of the innocent in a world of criminals who operate above the law (or just manage your daily routine) you have to have the right vehicle.

To big parts of our target audience, car dependant people from approx. 25 to 50 years old, there’s still not really a well-working alternative to cars in their everyday life. So, without the right vehicle, they literally won’t get far.

Luckily on mobile.de, there is always the right vehicle for everybody. Not only for Germans, by the way, as mobile.de attracts buyers all over Europe.

The video was released primarly on YouTube and Facebook and became instantly Adweeks “Ad of the day” – not common for a German ad. It generated roughly 30 m views on all platforms and gained an earned media value of 7 Million Euro. It had an ultra high View-Through-Rate of 33%, and was discussed nearly 100% favorably. People even shared their favorite parts with timecodes in the comments!

We decided to deliver our message via a relatively long viral video that people would love to watch and share and that would gain a lot of earned media. David’s performance was fantastic and on point: Within a blink of an eye, he WAS the Knight Rider. He had the looks, he had the moves (check his tongue movement while observing the gangsters in the beginning!) and he obviously had a lot of fun doing this. Quite as much as we had working with him.

The film was well reveived not only in our target audience but also in automotive and mainstream media on TV, Internet and Print. Also Youtubers talked about it in their videos. It became instantly Adweeks “Ad of the day” – not very common for a German ad – and was covered by as well as featured in media not only in Germany but throughout Europe and even in the US and Asia. Overall, it gained an earned media value of 7 Million Euro and roughly 30 m views on all platforms.

Positive developments where being observed in advertising-relevant KPIs such as unaided and aided ad awareness, awareness of reports and talked about. Brand KPI Top of Mind Awareness rose significantly. During the campaign, almost all image items for mobile.de developed positively. The recall for David Hasselhoff as a testimonial for mobile.de was rising significantly in the second and third wave. The spot was evaluated as very or rather good by over three quarters of the respondents. It’s best rated by the younger target group. Most respondents understood the message of the spot and where able to reproduce it correctly. Over 80% could remember the brand it advertised for. The spot was topic of conversation among those who have seen it. The younger target group shared it online more often.