The Background

Globally, Volkswagen is aiming to be the world’s largest volume automaker by 2018, with serious growth objectives for each market. Key to this growth in Canada is sales of its volume compact sedan, the Jetta.

The 2011 Jetta (launched in 2010) was introduced with a price that, for the first time, was competitive with the cars in its class and consequently was a huge sales success. However, unlike the previous car—which had perceptions of being a performance-oriented premium sedan—the new 2011 Jetta was seen as an “affordable car” that lacked some of the appeal it once had in the market.

With the launch of the 2012 Jetta GLI (the premium performance variant within the Jetta family), we had the opportunity to improve overall Jetta perception and drive sales.

The Approach

To satisfy Volkswagen’s significant growth objectives we had to sell the entire Jetta family, not just the GLI.

To build excitement and halo the Jetta using the performance-oriented GLI, we had to illustrate its performance in a meaningful way. We would inspire our target to amplify our message, maximizing our minimal budgets.

The Campaign

In order to deliver a persuasive performance message that would stand out and earn wide appeal, we couldn’t simply make a claim. We had to demonstrate the performance.

To prove that the performance of the GLI was a work of art, we used a custom camera rig to capture both the motion of the vehicle and long-exposure stills of its lights. We created both a :30 TV spot, as well as limited edition ‘Performance Art’ prints that were put up for grabs. Once framed, the prints were hung on poster hoardings across Canada, which we had transformed into pop-up “Performance Art” galleries. Then, we let our adrenaline-eager audience heist the artwork and share online.

Through social media we showcased how the art was made and provided our eager fans with clues on where to heist the art online and in our three major markets across the country.

The Results

We saw a record increase in Twitter impressions, over 1 million Facebook impressions, and a massive climb in key brand attributes.

It was the most successful GLI launch of all time with a 240% increase in volume.

Record Jetta sales (85% year over year)

Total Volkswagen vehicle sales increased by 15.9% in 2011 over the previous record year and 12% in 2012.