In addition to the usual challenges in the automotive category, Volkswagen continues the push to clearly define the brand in consumers’ minds, and evolve from the perception that a Volkswagen is “quirky” to the understanding that they are designed to be “the people’s car”. The key objective was change in perception, which would be measured by increases in sales.

The Drive provides a rich experience for users through a very simple app interface. It delivered the larger campaign idea that “It’s the little things that make a Volkswagen a Volkswagen” by offering users the same kind of intelligent design experience that they get from being in a Volkswagen. The media strategy maintained this simple, yet intelligent approach. Large outdoor posters on construction hoardings, a comprehensive national newspaper campaign, large digital push down units (typically paired with wallpapers), and standard banners supported the overall campaign message and pushed consumers to The Drive app.

The Drive app received 154,376 visitors from 690,443 clicks on CTAs. 18.16% of those visits were from mobile devices, likely indicating strong engagement from OOH and newspaper ads. Engagement was high, with users creating 103,100 routes (67% of visits), with an average time on the site of 1:33 mins. Social Media generated 1163 comments and 8540 likes from 6,220,427 impressions. However, the ultimate measure was a change in consumer sentiment as measured through sales: Volkswagen total sales increased 11.99% year-over-year for the November 2012 to March 2012 period during which The Drive campaign was in market.