• Volkswagen was the #1 searched term on Google India.• Increase of unaided awareness from 9% to 22%, with ad recall of 78%.•The website was viewed over 70,000 times.•Numerous blogs, SNS sites, newspapers and TV channels covered the innovation.•The campaign got over 13000 sq. cms of print space and 39 mins 57 seconds of airtime.•The phones at the dealerships have been ringing off the hook.•Within 2 days, 63 New Beetles and 23 Touaregs were booked.•17 new dealership enquiries were received.