Passat drivers are middle-class men in their 40s/50s that are starting to feel marginalised by a society of SMSing teenagers and reality TV. For men of this age, ‘fluff and nonsense’ is often most apparent in those who succumb to the dreaded MidLife Crisis. The core creative idea for the whole campaign is centred on this phenomenon.

We created a fictional clinic called ‘The Retreat’ (www.midlife-crisis-retreat.co.uk); a place where men can be cured of their midlife crisis leaving them free to appreciate the understated style and integrity of a Passat. We created 4 ad executions that extended the idea of men battling midlife crisis tendencies. Personalisation was also a key feature of the digital part of this campaign. We created a personalised MPU for users to input a friend’s name, age and midlife crisis symptoms. Then they received a personalised film from our midlife crisis consultant, Dr Vincent Weybridge.