The frames disappeared from the galleries quickly, but didn’t vanish forever. Messages on the stolen artwork had successful thieves sharing their steals on Volkswagen Canada’s Facebook page. And fans shared gallery locations online so that they could be there when replacements were hung.

The campaign contributed to over 1 million earned Facebook impressions and nearly 2 million earned Twitter impressions. It was the most successful Jetta GLI launch in Canadian history: A record 240% increase in sales.

We set out to prove that the performance of Jetta GLI was so remarkable that driving it is an art form. So we used the GLI to create stunning works of art. Then we got people interested by letting them steal the proof.First, we shot a launch commercial for the Jetta GLI using a custom camera rig that captured both the motion of the vehicle and long-exposure stills of its lights. Using those stills, we then produced a series of limited edition light paintings, which were hand-numbered and framed. Finally, the frames were hung on poster hoardings across Canada, which we’d transformed into pop-up “Performance Art” galleries.Each work was accompanied by an information card containing information about the 2012 Jetta GLI, as well as a QR code that, when scanned with a smart phone, led to a video explaining how the GLI created the artwork.

Volkswagen was launching the 2012 Jetta GLI, the top-of-the-line version of the popular Jetta model. The challenge was that many Canadians considered the Jetta to be simply an “affordable car.” With the launch of the GLI however, Volkswagen had the opportunity to highlight the class-leading performance characteristics of the model. If we could convince our younger, performance vehicle enthusiast target that the 200-horsepower GLI was worth their attention, we would also provide a much-needed halo effect for the entire brand, driving Jetta sales amongst the general car-buying public.To get through to this sceptical, media-savvy target, we knew that they’d want tangible proof of the GLI’s extraordinary driving experience. So we decided to make the proof something they’d want to steal.