Challenge:

The previous agency had squandered decades of VW equity. Despite the fact that Volkswagen now made 13 models, sales were massively declining and the brand was seriously considering pulling out of the US market.

Solution (TV, Social, Digital, Website):

We celebrated ‘cars and their people’ by reinventing PunchBug as PunchDub and centered the campaign around the line “It’s a whole new Volkswagen, and a whole new game.” This simple, strategic idea launched with Stevie Wonder and Tracy Morgan on the Super Bowl. We then created model specific spots, a PunchDub Days sales event, online videos of the game’s supposed inventor, Sluggy Patterson, and allowed people to virtually punch their friends on Facebook for a chance to win a VW.

Results:

The launch spot was a fave on the Super Bowl, but more importantly sales went up 40% and, fortunately for America, VW stayed put.