keeping the engine running with no cars to sell

It was 2021, VW Commercial Vehicles (like most automotive brands) were facing supply chain challenges due to semiconductor shortages. Our challenge was to keep our audience warm for when supply resumed.

Our audience was a split-screen. On one side, SMEs and tradespeople relying on their vans to get jobs done. On the other, families and adventurers using camper vans for escapes and road trips. What united them wasn’t utility — it was unconventionality. A defiant optimism and a can-do attitude that led them to choose the path less trodden.

So, we built a social content engine called Vans That Can — a platform that celebrated everyday people doing unexpected, meaningful, or entertaining things with their vans. It wasn’t just a campaign but it a commitment to storytelling, that gave us the permission to infiltrate culture in surprising ways.

We launched activations like:

  • Blue Monday: Electric Sunshine — a joyful billboard powered by SAD lamps that lit up London on the bleakest day of the year, to launch the ID. Buzz.

  • Music festival partnerships — turning a Multivan into a glam festival hub offering glitter makeovers, phone charging, and more.

  • We gave James Buckley his hardest gig ever — four kids on a road trip testing whether the Multivan’s new entertainment system (and James) could win over the toughest crowd.

All this happened while sales were paused — but brand engagement surged. Organic reach and interactions grew by over 200%, we became a regular presence in culture calendars, and we created a sticky, ownable platform that could flex across formats and seasons. This work was anchored in human insight, powered by audience-first creativity, and proved that when product is scarce, brand has to do the heavy lifting. And it did — with humour, soul, and a sense of joy

HOW WE brightened up blue Monday with some electric sunshine

CREATIVE CIRCLE SILVER

DMA BRONZE x 2, AUTOMOTIVE & BRAND EXPERIENCE

Our campaign was designed to promote the ID. Buzz (Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle’s first 100% electric car) and make it famous.

Our potential buyers were young, affluent, image-conscious families. Brand campaigns pushing the sustainability agenda rely heavily on guilt-tripping consumers to make changes. We wanted to lighten the mood around a serious topic, positioning the sustainable option as engaging, rewarding and fun for our consumers.

What are we all in desperate need of in the middle of a cold, grey January? On Blue Monday, the saddest day of the year? Sunshine.

We decided to get working to create some sunshine and bring it to the heart of London. Well, some electric sunshine. We transformed a billboard into the world’s biggest SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) lamp. All powered by 100% renewable energy from Green Voltage UK. SAD lamps are popularly used to alleviate symptoms of seasonal affective disorder by emitting bright artificial light that mimics natural sunlight and its positive, mood-lifting effects that give you a serotonin boost. In doing so, we gave passers-by the chance to recharge with a blast of 100% electric sunshine on Blue Monday.

All of this was inspired by the new, all-electric Volkswagen ID. Buzz. With its heritage steeped in the sunny Sixties, this van has sunshine in its DNA. Now it’s fully electric, we thought it only fitting to use it as a source of positive energy.

Did it work?

Just one day on the clock, yet our campaign kicked up a social storm and drummed up PR waves.

PR coverage spanned 13 articles across marketing, local, and auto mags, racking up around 28,111 views.

Social media? We hit it hard, outdoing our reach goal by 226%. Credit smart CPM management.

Our boost in post engagement sent our reach soaring, overshooting targets with 1.4 million and 1.5 million impressions on the two posts.

Video content across Meta and LinkedIn was a game-changer. 21.3 million eyes caught the show, with 18.9k clicks at a wallet-friendly CPC of £4.

Our content struck chords, pulling in 221% more clicks than planned and pushing CTR past the target by 122%.

Objective? Make the ID. Buzz famous. And guess what? We did way better. Brand consideration shot up 20% to 72%, knocking VWCV ahead of Ford and Mercedes. And it wasn't just the Buzz; the entire product suite got a bump, especially the ID. Buzz Cargo (+12%pts).

Further, the campaign had a big uptick on VWCV’s electric vehicle awareness. VWCV is now the most associated brand with the provision of ECVs. 

All of this on the back of declining marketing budgets and an economic downturn has been nothing short of a welcome burst of sunshine for our brand.