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Volkswagen tackles road fears in new Tiguan campaign

Volkswagen has released a ‘horror movie’ style campaign to mark the launch of the 2021 Tiguan.

The campaign, which comes via DDB Sydney, features a TVC and a series of posters, highlighting some of road anxieties, such as parallel parking, giant roundabouts and merging lanes that Australians have.

This comes following two studies into Australian driving fears, finding that 79% of Australians have some kind of driving anxiety, with 59% having a fear of parallel parking, worried they will get embarrassed holding up traffic, or hitting another car.

Volkswagen Australia marketing communications manager, Rowena Kanna said: “The research highlighted what we knew to be true, albeit anecdotally, which is that these little road stresses can quickly creep up to become genuine anxieties and fears.”

The 30 second TVC released as part of the campaign features a driver in the new 2021 Tiguan, nervously approaching a ‘big roundabout’, in a horror movie style setting.

“The new Volkswagen Tiguan helps conquer these fears thanks to I.Q. DRIVE, an intelligent driver assistance system with features such as Front Assist, Pedestrian Monitoring, and Lane Assist. We’re confident this exciting and unique campaign will cut through in a cluttered SUV market,” Kanna continued.

DDB Sydney creative directors Tim Woolford and Tommy Cehak said: “We’re not scared of driving. Although parallel parking makes us anxious. Actually, merging is nerve-racking… and we suppose people are pretty distracted by their phones these days, so that’s a worry…”

The campaign is accompanied by a series of posters, created in collaboration with Canadian movie poster artist, Matt Ryan Tobin, who has worked with movie studios Disney, Marvel, and Warner Brothers over the course of his career.

Movie poster, designed by Matt Ryan Tobin

The campaign is set to run across TV, online, OOH, radio and social, with an interactive augmented reality experience to launch later this year. It is part of the brand’s ‘Life feels better in a Volkswagen’ platform.

The campaign follows DDB and Volkswagen’s Amarok W-Series launch in March, which saw the TVC depicting the Amaroks as if they were horses, with their handlers training and refining the utes until they’ve been ‘reared for the road’.

Previous work also includes the ‘world’s smallest car dealership’, launched in November, to prompt online sales.

The film, which is directed by Revolver’s Bruce Hunt, is “an homage to the psychological horror genre and was filmed on location in sub-zero temperatures in New South Wales’ Oberon”, according to a statement from DDB.

Credits

Client: Volkswagen Australia
Marketing Communications Manager: Rowena Kanna
Brand Communications Specialist: Julie Scarff

Creative Agency: DDB Sydney
Chief Creative Officer: Ben Welsh
Executive Creative Director – Matt Chandler
Creative Director: Tommy Cehak
Creative Director: Tim Woolford
Copywriter: Tom Lawrence
Art Director: Sam Raftl
Chief Strategy Officer: Fran Clayton
Planning Director: James Davis
Managing Partner: Mandy Whatson
Senior Business Director: Nicole Drabsch
Business Manager: Izzy Crohan
Head of Integrated Content: Renata Barbosa
Senior TV Producer: Natalie Greaves
Senior Print Producer: John Wood
Senior Designer: Paul Jansen
Senior Finished Artist: Jose Rodrigues

Media Agency: PHD

Production Company: Revolver

Post Production: Blackbird

Music: Turning Studios

Sound: Rumble

Poster illustrator: Matt Ryan Tobin

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