Volkswagen / Brand repositioning
(2022)
In early 2021, Volkswagen NL challenged us to redefine its brand positioning in fast-moving world and automotive category. Its historically most distinctive brand association - reliability - did not seem as distinctive anymore with other automotive players delivering high quality cars. Furthermore, the brand has huge ambitions for the next couple of years that surpass its legacy of making ‘cars that always work’.
We went on a year-long journey, in close collaboration with the client team. After several research rounds (CEP, conjoint, focus groups…), we defined a new brand idea for the Netherlands, taking the iconic brand into the future.
Your trusted friend.
The new brand positioning is no radical shift from where the brand came from, but an elevation of its core. The positioning of the trusted friend comprises its three main brand values:
Reliable: the car and brand that’s always there for you
Human: the car and brand that think with you and keep things fun
Progressive: the car and brand that look ahead and take their responsibility
These three values together define the friendship role Volkswagen wants to play in the present and - more importantly - the future. In times of rapid change, it’s nice to have a trusted friend at your side.
There’s no greater trust than to trust someone with your most valuable possession in life - your children.
BRIEF
To install the new positioning of the ‘trusted friend’ in a way that feels true to the Volkswagen brand and its iconic ad legacy in the Netherlands.
CHALLENGE
Friendship isn’t something you can claim easily as an automotive brand. You need to show why someone can actually trust you.
STRATEGY
You can always count on a Volkswagen to the extent that they feel like a reliable partner, an extra family member that is here for the long run.
Research also showed that Volkswagen is reliable to a point that parents trust them with their kids. This is shown by the fact that Volkswagens are the Netherlands’ number one cars for student drivers.
From father to son.
In the kick-off campaign of Volkswagen’s brand repositioning, the focus lies on Volkswagen’s historically most valuable brand association: its reliability.
We can see a key moment in a child’s life, a moment in which a child realises what a car - or better: a Volkswagen - could mean to them and which role it can play. If they actually manage to get a hold of it, at least.
As said in the film:
‘You can always count on Volkswagen. If only you could say the same about your dad.’