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The Naked Ute

Volkswagen

Issue 39 | June 2016

Agency

DDB Sydney

Creative Team

Chief Creative Officer Toby Talbot Deputy Exec Creative Director Cam Hoelter Senior Art Director Jade Manning Senior Writer Vincent Osmond Designer Domenic Bartolo

Production Team

Head Of Integrated Content Sevda Cemo Senior Producer Claire Seffrin Content Creator Robert Crispe Social Content Creator Liana Rossi Creative Tec Director Shaun O’connor Executive Digital Producer Sora Nobari Snr Digital Producer Jdy Lau Digital Producer Will Kerr Front End Developer Sarah Hawes Front End Developer/ Designer Jennifer Wong Senior Print Producer John Wood Social Comms Manager Salil Kumar Post Production Content The Glue Society TV/VFX Post Prod Heckler Films Sound Company Sound Reservoir

Other Credits

Production House Will O’Rourke Photography Janyon Boshoff Retouching Limehouse Creative Library Music Amcos, Audionet Media Agency Mediacom Managing Partner Amanda Wheeler Business Directors John Larkin Astrid Noble Digital Snr Business Dir Parker Mason Business Manager Chelsea Riddington Strategist Fran Clayton

Date

January 2016

Background

In an automotive category where owners were extremely brand loyal, the objective was to overcome negative perceptions of the Volkswagen Amarok. Research showed that the Amarok's sleek styling had led the target audience to believe that it was a soft city car and that it was not cut out for hard work.

Idea

If the target market was judging the Amarok by its cover, the solution was to remove the cover. The Amarok was stripped of everything that identified it, forcing Australians to judge it without brand prejudice and on performance alone. The Naked Ute was created. (In Australia, they call pick-up trucks utes.) An unbranded campaign was run nationally, asking Australia to guess what they thought it was. They could guess and debate the identity of The Naked Ute on an unbranded website and Facebook page.

Finally, when curiosity was high, it was revealed to be a Volkswagen.

Results

Total Campaign Reach (Facebook & YouTube): 7.7 million Organic Facebook post shares, 2,000 from the Naked Ute website. 125,000 unique visitors and 24,000 guesses submitted. Even though the campaign was still busy rolling out by the time of going to print, VW reported an increase in year-on-year Amarok sales of 19% within the first week alone.

Our Thoughts

"It's for hairdressers," said one ute driver contemptuously of the Amarok, underlining the scale of the challenge for DDB Sydney.

In a nutshell he captures the paradox of the utility market. Most ute manufacturers want to sell to high-end urban dwellers like hairdressers, but can't get out of their core market.

VW's issue was the other way round. Its core market saw it as an urban vehicle.

Blind taste tests are commonly used to take on prejudice and preconception. The 'Naked Ute' is the automative equivalent of the blind taste test, except that it's never been used in this category.

Most ads for utes are full of macho blokes. In this, it's purely the car that's the star, stripped of any brand clichés, judged only by its performance.

As for whether the Amarok's engines are cheaters...that's another story.

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