| Title | POLO SAFETY SHOOT |
| Brand | VOLKSWAGEN BELGIUM |
| Product/Service | NEW VOLKSWAGEN POLO |
| Category |
E03. Innovative Use of Technology |
|
Entrant
|
DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
|
|
Idea Creation
|
DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
|
Credits
| Peter Ampe |
DDB Brussels |
Creative Director |
| Frederic Zouag |
DDB |
Creative |
| Nicolas Gaspart |
DDB |
Creative |
| Jonathan D'Oultremont |
DDB |
Creative |
| Philippe Gerin |
DDB |
Strategic Planner |
| Sylvie De Couvreur |
DDB |
Account Director |
| Quentin Maryns |
DDB |
Client producer |
| Anneleen Vande Voorde |
DDB |
Account Executive |
| Brigitte Verduyckt |
DDB |
Art Buyer |
| Frederik Buyckx |
Frederik Buyckx |
Photography |
| Fish Eye |
Fish Eye |
Technical production |
| Benjamin Hiffe |
DDB |
DTP |
| Dagmar Duportail |
Breakfast Club |
Producer |
| Hans Michiels |
DDB |
Client Producer |
The Campaign
In September 2017, Volkswagen launched the New Polo. A popular car in a very crowded car market. It had to make a stand for itself to promote its newest iteration. Fortunately, it comes standard packed with technology making the car one of the safest in its category. We had to raise awareness for the New Polo by continuing to build on its known safety elements, but adding a layer of excitement as well.
One of its technological features is its pedestrian detection which not only recognises pedestrians in front of the car, but also initiates an emergency brake if the driver doesn’t respond in time. By combining this feature with a mounted camera on the car which detects if and when it’s activated, we let the New Polo take pictures of the people it saved. This resulted in a series of real-life pictures demonstrating the use of this life-saving feature.
Creative Execution
To demonstrate the New Polo’s pedestrian detection, we fitted it with an SLR camera and a wide-angle lense. A webcam connected the camera to the Polo’s dashboard. If the webcam detected the pedestrian detection icon lighting up, the camera automatically took a picture of whatever was happening in front of the car. Driving around with this setup resulted in a series of pictures demonstrating the real-life use of the Polo’s pedestrian detection. Thus, making an abstract piece of technology tangible and showing its life-saving potential.
Three of these pictures were used in a national outdoor campaign to support the New Polo’s launch. To reinforce the pictures we opted for a simple but direct copy line: “Saved by the New Polo”. This highlighted the fact that these were real people and that they Polo’s safety isn’t only for those on the inside, it’s for those on the outside as well.