Some of Canada’s best-known musicians have been tapped to help promote the introduction of the Volkswagen 2015 Beetle Classic to Canada.
Volkswagen is hoping personal memories of the iconic car from artists such as Jann Arden, Johnny Reid and Mother Mother will help connect more consumers to the brand.
“Beetle has a long history of being associated with music,” said Lynne Piette, Volkswagen Canada’s brand manager. “This was never planned; it just came to be an integral part of our culture.”
Volkswagen hired Rise Branded Entertainment, a recently launched creative division of Universal Music, to develop an idea and music strategy for the campaign known as “Beetle Road Stories.”
Ryan Apps, managing director or Rise, said the strategy was to connect brands with successful artists to harness the power of their networks.
“Artist collaboration is the future,” said Apps. “A brand’s social network is dwarfed by the size of an artists’ social network. How does a brand tap into that and build something authentic between a brand audience and an artist audience … and build something meaty in the middle?”
Apps said Rise was asked by Volkswagen to pitch for the upcoming campaign, which is meant to celebrate how the Beetle has touched the lives of Canadians over several generations.
Rise developed a multi-genre and multi-generation music strategy by using a range of artists under the Universal Music label. Apps describes the label’s artists as “social beacons” who are both authentic and influential in promoting the branded content.
That includes singer-songwriter Arden who reminisces about her teenage years in Calgary when she and a group of friends would cram into the back of a Beetle – including inside the trunk at the front – to save on admission at the local drive-in. “That vehicle allowed us to enjoy our youth,” Arden says in her campaign spot.
Jasmin Parkin of the indie rock band Mother Mother describes how her grandmother taught her how to drive in a yellow Beetle, while band mate Ryan Guldemond talks about the red Beetle with watermelon seat covers owned by a kindergarten teacher in the small B.C. island town where he grew up.
The campaign encourages music fans in Canada to share their own personal stories about driving in a Beetle and take an interactive tour of historic music destinations across the country on the campaign site. Participants get a chance to win prizes, including a Volkswagen Beetle Classic.
He said it was Rise’s first “full-service execution,” which includes everything from hatching the idea to matching artists, shooting the content and editing. He said DDB, Volkswagen’s agency of record, did the digital work such as the website design and interactive drive user experience.
Rise opened its doors in March, describing itself as an entertainment agency with national and international expertise in branded and broadcast entertainment, entertainment strategy, social influence management, creative services and digital development. Rise has about 36 staff with offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
Apps said Rise is set to announce two more campaigns in the coming weeks where brands are looking to link to musicians.
The “Beetle Road Stories” campaign was launched July 9, and will continue to receive social support from the artists in the campaign as well as Universal Music
