Power of Online 34 | SunMatrix Ramble

Volkswagen Smileage: Road Trips with Google

With the Volkswagen Smileage app, road trips are never going to be the same again. Powered by Google the app is set to socialise road trips world over.

To start earning Smileage you have to pair the app with your car and sign in with your Google account. Once synced, the app automatically connects each time you go for a ride.

Friends can then watch and comment on your journey in real time while you earn Smileage through shared photos, kilometers, checkins, comments, likes and punches from other nearby Volkswagen’s.

The car becomes a social object

The concept here is not just “tracking”. It is making the trip legible and interactive for people who are not in the car. Your drive becomes a live story, with reactions and contributions from friends.

Automatic connection. Pair once, then the app connects when you drive.
Live participation. Friends can watch and comment in real time.
Gamified reward loop. Points are earned through trip activity and social interactions.

Why the Google sign-in matters

Signing in with a Google account signals that this is more than a standalone app. It is built to plug into existing identity, location, and potentially mapping behavior. That is what enables a smoother experience and a more connected ecosystem around the trip.

Gamification that is tied to behavior

The points system is not abstract. It is linked directly to what happens on a trip. Photos, kilometers, check-ins, comments, likes, and even “punches” from nearby Volkswagens. The incentives are designed to encourage both movement and sharing.

Drive. Kilometers and check-ins create baseline progress.
Share. Photos create moments worth reacting to.
Engage. Comments and likes add social energy.
Connect. Nearby Volkswagens add community and surprise.

In connected consumer products, engagement grows fastest when real-world activity, identity, and social participation are designed as one loop.

What to take from this if you build connected experiences

Reduce setup friction. Pair once. Auto-connect later.
Design for spectators. The audience is part of the experience, not just the driver.
Reward real activity. Gamification works best when points map to meaningful behavior.
Use social to extend usage. Trips become more memorable when others can join in.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Volkswagen Smileage?

It is an app that pairs with your Volkswagen and Google account to make road trips social, letting friends follow and comment live while you earn points for trip activity and engagement.

How do you start earning Smileage?

You pair the app with your car and sign in with your Google account. Once synced, it connects automatically each time you go for a ride.

How do you earn points in the app?

Through shared photos, kilometers, check-ins, comments, likes, and “punches” from other nearby Volkswagens.

What is the main experience benefit for users?

Road trips become shareable in real time, turning the drive into a live story that friends can react to and participate in.

What is the transferable lesson for connected products?

If you combine automatic sensing with social participation and rewards tied to real behavior, you can turn routine usage into a repeatable engagement loop.

Coca-Cola: Chok Chok

Mobile and creative thinking can come together to create really compelling marketing campaigns. In this example, Coca-Cola Hong Kong created a “Chok Chok” mobile app that turned the viewer’s smartphone into a remote control for their TV ad.

To collect the Coca-Cola bottle caps that appeared on the TV screen, viewers had to swing their phones when the ad came on. Those who successfully managed to swing and collect were instantly rewarded with prizes that included cars, sports apparel, credit card spend value, travel coupons and movie tickets.

As a result the campaign was seen by 9 million people and the app got over 380,000 downloads.

For those wondering, the bottle cap collection was enabled through the audio signal of the ad, which triggered the application and synced the user’s motion with the ad. The accelerometer in the phone was also used to assess the quality of the motion. Together they were used to catch the bottle caps virtually.

However as far as I know, Honda in the UK was the first to pioneer this kind of an interactive TV ad, even though it did not receive results like Coca-Cola.

Why this works so well

Viewer control is the hook. The ad is not just watched. It is “played” through a simple physical action.
Timing creates urgency. You have to act when the ad is live, which turns media time into a moment of participation.
Feedback is immediate. You swing, you collect, you win. The loop is easy to understand and easy to repeat.

The reusable pattern

Start with a single, unmistakable behavior the viewer can do in one second. Then use a reliable synchronization trigger (here, the ad’s audio) and a sensor input (here, the accelerometer) to connect the phone action to what happens on screen.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Coca-Cola “Chok Chok”?

It is a Coca-Cola Hong Kong mobile app that synchronizes with a TV ad and lets viewers swing their phones to collect on-screen bottle caps for prizes.

How did the app sync with the TV ad?

The app used the audio signal of the ad as the trigger, then aligned the on-screen moments with the user’s motion so “collection” happened at the right time.

What role did the accelerometer play?

The accelerometer assessed the quality of the swinging motion, helping determine whether the viewer “caught” the bottle caps virtually.

What is the main takeaway for interactive TV and second-screen work?

Make participation effortless, tie it to a tight timing window, and reward the action immediately so the viewer feels impact in the moment.

Volkswagen: Rock in Rio Drumset

A banner ad you can actually “play”

To celebrate Rock in Rio, Volkswagen built a banner execution that uses your webcam as the input device. Instead of asking you to watch, it invites you to perform, like a tiny drum solo inside a media placement.

How the mechanism earns attention

The core mechanic is simple: webcam permission turns a standard banner into an interactive surface, where your movement becomes the “controller” for the drum kit. That shifts the experience from passive exposure to active participation in a few seconds.

In brand-led entertainment marketing, the smallest possible interaction can turn a paid unit into something people choose to engage with.

Why it lands in a festival context

Rock in Rio is already about energy, performance, and communal hype. A drum kit inside a banner borrows that emotional language and makes it personal. You are not being shown “festival vibes”. You are generating them, even if it’s just for a moment at your desk.

The payoff is not the complexity. It’s the contrast: banners normally ask for a click, this one asks for a gesture. That little shift makes the format feel fresh again.

What to steal for your own work

Use one input. A single action users already understand (movement, tap, swipe) beats multi-step instructions.
Make the first five seconds obvious. If the user can’t “get it” instantly, they drop. Here, the drum metaphor does the teaching.
Match the interaction to the moment. Music festival content should feel performative. The interaction mirrors the cultural context.
Keep the reward emotional. The win is “I played it”, not “I learned a feature list”.

A few fast answers before you act

What is a webcam-controlled banner ad?

It’s a display ad unit that asks for webcam access and uses the camera feed as a live input, usually via motion detection, to let the viewer interact with the creative.

Why use a webcam in a banner at all?

Because it turns a standard media placement into an experience. That can increase attention and memorability when the interaction is instantly understandable.

What makes this Rock in Rio execution work?

The interaction fits the occasion. A drum kit is a native “festival” object, and the gesture-based control makes the format feel playful instead of intrusive.

What’s the main risk with webcam-based ads?

Friction and trust. If the value isn’t obvious, users will refuse permissions or bounce. The creative must communicate intent and payoff immediately.

What’s the simplest modern takeaway?

Give the audience a one-step action that creates a visible result. If the interaction is clear and rewarding, the format becomes the message.