Tag: app

Volkswagen virtual Golf Cabriolet app

The Golf Cabriolet is back after 9 years of absence, since production was stopped in 2002. Volkswagen together with Paris based agency ‘Agency.V.’ have come up with the worlds first augmented reality car showroom app for the iPad2, iPhone and Android. Here, augmented reality means using the phone or tablet screen as a lightweight showroom for a virtual version of the car.

The app lets you explore the vehicle and play with it’s features like opening the soft-top roof, rotating the car, checking the vehicle’s details, changing the body colour or the style of the rims. You can even take a picture of yourself with the virtual car and share each step of this experience through your social networks.

Why this is a useful AR showroom idea

This is a clean, practical use of augmented reality. It gives people a way to “handle” the car without needing a dealership visit. The experience stays focused on the things people actually want to try first. The roof open and close. The rotation. The color and rim changes. Because the app turns the screen into a hands-on showroom, the product feels easier to explore and share.

Extractable takeaway: AR product demos work best when they compress first-touch exploration into a few obvious actions people already want to try.

In car marketing, that shifts the first product interaction from the dealership to the viewer’s own screen.

What Volkswagen is really demonstrating here

The business intent is not to recreate the full dealership experience. It is to move the first high-interest product interaction into a portable format people can control, personalize, and share.

The real question is whether that kind of lightweight showroom removes enough friction to make early product interest feel immediate and worth passing on.

What to take from this if you are building AR product demos

  1. Prototype “touch” moments first. Opening, rotating, and quick configuration are the behaviors people expect before they care about specs.
  2. Keep the interaction set small and obvious. A few high-intent controls beat a feature dump in early-stage AR.
  3. Make sharing a natural outcome of exploration. A photo-with-the-product moment is a low-friction distribution mechanic.
  4. Use AR to remove the dealership barrier. The value is access and play, not realism for its own sake.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Volkswagen virtual Golf Cabriolet app?

An augmented reality car showroom app for iPad2, iPhone and Android that lets people explore and customize the Golf Cabriolet.

What can you do inside the app?

Open the soft-top roof, rotate the car, check details, change body colour, change rim styles, and take a photo with the virtual car to share socially.

Who created it with Volkswagen?

Paris based agency ‘Agency.V.’.

Why is this a useful AR showroom idea?

It brings the core product exploration moments onto a personal screen, so people can interact with the car before any dealership visit.

Where could people download it?

From the French iTunes Store for iPhone and iPad 2, and from the Android market for Android devices.

Volkswagen LinkedUit: A LinkedIn API Campaign

Volkswagen has released a LinkedIn-based campaign which takes full advantage of the new LinkedIn API. Here, “LinkedIn API” simply means the permissioned interface that lets an app read profile information after you sign in.

The campaign is called “LinkedUit” (LinkedOut) and gives anyone who challenges a friend on LinkedIn a chance to win a Volkswagen Passat.

The game is really simple. After signing in using your LinkedIn profile, the app lets you choose others in your network to challenge. A LinkedIn victor and a LinkedOut loser is then chosen based on education, experience, recommendations and connections.

Mechanically, the app pulls profile fields after sign-in and turns them into a score you can compare against someone in your network. This pattern is worth copying when you can explain the scoring in plain language and keep participation clearly opt-in. Because the inputs are already curated, the result feels personal with almost no extra work.

In European automotive marketing, platform-native games like this only stay credible when the data use is explicit and the scoring feels fair.

The real question is whether the value of the interaction outweighs the discomfort of being compared.

Why this is a smart use of platform data

This campaign uses something people already curate and care about. Their professional identity. Instead of asking for attention, it uses existing LinkedIn data as the raw material for the experience.

Extractable takeaway: If you can make a platform’s identity data the mechanic, you lower friction and raise relevance. But you only earn repeat use when people can predict why they won or lost.

  • Low input for users. The profile is already built. The game simply reads it.
  • High personal relevance. Comparisons feel personal because they are based on your own history.
  • Built-in social spread. Challenges create a natural loop through networks.

The Passat benefit: “feature-rich” as a metaphor

The creative link is straightforward. Passat equals feature-rich. LinkedIn profile equals information-rich. The experience makes the metaphor tangible by turning profile depth into a competitive score.

That kind of metaphor works when it is easy to explain in one sentence and easy to experience in one click.

What makes this type of social game succeed or fail

  1. Fair scoring logic. If the rules feel arbitrary, people reject the result.
  2. Fast time-to-result. The payoff must arrive quickly after sign-in.
  3. Friendly rivalry. Challenges should feel playful, not judgmental.
  4. Clear reward. A chance to win a Passat is a simple, memorable incentive.

What to take from this if you are building platform-native campaigns

  • Use the platform’s native data as the experience. The more you rely on what already exists, the lower the friction.
  • Make the mechanic social by default. Challenges, invites, and comparisons drive distribution.
  • Keep the brand connection clean. One strong metaphor beats multiple weak links.
  • Design for credibility. When you use personal data, transparency and perceived fairness matter.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Volkswagen “LinkedUit”?

It is a LinkedIn-based campaign that uses LinkedIn profile data to create a challenge game, giving participants a chance to win a Volkswagen Passat.

How does the game determine a winner?

The app compares elements such as education, experience, recommendations, and connections to choose a “LinkedIn victor” and a “LinkedOut” loser.

Why is the LinkedIn API important here?

Because it enables the experience to pull in profile information automatically, making the game quick to start and personally relevant without extra data entry.

What is the creative link to the Passat?

The campaign uses the idea that the new Passat is full of features, just like a LinkedIn profile is full of information, then turns that into a competitive mechanic.

What is the main lesson for social platform campaigns?

If you build around native identity and data, and make the interaction social by default, you can create an experience that spreads through the network naturally.

Renault Espace: iPad 360° View

The Renault Espace is a large MPV from French car-maker Renault. With a new iPad app, Renault gives users an onboard view of the Espace like never before.

The application is a 360 degree interactive video. All you need to do is tilt your iPad and explore different angles as if you were right there.

A virtual showroom that behaves like your head

The mechanism is refreshingly direct. The app uses the iPad’s motion sensors to map physical movement to viewpoint changes inside the car. Instead of tapping through static photos, you “look around” by moving the device. It is a smart use of motion sensing because it keeps the interface invisible and the focus on the cabin.

In automotive consideration journeys, anything that increases spatial understanding of the interior helps bridge the gap between online browsing and a test drive.

Why it lands

Interior experience is one of the hardest things to communicate in standard car marketing. This solves that by letting the user control perspective. It also creates a calmer kind of interactivity. No menus, no instructions, no friction. Just tilt and explore.

Extractable takeaway: When your product has a strong spatial component, give people viewer control over perspective. It builds confidence faster than adding more copy.

What Renault is really trying to achieve

The real question is whether this kind of “tilt to explore” experience reduces uncertainty enough to make a showroom visit feel worth it.

This is a digital test-sit, a lightweight simulation of sitting in the cabin so you can judge layout and comfort before a showroom visit. It is designed to make the Espace feel accessible before a showroom visit, and to reduce uncertainty about cabin layout, visibility, and perceived comfort. Done well, it also keeps attention longer than a typical brochure flow.

Steal this for spatial product demos

  • Use motion as navigation. If the device supports it, motion control can feel more natural than UI controls.
  • Keep the interaction single-mode. One behaviour. Tilt to look. That simplicity is the feature.
  • Prioritise the interior. For family vehicles, cabin experience often sells more than exterior styling.
  • Let curiosity drive. Give users freedom to explore, rather than forcing a predetermined tour.
  • Make it fast to load. Interactive video dies when buffering becomes the dominant experience.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this Renault Espace iPad app in one sentence?

It is an iPad experience that uses a 360 degree interactive onboard video so users can tilt the device to explore the Espace interior from different angles.

Why use 360 video instead of a standard photo gallery?

Because it communicates space and layout more effectively. Users can look where they want, which reduces uncertainty faster than scrolling images.

What makes “tilt to explore” feel intuitive?

It mirrors how people look around in real life. Physical movement maps directly to viewpoint changes, so interaction feels natural.

What is the main execution risk?

Performance. If motion tracking feels laggy, or the video quality is poor, users will abandon quickly and the experience will feel like a gimmick.

What should you measure if you ship this type of experience?

Time spent, percentage of users who explore multiple viewpoints, completion rate, repeat sessions, and whether it correlates with test-drive requests or dealer inquiries.