The winning idea of the Volkswagen fun theory award was submitted by Kevin Richardson, USA.
Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do? This was the question Kevin’s idea answered and it was so good that Volkswagen, together with The Swedish National Society for Road Safety, actually made this innovative idea a reality in Stockholm, Sweden.
October seems to be a month of innovative test drive campaigns. In this campaign, ad agency AlmapBBDO Brazil has created a neat interactive meets experiential campaign.
The idea was to create a virtual test drive for Volkswagen’s new Amarok that people could experience live from their home or office. So a huge outdoor test track was setup, along with an automated car that takes your virtual test drive directions over the phone while you watch it live on your computer.
The campaign had 327 live test drives, 500,000+ unique site visitors and generated 7,392 online purchase intentions during the campaign period.
The smart move is that the interaction is not simulated on a screen. The driving happens in the real world, on a physical track, with a real vehicle. Your input is remote, but the outcome is tangible and visible live. That combination makes the experience feel more like participation than advertising.
What is the Volkswagen Amarok Live Test Drive?
A virtual test drive experience where people remotely guided an automated Amarok on a real outdoor track via phone instructions while watching live online.
Who created the campaign?
AlmapBBDO Brazil.
What made it different from a normal online test drive?
Instead of a digital simulation, a real vehicle drove a real track live, responding to the user’s directions.
What results were reported?
327 live test drives, 500,000+ unique site visitors, and 7,392 online purchase intentions during the campaign period.
What’s the transferable lesson?
If you can combine remote control with live, physical proof, you can turn “watching” into “doing” and generate measurable intent.
In India, Volkswagen has created a “talking” press ad that makes a newspaper behave like a greeting card. Reports described it as one of the most talked about topics of the day on Facebook and Twitter, because the ad does something print is not supposed to do. It speaks.
If you bought the Times of India edition carrying the special wrap, you would have seen a clutter-breaking execution with a built-in audio module. When you open the newspaper, a light-sensitive sensor acts like a switch and the message starts playing. Fold the paper and the audio shuts off.
The activation is widely reported as part of Volkswagen’s launch push for the Vento, executed at massive scale in India’s daily press.
The genius here is not the audio file. It is the interface. Open equals on. Close equals off. That single rule makes the experience feel magical, because it requires no instructions and no “tech literacy”. The paper itself becomes the power button.
It also creates a physical moment of surprise in an environment that is normally predictable. You expect ink. You do not expect a voice.
In mass-circulation newspaper markets, turning a silent medium into a sensory one is a reliable way to earn attention, as long as the mechanic is instant and self-explanatory.
The format does the distribution work. People do not share “a new car ad”. They share “my newspaper started talking”. That is the difference between a message and a story.
It also turns the reader into a demonstrator. Once you discover it, you want to show someone else by repeating the action. Open. Close. Open again. That loop is built for office desks, breakfast tables, and social feeds.
The business intent is to make “arrival” unmissable. A new model launch needs attention in a crowded category, and this format forces a moment of engagement even if someone is only half-reading the paper.
It also signals “German engineering” through the medium itself. The ad does not just claim innovation. It performs it.
A small audio module is attached to the printed wrap or page. A light-sensitive sensor detects when the paper is opened and triggers playback. Closing or folding the paper stops the audio.
Because it forces a moment of attention through surprise, and it creates a story people repeat. The format itself becomes the message.
Launch moments, announcements, and “new arrival” messaging, where the job is to break through clutter and get people talking immediately.
Annoyance. If the audio is too loud, too long, or hard to stop, the novelty flips into irritation. The on and off behavior must feel fully under the reader’s control.
Earned mentions, correct retelling of the mechanic, and immediate brand linkage to the intended message. If people talk about the talking paper but forget the brand, you paid for novelty, not impact.
