The naked ute revealed: The Volkswagen Amarok unveils new integrated campaign via DDB Sydney
CB Exclusive – It is tough, it is structurally and technologically one of the best, its engineering is second to none, it has now been proven on the roughest terrain by the toughest of critics and it was naked. No one knew what badge it bore.
Over the past week Australians have been asked to ‘Guess the Naked Ute’ via a teaser campaign via DDB Sydney, on television, social and online, with more than 100,000 ute lovers voting in an online poll.
The big reveal of the campaign came yesterday when Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles unveiled the identity of the highly talked about Naked Ute – the Volkswagen Amarok.
Says Toby Talbot, chief creative officer, DDB Group Sydney: “Australians long held the perception the Amarok was a city ute. We felt the most authentic way to challenge this perception was by stripping it bare and allowing pure performance to do the talking.
“We took the Amarok and removed the badges, removed the luxuries and comfort previously synonymous with the brand and put it to the tough test in very rough conditions by staunch critics. You can’t argue with that.”
DDB deputy ECD Cam Hoelter said the agency jumped at the chance to show that a ute engineered in Germany had all that it takes to take on Australia’s tough conditions.
Says Hoelter: “Blind taste tests have always been used to challenge preconceptions of products in advertising. But never when it comes to cars. So we asked what if people couldn’t judge the Amarok by it’s cover, but by performance alone would they reconsider what they thought of it?”
The Naked Ute is a fully integrated, through the line campaign and was launched via TVC, print and digital as well as a highly successful content campaign delivered primarily through Facebook.
The campaign started with a week long teaser period with a stripped back ‘naked ute’ featuring in a 15″ TVC that called on the public to ‘Guess the Naked Ute’. This was supported by a promoted social campaign that had separate content whereby viewers were introduced to four Aussie ute lovers who put the “Naked Ute’ through its grueling paces. New content was rolled out each day driving traffic to thenakedute.com to vote or view more.
Says Ralph Beckmann, marketing manager, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: “We wanted to really challenge some of the misconceptions around Amarok and develop a disruptive campaign to bring this to life.
“We believed many couldn’t see beyond the Volkswagen badge and the good looking exterior. So we decided to take it away and the response has been phenomenal. In our first week alone, the engagement far exceeded our expectations and it also showed us that a lot of people know their Amaroks down to bolts, suspension, stance and even the shape of the rear window.”
The campaign was produced in partnership with The Glue Society/Will O’Rourke with Matt Devine directing the TVCs and Jonathan Kneebone taking on the content challenge.
The campaign moved into its full integrated reveal phase on Sunday (January 31) with a 30sec TVC and new social content supported by online and print.
MARKETING MANAGER: Ralph Beckman
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER: Nick Reid
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS DIGITAL SPECIALIST: Emma Johnson
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER:Toby Talbot
DEPUTY EXEC CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Cam Hoelter
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: Jade Manning
SENIOR WRITER: Vincent Osmond
DESIGNER:Domenic Bartolo
MANAGING PARTNER: Amanda Wheeler
BUSINESS DIRECTOR: John Larkin
BUSINESS DIRECTOR: Astrid Noble
BUSINESS MANAGER: Chelsea Riddington
STRATEGIST: Fran Clayton
HEAD OF INTEGRATED CONTENT: Sevda Cemo
SENIOR PRODUCER: Claire Seffrin
DIGITAL SNR BUSINESS DIR: Parker Mason
CONTENT CREATOR: Robert Crispe
SOCIAL CONTENT CREATOR: Liana Rossi
CREATIVE TEC DIRECTOR: Shaun O’Connor
EXECUTIVE DIGITAL PRODUCER: Sora Nobari
SNR DIGITAL PRODUCER: Jdy Lau
DIGITAL PRODUCER:Will Kerr
FRONT END DEVELOPER: Sarah Hawes
FRONT END DEVELOPER/DESIGNER: Jennifer Wong
SENIOR PRINT PRODUCER: John Wood
SOCIAL COMMS MGR: Salil Kumar
PRODUCTION PARTNERS:
PRODUCTION HOUSE: Will O’Rourke
DIRECTOR TVC: The Glue Society’s – Matt Devine
DIRECTOR CONTENT: The Glue Society’s – Jonathan Kneebone
MANAGING DIRECTOR/ EP : Michael Ritchie
EP /HEAD OF PROJECTS: Josh Mullens
PRODUCER: Serena Paull
DOP: Ryley Brown
POST PRODUCTION:
TV/CONTENT EDITOR: Luke Crethar
COLOURIST: Yoomin Lee
POST PRODUCTION CONTENT: The Glue Society
POST PRODUCER: Scott Stirling
TV/VFX POST PROD: Heckler Films
EP POST/VFX PRODUCER: Will Alexander
POST PRODUCTION VFX/TV: Bonnie Law
PHOTOGRAPHY/SOUND:
SOUND COMPANY: Sound Reservoir
CREATIVE/SOUND ENGINEER: Paul Taylor
PHOTOGRAPHY: Janyon Boshoff
RETOUCHING: Limehouse creative
LIBRARY MUSIC: AMCOS
LIBRARY MUSIC: AUDIONET
MEDIA AGENCY: MEDIACOM
30 Comments
i used to love the Hilux ads. But this campaign makes the macho, blokey humour look really tired. It’s simple, brave and beautifully crafted. Wish I’d done it in fact. A big shout out to the agency and their client for having the balls to buy it. DDB Sydney has had their share of haters the last few years on this blog. This should silence them.
Very very well done.
Brilliant. Simple idea executed perfectly.
This is good work. Although, given the VW scam recently, somewhat ironic.
An idea with great bones.
Awesome idea. Brilliant execution that’s totally different to anything else in the category.
Outstanding. So good. Nice work V&J.
Great stuff Vade and Jince. Youknowwhattamean?
great concept!
Excellent. Some of the best work in any Aust automotive category in years.
Standout work – congrats all
It’s the Pepsi challenge blind taste test for Utes. Which is an obvious strategy given the problem is that ute drivers consider VW to be a namby pamby city boy brand.
And that will never be solvable unfortunately for VW. The logic of the argument is clear, and even the die hard blokes in the content agree that the Amarok is at least as good, if not better than the others. But would they pull up in in outside the pub all their tradie mates drink at, or outside the work site? Would they fuck.
Brilliant. Nice one Jade!
Excellent. Nice one Vince!
Nice work fellas, great to see something fresh.
Cracking idea.
Nice one DDB! Great to see work which stands out in a category that’s become very beige of late.
Nice idea. Well executed. Nice work DDB.
Congrats to all involved. Fantastic work.
Well done Janyon & Matt. And DDB team.
Really well done.
finallly DDB have actually done something. Well done, lets hope this continues, the aussie ad industry needs this.
Why did they use a fake V8 soundtrack?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g2nRu4jZlE
yes i liked this when i saw it 4 years ago
Yeah well done all. Nice.
to emmmmm
you can’t be serious.
Nice work guys. Great idea and beautifully produced.
This one from a few weeks back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6cSTBeaqFM
For the sake of the enviroment, don’t buy the diesel model.
Or the petrol version??
So exactly why are they afraid to show their badge? Could nt be related to recent controversy surrounding the brand maybe?
The Amarok ad, in which the vehicle drives into a yard, and a chained, old dog barks at the car … Then the chained, old dog lies down again. What on earth is this stupid commercial expected to do? My Mum and I hate it, as I’m sure does every “animal aware” viewer in the universe. Chained dog? Amarok more fierce than chained dog? Chained dogs synonymous with Amarok owners? This is a horrible commercial that promotes nothing about the vehicle but seems to condone chained dogs. As advertising goes, it is a FAIL FAIL FAIL.
Jut spotted this, awesome execution.