In a first-of-its-kind media activation, we transformed a popular television station’s unused overnight airtime into a 4-hour long comedy special starring improv comedian Pier-Luc Funk, and a charging All-Electric Volkswagen ID.4.
Sans Émission
Volkswagen turns 4 hours of dead airtime into showtime
Client
- Volkswagen
Office
- Canada
- Montreal
With more automotive brands advertising their respective electric vehicles in Quebec (Canada’s largest EV market by volume), standing apart from the increasing category noise has become more difficult. Volkswagen is a smaller brand in Canada, without the marketing budgets to compete on share-of-voice alone.
In Quebec, many TV networks stop broadcasting during the late hours of the night. One of these networks, popular entertainment channel NOOVO, has never broadcasted anything between the hours of 2 AM and 6 AM in its history.
Locals call this off-air time ‘Sans Émission’, which translates to ‘No broadcast signal’. But ‘Sans Émission’ also has a second meaning: ‘No gas emissions’, in reference to electric vehicles.
Playing with the double meaning of ‘Sans Émission’, we partnered with Noovo to turn their unused airtime into a first of its kind media stunt: a 4-hour long comedy special starring comedian Pier-Luc Funk and a charging Volkswagen EV.
The overnight broadcast saw over 63,000 people tune in between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Based on total viewers, this put Sans Émission in the top 6 most-watched live shows on Noovo. Notably, every other show in Noovo’s top 10 most-watched list aired during primetime.
This exposure translated into significant increases across Volkswagen’s marketing funnel:
• +15% awareness of Volkswagen as an EV brand†
• +40% familiarity of the all-electric ID.4†
• +54% consideration (94% would now consider buying an ID.4)†
• +100% purchase intent†
The campaign delivered strong business results:
• +64% in ID.4 web-order-form engagements on Volkswagen’s website following the live broadcast˚
• +49% growth in Volkswagen’s share of the Quebec EV market
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Awards
2024 Cannes Lion
Media — Use of Channel Integration
Silver
The Clios Awards
2024
Grand Prix
Marketing Awards
2024
2 Gold
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