Volkswagen Blue Motion Roulette
Volkswagen did put itself in a big trouble by cheating on emission tests, but before this scandal erupted in 2015, Volkswagen was known as one of the most reliable and fuel efficient vehicle brands in Europe.
Volkswagen Blue Motion Roulette campaign held in Norway in 2011 was one of most successful campaigns done by Volkswagen that vastly increased the public’s awareness for fuel economy. The purpose of the campaign was to prove fuel efficiency of the new Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion, which was the biggest strength of this vehicle. Volkswagen wanted to present this in an interesting and memorable way to the public, because “0.38 litres per mile (diesel)” was something that meant little to the consumers who are not absolutely sensitive about fuel economy.
So instead, Volkswagen decided to make a cellphone game, where consumers were encouraged to guess when and where a Volkswagen Golf Blue Motion vehicle fully loaded with diesel will stop on the E6 highway on Norway. Two weeks later the release of the game, Volkswagen featured the actual vehicle running on the highway, and consumers also could see where the vehicle was heading through their cellphones. Because one could only play the game once, and also because the prize for guessing correctly was the vehicle itself, many participants spent great deal of time studying the vehicle and trying to make an accurate estimation. At the end, the vehicle stopped 1,570 km north of Oslo, running for 27 hours. Aftermath of the campaign (including the lucky winner) was later featured through TV advertisement.
During a month of the campaign’s running time more than 160,000 people visited Blue Motion Campaign’s website, and this gamification strategy greatly increased sales of the vehicle.