Jack Morton revs up for VW launch

Jack Morton Worldwide is to create a brand video for the consumer launch of Volkswagen’s luxury VW Phaeton car at the Geneva Motor Show and a brand experience for dealers.

The video will depict the brand essence of the car and, in particular, the lifestyle of the VW Phaeton’s target customer.

The brand experience will be designed for the 6000 dealers attending a Volkswagen trade event in Dresden in May. The event is split into 13 sessions, each lasting 24 hours and attended by 450 dealers.

‘We want to immerse them in the world of the Phaeton customer, who is highly aspirational,’ says Jack Morton Worldwide managing director Laurence Croneen.

‘Through a 24-hour experience the dealers will learn about the car and the lifestyle of its customers,’ he adds.

Of the 450 dealers at each session half will test-drive the car while the rest will visit the state-of-the-art production plant Volkswagen opened in December 2001 to see how it is manufactured.

In the evening they will all attend a social event at which the consultancy will have designed four areas, each representing the ‘different elements’ of the lives of the VW Phaeton customer. These are ‘quality, fascinating, perfection and attention to detail’, Croneen says.

‘We want to demonstrate how Volkswagen is breaking into new dimensions,’ he says.

The project is being jointly handled out of Jack Morton’s UK and Germany offices. The consultancy, which was appointed at the beginning of the month, won the work following a creative pitch.

Volkswagen hopes that its new car, which goes on sale in the autumn, will rival the Mercedes-Benz S-class in the upper-luxury segment.