Volkswagen

Everything other than Traditional TV and Print, and some of that too.

Volkswagen was a unique client in that they had a desire to be on top of everything new, married to a willingness to try anything once. While my primary role as a Creative Director was working with my partner to manage vw.com, it also meant that we were responsible for the dealership materials, the promotions, the partnerships, the AutoShow films and anything else that came along that didn’t fit into the world of TV or Print. Online we invented things like vwfilms (a full year before BMW Films), an online radio station, Radiovw.com that turned visitors onto music we used in the TV spots and music that we just personally liked. It ran 24/7 and had an average listening time of about half an hour (before iTunes and other internet radio properties). We also did the ads and wild postings to promote it. We turned brochures into entertaining DVDs complete with links to the web for updated product info and promotions. And in doing this we saved VW boatloads of cash they would have spent on printing and shipping. And we gave the dealers a new kind of sales tool that made selling cars fun. Of course, along the way we made tons of minisites and banner ads and landing pages as well as a complete re-design of vw.com including a super-successful redesign of the "locate a new or used VW near you" section.

After 5 years as Creative Director on Volkswagen, there wasn’t much I didn’t do in the world of digital or traditional or non-traditional. Winning all the awards was great, but working in a no-holds-barred, creative-comes-first environment with a client cheering us along the whole time was the best part of the whole experience.

(NOTE: I directed the two Concept Car films below: Microbus and Dune.)