Volkswagen’s sales were steadily tanking for five, straight years. New owners were having a lot of little problems. Nothing big but, dealers can tell you, the third time someone has to bring a new car back, no matter why, they‘re done with the brand. For good.

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On a bright note, VW did win some J.D. Power safety awards. They asked us to quickly crank out a few, simple ads just to give salesmen something positive to talk about on the showroom floor. Then get back to our huge rebranding efforts on the value of German engineering.

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We couldn‘t help wondering, “Who’s worrying about safety when they’re car shopping?”

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Our research told us it only mattered to people who had experienced an accident first hand and realized just how fast an airbag can mean the difference between life or death.

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There it was, a huge, strategic opportunity. You can see the campaign results here: