Renault launches The Mégane Experiment
Renault today launches a new advertising campaign for the Mégane, created by Publicis London.
The campaign, called ‘The Mégane Experiment’, is the film of an actor named ‘Claude’ who goes to Gisburn, Lancashire where there are no Méganes, and convinces villagers he is a ‘joie de vivre’ expert from Menton, Côte d’Azur, France, where there are many.
Over the course of the week, he calls a meeting to explain that villages and towns with more Méganes have higher fertility rates, berates the locals for their lack of ‘joie’, convinces the proprietor of the White Bull to convert his pub to the ‘Boeuf Blanc’ complete with an accordion player, teaches the meaning of ‘joie de vivre’ to the primary school, gets interviewed by a member of the local Press and, finally, puts on the ‘Festival de Joie’ on the local playing fields.
The film was directed by Oscar-nominated director Henry-Alex Rubin, who shot 48 hours of film over five days and described Claude as a "French Borat with a heart." Over the course of the shoot, the actor offered raffle tickets in exchange for test drives in his Mégane, which he gives away at the ‘Festival de Joie’. Despite taking place in the rain, it still attracted an impressive 300 locals, from its total population of only 500.
The integrated campaign encompasses TV, cinema, national press and digital including pre-roll and banner advertising, website TheMeganeExperiment.com and social media activity on sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
A short documentary with behind the scenes footage of the campaign is hosted on the TheMeganeExperiment.com website, which also gives people the chance to win prizes, a ‘Joie de Vivre’ psychometric test and a chance to compare how joyful their community is with others.
More Mégane attributes can be discovered via a fourth section, where Claude, and his new English friend ‘Hughie’, star in a series of short, humorous video clips. Content is replicated at the Facebook fanpage, www.facebook.com/MeganeUK, and the commercials and video clips will also be posted on the ‘Renault UK official’ YouTube channel.
The teaser campaign, which comprised TV, press and banner ads, drove people to the website TheMeganeExperiment.com, where they could bet on aspects of Claude’s 10-day journey from his home in the South of France to Gisburn with gaming ‘chips’ awarded by Facebooking friends.
The Mégane Experiment has been created by Publicis London in collaboration with Publicis Modem (digital), OMD (media planning and buying), Sputnik (PR), Jam (social media) and This Is Real Art (design).
Phil York, Marketing Director, Renault UK, comments, ”We wanted a campaign which broke from the norm, so a humorous, lighthearted Anglo-French cultural comparison of two such distinct villages works well for our brand. The Mégane is an iconic symbol of French ‘joie de vivre’ and we’re hopeful that getting more of them on the road over here will not just bring a little more happiness to the residents of Gisburn, but also the rest of Britain too.”
Tom Ewart, Executive Creative Director, Publicis, says, ”This isn’t just a TV campaign, our ambition was to create content without form and adapt it to every format at our disposal – broadcast, digital, social media and editorial PR.”
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Katherine Clarke, Sputnik Communications
020 7439 2780
Katherine.clarke@sputnikcomms.co.uk
Mike Gale/Jeremy Townsend, Renault UK
01923 697653/01923 697592
Mike.gale@renault.co.uk or Jeremy.townsend@renault.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Renault
The Renault Group designs, engineers, manufactures and sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles throughout the world. The Renault Group is present in 118 countries and sells vehicles under its three brands - Renault, Dacia and Samsung. The Renault Group generated revenues of 31,951 million euros in 2009 and employs 121,000 people worldwide.
The Renault Mégane is one of Europe's best-selling cars. Originally launched in 1995, today's third-generation range, recently completed with the launch of the fully-folding glass roof Coupé-Cabriolet, comprises a five-door Hatch, three-door Coupé, high-performance Renaultsport 250 and estate, Sport Tourer.
About Publicis Group UK
Publicis Group UK is part of the Publicis Group Worldwide, one of the world's leading communications networks. In the UK the Group consists of five brands: Publicis London, Publicis Dialog, Publicis Modem, Publicis Blueprint and Publicis Entertainment. Each is a leading exponent in their individual disciplines, with different skill sets and expertise across advertising, demand generation and crm, digital solutions, entertainment and content solutions and contract publishing. In the UK the group works with companies including Renault, British Army, LG and easyJet.