“The doll that chose to drive”, an animated short film signed by Proximity Barcelona, commissioned by Audi Spain for release during the holiday season, recently hit over 15 million views.
The film challenges gender differences that still exist in the worlds of play and driving by telling a story of a doll who decides to break away from the pink shelf where she lives to cross the barrier that separates her from the blue world and to drive a toy Audi R8.
The initiative, #LetsChangeTheGame encompasses more than just the film, with content designed to build the message from different perspectives. The film has a trailer, as well as some amusing bloopers.
The website www.cambiemoseljuego.com/eng contains interesting educational information created in collaboration with a specialist about the impact of play on children’s future development. It also sends out the message that “playing, like driving, shouldn’t be a matter of gender”. A limited-edition toy was produced, consisting of a toy Audi R8 and doll set, for which more than 10,000 requests were received.
DIVERGE talked to the team at Proximity to find out more about the viral sensation:
Where did the idea for the film “the doll that chose to drive” come from?
Audi wanted to launch a Christmas short film to strengthen its emotional values, specially towards women. Analyzing the role men and women have had historically on the driving world, we reached one conclusion: men have always been the drivers while women were always the passengers. Could Audi change this and put women behind the wheel?
To us, it was very important that our message was deep enough. This campaign wasn’t just about launching an equality message, but about analyzing the inequality causes to make a difference by doing something that will change this situation. That’s how we came with childhood, as it is the key moment where these differences on liking and interests are created. It is during childhood when girls face for the first time with the stereotyped concept that cars are boy’s toys. All of this background, along with the Christmas season is what gave us the perfect scenario for creating this story called ‘The doll that chose to drive’, a metaphor that tries to help breaking gender stereotypes that mark our present and can leave a mark on the future of our children.
Who is the team behind it?
Our agency, Proximity Barcelona was the leading team of this project, along with Audi Spain’s advertising team. The production company is Post23, a Barcelona based studio.
The team behind it:
Audi:
- Marketing Director: Caita Montserrat
- Head of Advertising: Edith Marzoa
- Advertising: Muntsa Pañella
Proximity Barcelona:
- General Creative Director: Eva Santos
- Creative Director: Carles Alcon
- Copies: Neus Gimenez, Laura Cuni, Edu Escudero
- Art Directors: Rodrigo Chaparreiro, Iván Aguado, David Casado
- Client Services Director: Amanda Muñiz
- Account Director: Patricia Miret
- Account Supervisors: Laia García, Carla Franco
- Strategic Planner: Patricia Urgoiti
- Digital Producer: Lluís García
- Production Director: Mercè Fernández
- Audiovisual Producer: Diana Asenjo
Post23:
- Director: Jordi Garcia
- Art Director: Bor Arroyo
- Animation Director: Hector Muñoz
- Music: Joan Martinez Colàs
Why is it significant?
One of our biggest learnings is that a project like this is completely impossible without the highest implication of a brave client and an excellent coordination between the agency and the production studio.
It takes an eager brand to commit to a message and a project like this. Audi and Proximity have worked on this project for more than a year, and all the people involved in the project have completely thrown themselves into this project. Also, the results have shown us that the quality of the production is one of the main factors of success, and Post23 did an amazing job.
Why is it so important for Audi and your agency to focus on gender equity?
Contrary to the auto stereotypes, the motor world has always been a rule-breaking sector on equality: there aren’t many sports other than automotive or motorcycling where men and women compete on the same categories. Audi has been one of the driving brands on equality: not many people know that the very first woman to win a world championship rallies race was Michele Mouton driving an Audi Quattro Sport. This is not a belief that just affects the sports, but also the company. Audi has always promoted and applied an equity social model.
We decided to focus on this value since it is one of the most relevant problematic for the society nowadays, and it is a message that has never been said before on its category. By doing so, we pretended to reinforce the equality value of the brand towards consumers, and establishing a more explicit bond with woman drivers.
People may think that in 2017 gender stereotypes don’t affect the driving world but in Spain, there are still 42% more male drivers than woman drivers, so it’s obvious that inequality still exists between genders in the driving world.
As an agency, working on a project that’s specially relevant to the society it’s very exciting and rewarding. We have felt that we were doing our bit to help creating a better world, which it is also what consumers are expecting from brands at this moment.
How can a film with no words get the message across so well? How much work/time went in to this film?
It isn’t new that images speak louder than words and this is the perfect example. Also, animation allowed us to see the world through the eyes of toys and a boy, which are more innocent and natural, creating a universal language.
Regarding time, it took us a year and half to develop the project from the very beginning. It was a whole process since we (Audi and Proximity) decided to focus on gender equity: coming up with the right approach, creating the right story for the right message, and of course, a 3D animated film is something that takes more time than other kind of productions.
#LetsChangeTheGame- What kind of response have you gotten from this?
We launched the campaign on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube on December 19th with no paid media, and the short-film went viral in a matter of hours. Nowadays it has more than 17 million views across platforms, it’s been shared more than 200.000 times and used in more than 34 countries.
The audience response has been incredible, not just in terms of numbers but also the positive sentiment that the message and the story have caused. This proves that society is eager for brands to launch committed messages, so if the message is real, launched in the correct moment and it’s well executed the chances of success are impressive. People love good stories and they are willing to share it if you touch their hearts.
Do you plan to do any additional work around it?
Audi’s values and brand pillars are what define the brand identity, just as its social component and its human side. Audi has just communicated something that’s always been part of its DNA without any pretention of turning it into a fight for recognition. There are many other brand initiatives that show Audi’s social side as Audi’s Creativity Challenge.
