ŠKODA lands an Internet hit with its viral campaign developed by Fallon Prague for the world premiere of the KODIAQ

ŠKODA’s video on the news and entertainment platform BuzzFeed was clicked on one million times in the first 24 hours, with more than fourteen million views after 10 days. Developed by Fallon Prague, a part of global creative enterprise, Publicis One and ŠKODA’s lead agency for global advertising, the intelligent and entertaining clip demonstrates how children who have grown up with smartphones discover nature. The ‘Reconnect’ cross-media campaign was launched ahead of the world premiere of the ŠKODA KODIAQ on 1st September in Berlin. For ŠKODA, inspiring content and emotive stories on interactive platforms are an integral part of its brand communication

ŠKODA has landed a worldwide viral triumph with its emotive and entertaining video clip. The video, which is part of the media campaign for the world premiere of the new large ŠKODA KODIAQ SUV on 1st September, was first posted on BuzzFeed’s (a news and entertainment platform) popular Facebook page. Within the first 24 hours, more than a million people had seen the clip. After ten days, ŠKODA had amassed an astonishing fourteen million views, 107,700 ‘Likes’ and 4,900 comments on the clip. 42,000 users had already shared the video on their social networks.

The clip, which struck a real chord on social media, demonstrate how children from the ‘smartphone generation’ discover nature for themselves. In short, interview-style sequences, the children initially speak about their smartphone and computer usage. Then they are confronted with real plants and animals that they can see, smell and touch. The results of this coming-together are somewhat hilarious, and have thrilled millions of people.

The ‘Kids Reacting to Nature’ video is part of the ‘Reconnect’ campaign, with which ŠKODA is preparing for the launch of the new SUV model, the ŠKODA KODIAQ. The video demonstrate how easily people can lose their sense for real things – and how simple, and at the same time beautiful, it is to reconnect to the real and natural aspects of life. This rationale also forms the theme of the ‘Reconnect’ campaign for the ŠKODA KODIAQ. The brand’s new large SUV is a vehicle that families can use to rediscover their surroundings, as well as reconnect themselves with nature and, most importantly, with each other. The ŠKODA KODIAQ is celebrating its world premiere on 1st September 2016 in Berlin. The Paris Motor Show at the start of October will be the large SUV’s international motor show debut – its market launch is scheduled for the first half of 2017.

In its brand communication, ŠKODA is increasingly focusing on emotive messages and bold stories that bring the human side of the brand to the fore. The content website letsreconnect.com is also following in the same direction – effective, short stories communicating how people engage with the things that really matter.

For Stefan Büscher, Marketing and Product Director at ŠKODA AUTO, this form of storytelling is an integral part of modern brand communication in the digital age. “This is something new for the ŠKODA brand. For the first time, at the start of the campaign, the car in question does not take centre stage in our communication straightaway. Instead, we’re emotively integrating our target audience and anchoring the core messages of the campaign using inspiring videos and interactive content,” said Büscher.

The ‘Kids’ video and its posting via the BuzzFeed channels as well as the website letsreconnect.com were conceived by ‘Fallon Prague’, ŠKODA AUTO’s lead agency for global advertising.