Volkswagen Powered an Entire Music Video With an Electric Car Battery, and Fans Were Into It

Few things spark more well-deserved skepticism than the phrase "branded music video." But Volkswagen and agency Nord DDB came up with one that steers clear of being cringeworthy and falling into the usual product-worship clichés. "Electric" is a cover of Swedish artist Leila K's 1995 track from the Eurodance era, this time covered by another Swede: electro punk musician Rein. To promote its investment in 100 percent electric cars, Volkswagen created a video for the cover and powered the shoot off just one battery from an e-Golf: [kickout id="1"] "Both Rein and 'Electric' felt like an obvious collab for our electric car venture," says Jeanette Asteborg, marketing director at Volkswagen Sweden. "The song is a timeless classic with a focus on electricity. It is a difficult song to take on, but when we heard Rein we felt that she could both carry the song but also make it even more 'electric.'" Fan response to the video was quite positive, with nearly 800,000 views on YouTube so far. That's pretty impressive for a cover of a 24-year-old song that only charted Top 10 in Sweden and Finland. And many of the comments left by Swedes referred to it as one of the only ads they've ever enjoyed watching: "The first time I really appreciated an advertising break," commented one. "Thanks for the advertising you actually look forward to," wrote another. The video is part of a larger VW campaign called "Let's Get Electric," which has also included videos demonstrating an electric car battery powering a massive wind turbine or an industrial electromagnet. "We wanted to illustrate the power a car battery actually has," says Simon Higby, creative at Nord DDB. "'Kilowatt hours' doesn’t really say much to most people. That’s why we chose to create these examples, where we show what you could do with the power in a battery—pop 44 cubic meters of popcorn, run a rock concert or drive 300 kilometers, for example." Here's a look behind the scenes at the video and larger campaign: [kickout id="2"] If you're not Scandinavian or a big fan of global dance music, you might have missed the original "Electric" back in its day. Here's what Leila K's original video looked like: [kickout id="3"] CREDITS: Volkswagen Passenger Cars Jeanette Asteborg –Marketing Director Carl Sundstedt –Commercial Manager Sara Brunfelter – Content Manager Marcus Thomasfolk – Head of Communication Fredrik Wiss –Product Manager, Electric Vehicles Nord DDB Maja Björklén – Client Director Therese Loodin – Client Manager Andreas Dahlqvist - Chief Creative Officer Simon Higby - Creative Lead Patrik Pagréus – Art Director Hans Malm – Copywriter Per Sundin – Copywriter Susanne Johansson – PR Director Jesper Andersson – Communications Planner Jesper Hellzen - Design Director Katarina Streiler - Creative Designer Mikael Norberg – Designer Martin Thor – Designer Eddie Werholm – Designer Anna Lisspers – Print Byer Emelie Thorén - Social Media & Content Manager Mattias Nordenham – Digital Designer Magnus Widén - Tech Director Stefan Wikström - Digital Producer Animation - Nico Knudsen Photo – Hans Malm House Agency Agency Producer: Per Welén Postproduction, House Agency Postproducers: Tomas Wall / Jakob Andersson Artists: Jakob Andersson / Robert Eskekärr Behind the scenes: Director BTS / Producer BTS: Matilda Callenbo Editors: Haris Badic / Edward Lever Online / Grade: Edward Lever VFX: Tomas Wall Production company: Aspekt Director: Linnéa Bergman Producer: Nathalie Cohen Production Manager: Andreas Hansson Executive Producer: Kim Buisson DOP: Gösta Reiland Gaffer: Peter Kjellberg Grip: Emil Hall Set Designer: Tobias Allanson Styling/ costume: Martin Bergström Hair/makeup: Josefina Zarman Editor: Alexander Peri Postproduction and Online: Kalle Lundberg Grade: Nicke Jacobsson VFX: ILP Sound mix: Fredrik Sundberg Plopp Song Artist: Rein Title: Electric Producers: Jocke Åhlund and Tony Senghore Label: Playground Music PR: Elin Hedman PR Media agency: PHD

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Volkswagen Powered an Entire Music Video With an Electric Car Battery, and Fans Were Into It

Nord DDB brings back a 1995 Swedish dance hit

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David Griner