Un Coup du Coeur
French car manufacturer, Renault, teamed up with Publicis Loft to create the brand’s first animation, promoting their range of electric vehicles. Valentine’s Day can be an especially hard sales push for automotive companies. That’s what makes this activation so noteworthy. On top of going the animation route, relatively uncommon as far as car commercials go, Renault found a way to make a compelling tie-in to this rather distinctive holiday.
The Pixar-esque short film tells the story of Lars, a postman who’s struck with un coup de coeur (a crush in French) for a beautiful woman on his route, Karen. The story of course gets a happy ending after the post office upgrades Lars’ delivery truck to one of Renault’s silent electric cars. The spot ends with a caption that reads,“Everything starts with an electric moment.” Wink, wink.
The brand’s clever emotional appeal to an otherwise straightforward product feature brings together something as universal as love with something as unromantic as the silence of electric cars. Patrick Lara, Managing Director, Publicis Conseil, said, “The Postman film is a different approach to other EV content that Renault has produced in the past. We hope this romantic and funny story will drive closeness and familiarity with Renault’s audience this Valentine’s Day.”
Ads like this showcase the power of emotive storytelling, which makes all the difference: you can be a brand that gets lost among the masses or one audiences feel a connection with long after the campaign ends.
Agency: Loft Publicis Conseil (Le Loft)
Director: Akama
Producer: Wizz
Animation: NKI
Photo credits: Renault (top post) and Sweet Ice Cream Photography (bottom post)