Citroën // The Ënd of an Ëra
Client: Citroën
Agency: Havas Germany
Category: 360 Campaign
Date: 2019
If you buy a car in Germany, you have many manufacturers in the relevant set, just not Citroën. No wonder the brand awareness of the brand is in the basement.
For Citroën’s 100th birthday, it was time to make a change. So we changed the name: Citroën became Zitrön – the way the Germans have always pronounced it. The rebranding was everywhere. And with an agile and multi-channel campaign, we told the Zitrön story.
Case Film
Mockumentary
The rebranding sparked a lot of discussion. And we added fuel to the fire – with a fictional documentary about a Citroën car dealer who didn’t like the new name at all. And it took him quite some time to realize what advantages the renaming would bring him and his team.
The protagonist and his team scored points with the community with a lot of self-irony. Even die-hard VW fans celebrated the movie.
Rebranding of all channels
The illusion around the rebranding should be
as real as possible, so Citroën was replaced
by Zitrön on every channel. Even the customer
service department used Zitrön.
Traditional communication
Zitrön was not only everywhere in the
digital channels, we also promoted the
rebranding in the traditional channels –
whether POS, radio or print.
Digital content
To generate even more attention,
we promoted the rebranding with social ads and
created online snippets to further feed the community.
We also had influencers report on Zitrön.
Reactions on the internet
Some loved Zitrön. Some didn’t.
But everyone had an opinion
on the new name. Above all,
other brands and even the competition
celebrated Zitrön.
Zitrön Z5
The community wanted it, we built it:
an unique Zitrön Z5 Aircross,
that only a fan could win in an online language test.
Press
There was hardly anyone who did not report –
from the USA to Russia.
Results
CREDITS:
Executive Creative Director: Torsten Pollmann
Creative Director: Tobias Rabe, Tobias von Aesch
Copy: Yanick Fischer, Leonid Ryazanskiy, Fabian Haag, Tobias Rabe
Art Direction: Vanessa Gayanelo, Melanie Drechsler,
Gerald Giebel, Sebastian Kollat