Who: Volkswagen Canada with Taxi/Type1 for creative and strategy.
What: The “Cleaner Car Cover,” a pollution-absorbing car cover custom made for VW’s all-electric ID.4. The covers were produced in partnership with Canadian nanotechnology company FN Nano, using their patented photocatalytic coating. Taxi/Type1 created the packaging, website, and supporting assets.
What: The “Cleaner Car Cover,” a pollution-absorbing car cover custom made for VW’s all-electric ID.4. The covers were produced in partnership with Canadian nanotechnology company FN Nano, using their patented photocatalytic coating. Taxi/Type1 created the packaging, website, and supporting assets.
When & Where: VW Canada started the initiative by sending the Cleaner Car Cover to 100 new ID.4 owners. Promotion is underway through CRM, and social, including a 50-second video spot, and a dedicated microsite.
Why: The initiative is in line with VW’s “Electric Feels Good” platform that encourages car owners to purchase electric vehicles to help better the environment. “[The platform] centres around the belief that doing good also feels good,” Volkswagen’s director, marketing, Lynne Piette, told The Message. “For us, that means everything from bringing exciting new EVs to Canada, to creating a car cover that not only protects the vehicle but the environment as well.”
“At its core, the Cleaner Car Cover was created to welcome some of the first owners of the all-electric ID.4,” said Taxi’s associate creative director, Zachary Richman. “But it goes beyond that—by being a real demonstration of VW’s larger commitment to sustainability.”
How: VW partnered with nanotechnology company FN Nano to develop these custom-fit car covers for the ID.4 all-electric SUV. The active ingredient in the covers is titanium dioxide, an ingredient found in mineral sunscreen that reflects UVA and UVB rays, and has been successfully used in coatings on buildings and roads to reduce air pollution.
Repurposed for the Cleaner Car Cover, the titanium dioxide coating becomes activated by daylight and absorbs pollutants from the surrounding environment to break them down into organic compounds like water.
Though just 100 car covers were sent to existing owners of the ID.4, VW has potential plans to expand the cover line-up in the future. “Owners of the ID.4 love their all-electric SUV. And as EV owners, they’re also passionate about the planet. So we wanted to create an accessory that would help protect both,” said Piette, in a release.
The product innovation arrives on the heels of VW Canada's introduction of an all-electric reimagining of the VW microbus, expected to arrive in late 2024. The adaption of the nostalgic VW vehicle represents the positive association with electric vehicles and their ability to help improve the environment.
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