E-cars are the future of transportation. But one major obstacle for e-mobility to take off is that people don’t know much about it. Volkswagens vision is to change that and came to us with a mission: democratize e-mobility and make people realize that e-mobility is possible for everyone. So we brought in two persons that ought to know more about the future than anyone in this galaxy: William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek.

Using Shatner and Nimoy as ambassadors for the future we created a digital platform that educated people about e-mobility. I developed the concept for the website, worked with the UX and wrote copy for the e-mobility bot.

To get people´s attention we needed to make e-mobility fun. Therefore we created an interactive chatbot featuring Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner from Star Trek. The bot was filled with facts about e-mobility and its language were adjusted to Nimoy and Shatner unique tonality, generating a richer experience that added a feeling of Star Trek and future.
We programmed the bot so that Shatner and Nimoy didn’t just answer but also asked people follow-up questions, always with a touch humor. This increased the chances that the user would stay onsite which in turn gave us more time to educate her about e-mobility.

Q: Why are electric cars so ugly?

Have a look at the e-Golf and compare it to a classic Golf – can you see any difference? Or check out the XL1 – it makes my spaceship look like a medieval monastery.

Q: How safe is it to drive an electric car?

Fear not, Volkswagens advanced safety systems will protect you from evil forces. You can read more about them here. (Link to Volkswagens safety systems page)

Q: Are electric cars complicated to use?

An electric car is not as complicated as my previous vehicle, I can tell you that much. In fact, I can control the charging from my phone so I don´t even need my Tricorder anymore.

Q: Where can I buy an XL1?

Sign up for the world´s most fuel-efficient car here and drive where no man has driven before.(Link to XL1 signup page)

Client
Volkswagen

Agency
DDB Berlin

Credits
Ray Ho (Creative Director), Stephan Schäfer (Creative Director), Kim Hartman (Concept), Lukas Doraciotto (Digital Art Director), Ron Schmidt (Senior Designer), Peter Burri (UX Designer), Amanda Perensin (Art Director)