Volkswagen Explores a Car's 'Blind Spot' to Shine a Light on Safety

If other cars on the road fade from view in a driver’s blind spot, imagine how easily a motorcycle or bicycle could go undetected?

Timed to Motorcycle Awareness Month, Volkswagen South Africa created “The Blind Spot,” an installation that illustrates an important safety issue while positioning VW’s tech as the solution.

“Dealerships are often crowded with cars, so we needed to disrupt the space with something that really caught the public’s eye,” says Alex Goldberg, creative director at Ogilvy S.A. “The bigger the installation (7.8ft x 7.8ft x 20ft), the greater the reveal when people discovered what was hiding in plain sight.”

VW placed installations at key dealerships and conferences, with a roadshow kicking off soon.

In the video below, people who were in accidents where drivers couldn’t see them view the work head-on. When they do so, they see what appears to be a large black circle.

The side-view, however, reveals what’s hidden inside the circle—either a bicyclist or a delivery driver on a motorcycle.

The campaign promotes VW’s IQ Drive, which helps drivers avoid accidents with objects in their blind spot. The concept was six years in the making. This BTS clip gives a glimpse of the prototype:

“To ensure the installations were as realistic as possible, we worked with specialized product designers to develop accurate to scale replicas of those most at risk on the road—food delivery drivers and cyclists,” Goldberg tells Muse. “These were then primed and treated with Black 3.0, a paint so black it removes definition, rendering 3D objects into 2D surfaces, essentially turning objects ‘invisible’ when placed on a background.”

Click images to enlarge:

CREDITS

Client: Volkswagen South Africa
Agency: Ogilvy South Africa
Product Design: Thingking
Production Company: Run Jump Fly

Client: Volkswagen South Africa
Product: Blind Spot Monitor
Title: Blind Spot
Agency: Ogilvy South Africa
Brand Chairperson and Managing Director: Martina Biene
Brand Director: Steffen Knapp
Marketing Communications Manager: Bridget Harpur
Global Chief Creative Officer: Liz Taylor
Chief Executive Officer & Creative Chairman: Pete Case
Managing Director: Vicki Buys
Executive Creative Director: Camilla Clerke
Creative Director: Alex Goldberg
Copywriter: Alex Goldberg
Senior Art Director: Annie Bekker
Art Director: Ryan Barkhuizen
Group Head / 3D Motion Designer: Neill Pretorius
Junior Motion Designer: Nina Roodbol
Producer: Sarah Rayner
Project Manager: Melissa Forgus
Business Director: Julian Hendrickse
Product Designer: Cliff Beckett
Product Design: ThingKing
Production Company: Run Jump Fly
Lead Producer: Devin Armstrong:
DOP & Editor: Sheldon Yoko
Producer & Editor: Dirk Coetsee
Executive producer: Tristan Coetzee
Welder: Kenny the legend
Spraypainter: Brendon @ Tinsley Woodcrafters
Production: Zahur Ameeroedien, Vincent Madziva, Ethan Elinhorn
Lead Production: Marc Nicolson