Short Summary

When the Beijing Autoshow was cancelled because of Covid, WeiMa, an EV start-up, took it online and created China’s first livestream autoshow, even recreating the Maven, it's concept car (stuck in customs) from scratch.

Challenge:

Over 500 electric vehicles startups were registered in China in 2019, making it the most competitive EV market in the world. With its low cost savings, low carbon footprint, state of the art features, it’s no surprise that over 75% of Chinese youth want electric cars. In this mad race for the youth’s share of voice, Weima, an EV start up faces a daunting challenge. It’s cars proved popular with middle aged buyers, but didn’t attract younger target audiences.  

WeiMa needed a brand overhaul. A modern design language and brand world that was speaking to young urban Chinese. This new brand world was supposed to launch together with the WeiMa Maven - a sleek electric sports concept car at the Beijing Motor Show in April 2020. 

But then disaster struck. When the Covid-19 Epidemic brought China to a standstill, it became impossible to shoot the Maven. The car couldn’t even be assembled, as key parts were stuck in customs. _And then, China’s biggest Car Show got canceled. It seemed that WeiMa was losing it’s race against time.

Idea:

The car show got cancelled but the show had to go on. So we took it online. We created our own autoshow and live-streamed it on the most popular platforms amongst Chinese youths via Douyin (the Chinese Tik Tok), WeChat and Weibo – the first of its kind in China. 

In the absence  of a physical concept car, we recreated one from scratch. We worked closely with the WeiMa product design team and CG designers to completely recreate the Maven in CGI. Within two months, we designed the new brand world from scratch, making the WeiMa more youthful, urban and sophisticated in the process. All meetings were conducted through Zoom, to comply with social distancing laws. 

Impact:

The live-stream proved to be incredibly successful. In total, almost 120 million viewers tuned in across platforms. WeiMa received more than 400.000 comments, most of them praising the youthful feel of the brand and amazing design of the Maven.