In September 2022, Volkswagen Group France needed 1,000 mechanics. The best technicians weren’t unemployed. They were working for competitors. And 80% of all automotive after-sales recruitment already happens through poaching, which meant job boards would reach exactly the wrong people.
We sent Volkswagen vehicles into competitor garages across France with job offers hidden inside the cars themselves. Engraved on batteries, exhaust pipes and air filters: short messages with QR codes pointing to the Volkswagen careers page. To find the offer, a mechanic first had to be skilled enough to diagnose the fault we’d engineered. We also enlisted mechanic influencers with genuine community credibility to discover and amplify the campaign.
Adweek covered it as “a Trojan Horse approach to recruitment.” LBBOnline called it “a case study in reaching unreachable audiences.” Contagious named it among the smartest and most innovative recruitment campaigns in the world. It became the most awarded Volkswagen campaign in over a decade, earning a Grand Prix at the Clio Awards alongside multiple Lions.
