Marmota Audi

Every February 2nd, the world looks to a burrow. At DDB, they seized Groundhog Day to launch an activation for the new Audi Q3 — and decided that day would never be the same again. This year, the groundhog left its burrow… to stay in a Q3.

The social media activation was built around 4 animated pieces telling the story of the groundhog and its love affair with the Q3, along with a series of static pieces bringing to life a contest with a prize to match: an experience with the new Q3.

The challenge was huge (even more so back then): animating a marmot next to a car that's the real star of the show and has to match the real thing millimetre for millimetre. And in automotive, not a single reflection is allowed out of place.

Our answer: treat AI like a traditional shoot. Casting (of marmots), location scouting, set and shot-by-shot planning. A lot of prep up front and a lot of post at the back so everything came together.

1.7M impressions, 18k interactions and 794 new followers.

And something harder to measure: proving that production-company-level work can be done on a timeline and budget that only make sense for social.