Volkswagen is the largest car manufacturer in the world. In China, the group has around 2,300 employees across different entities and locations. It is the largest brand in China by sales. 

Challenge: bringing 12 brands together
VGC (Volkswagen Group China) was planning to move all their people together into a new state-of-the-art office building as one VGC in Beijing. In 2018, Maximum was appointed to come up with a Chinese / English bilingual campaign that would inform, prepare and, above all, engage and excite employees about the move.

However, it was already foreseen that there could be resistance from the employees to:

1. give up their ‘department identity’
2. give up their designated workstations 
3. (managers) give up their private rooms and mingle in their teams
4. (for some) 20-30 minutes longer commute time

The main challenge to solve was how to move so many people from different locations with little-to-no-disruption to one place and still make each person feel safe about their career at VGC.

Solution: values-led building, values-led communication
To kickstart the campaign, Maximum translated six people-centric ‘Building Values’ into a simple concept that connected with every employee so that they understood that they will be working in a diverse community with an agile and sustainable working environment that boosts their well-being. 

Taking the letter ‘V’ from VGC, each value was given a name beginning with the letter ‘V’. They are: 

• Digital > Visionary
  The latest hardware and software, new technologies and ingenious processes will support a culture of innovation.
• Agile > Vibrant
  Many different rooms for formal and informal meetings as well as open spaces offer the ideal conditions for collaboration. 
• Diverse > Variety
  Universal-access workstations are designed to ensure equal opportunities for everyone with a meditation and quiet rooms available. 
• Community > Village
  Services that make work easier as well as shops, a fitness studio, café, teahouse and company clinic are open to all the “villagers”.
• Sustainable > Viable
  The new headquarters is LEED Gold (the highest environmental standard for green buildings) certified.
• Healthy > Vitality
  The green walls, clean air, healthy food, ergonomic furniture, fitness equipment and medical services are all intended to increase employees’ well-being.

Posters & Pull-up banners
Real employee photos were used in posters and pull-up banners located throughout their current offices with a QR code that led employees to join VGC’s official WeChat Account.

WeChat Official Account
Maximum designed and launched an official VGC WeChat Account for registered employees to stay up to date and ask questions about the move. They even had the chance to christen the new headquarters ‘V-Space’ before Maximum designed a logo.

China Management Information Event (MI) 
Maximum planned and executed an MI booth event consisting of 39 specially designed panels for all management-level employees to learn more about each ‘V’ value in detail to share with their teams. Internal emails, online broadsheets and newsletters were also used to keep all employees in the loop.

Results: Welcome to V-Space
By working closely together with VGC, every employee was taken into consideration and kept informed all the way to make them feel part of the move. 

As planned for 2019, all employees from four separate company offices and multiple brands came together in a seamless move to V-Space. They have already started living and breathing the six values in a more efficient platform for trans-departmental coordination and collaboration.