Renault were building up to the launch of their snazzy new EV: The Megane E-Tech 100% Electric. 

It was a big bet for the brand, with big sales targets.

In the 90s, the UK loved Renault. So much so, that the Clio became the first mainstream car ever to increase its sales for each single year of production.

Our task was to remind older generations what they loved about Renault while connecting with an all-new generation who see it as a brand of the past. Blending nostalgia with novelty.

Luckily, we had two strings to our bow: 

The most iconic car campaign in history, “Papa Nicole”

The all-new Megane, a car with all the capacity to be a future icon. 

Renault’s original Papa Nicole campaign turned Nicole into a household name. Literally. 

In fact, the name Nicole was one of the 40 most popular baby names in the 90s - having never previously featured in the top 200. Ever. In the decade the campaign ran, over 7,000 baby Nicoles were born. Many of them (or even… all of them?) named after Renault’s Nicole. 

We used advocates named after Renault’s much-loved 90s “Nicole” to build the brand’s relevance with a new generation of buyers and their nostalgic Papas. 

The result of this thinking was Papa, Nicole: The Story Lives On, a moving portrait of modern fatherhood and female independence, told through the eyes of three real-life Nicoles: a singer, a fashion and disability awareness content creator and a photographer. 

From overcoming illness to chasing a number one album, their ambition, passion and lust for life is proof Nicole’s irrepressible independent spirit lives on. While their papas have had to roll with the punches just as much as the original ever did...

Directed by Toby Dye through RSA Films, these unscripted, documentary-style videos celebrated each Nicole and her Papa –  exploring their journeys to independence and empowerment, and the changing role of ‘Papas’ in that journey. In line with that spirit of change, the all-new Megane E-Tech 100% Electric replaced the classic Clio as an icon of the future.