The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
Škoda's Redditor Edit: superfans vote the specs and their reviews become the launch ads
Škoda found the Octavia's cult on r/CarTalkUK, handed over the first launch keys, and let Redditors configure a real special edition — 255% of order target.
Škoda UK · Leo Burnett London · PHD UK
What it had to solve
Škoda's Octavia is a well-loved, affordable all-rounder, but in the UK it was seen as safe and boring and got lost in a crowded market. Without the budgets or news of bigger competitors, Škoda UK and Leo Burnett had to launch the fourth-generation model by finding the people who already loved it: r/CarTalkUK, where members call the Octavia 'our lord and saviour'.
How it works
When Škoda UK had to launch the fourth-generation Octavia, Leo Burnett and PHD went looking for the people who kept the model's sales steady for years. They did not find a fan club; they found a cult — r/CarTalkUK, the UK's largest car community on Reddit, whose members affectionately call the Octavia 'our lord and saviour' and see its quiet practicality as insider knowledge.
The campaign 'You Said It' launched on July 16, 2024 by handing the new model to those fans first. A world-first 'Reddit Car Share' gave members across the UK the keys to test-drive the fourth-generation Octavia before press, retailers or even marketing photography, and their testimonials — lines like 'notice how time and space bend around the vehicle as a mark of respect' — became the campaign's OOH, print and social ads.
The final phase turned the community into co-designers: using Reddit's own comment and voting mechanics, members chose everything from body shape and paint to wheels, engine and technology. Škoda then built the winning configuration as the 'Redditor Edit', a genuine special edition available to order — described by the agency as the first car configured by a Reddit community.
By building and selling the configuration the community chose, the campaign converted Reddit enthusiasm into retail: Octavia orders ran 255% above target, and the work took Gold and Silver Lions in Social & Creator at Cannes Lions 2025.
Why it lands
- The community was already the product's best salespeople — the campaign simply gave their existing 'lord and saviour' meme a real launch platform.
- Handing out keys before press or marketing photography made the fans the launch event, creating first-drive content no studio could fake.
- Using Reddit's native voting mechanics respected the platform's anti-brand culture instead of fighting it.
- Letting the fans' own words be the ads meant the brand's voice stayed human and earned credibility from people who distrust advertising.
What it did
Octavia orders ran 255% above target at launch, turning a much-loved but overlooked model into a retail hit. The community-first launch won Gold and Silver Lions in Social & Creator at Cannes Lions 2025.
What you can take
A product with a passionate niche already has its best creative team: hand them the keys, let their own tools decide the details, and amplify their words — authenticity no ad script can buy.
Since then
After the July 2024 launch, the community's own testimonials ran as the Octavia's launch ads and the Redditor-configured special edition went on sale through Škoda's website. At Cannes Lions 2025 the campaign won Gold and Silver Lions in Social & Creator, and Škoda's marketing director said it proved fandom could be engaged 'in the right way' — as a creative and credible channel rather than a publicity stunt.
Sources
- Škoda and Leo Burnett UK let Reddit superfans take the wheel in new social-first campaign, 'You Said It'
- Creating the Redditor Edit
- Social and Creator Lions 2025: Škoda, Mentos, Twix, and Snickers All Winners
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