Volkswagen (VW) is deploying ZeroLight's cloud-based content-production platform, SpotLight Suite™, globally. An agile platform for the production, distribution, and integration of visual content, SpotLight is designed to solve the industry-wide challenge of creating high-end media for every model, market, and medium across the vehicle-shopping journey. Starting with the ground-breaking new ID.3, the project is expanding to include all VW carlines and models across all markets and territories.

Using scalable, cloud-based rendering, SpotLight enables users to produce large amounts of media assets faster, easier, and cheaper than via traditional, locally rendered methods. Most of the visual content used across the automotive customer journey can be digitally automated in this way, including assets for online and retail 2D configurators, dynamic advertising campaigns, personalised customer emails, as well as digital brochures and user manuals. To create the content required for these use cases, SpotLight offers a wide variety of web-based applications, each with a unique purpose. VW initially has access to image-production apps Shutter and Shutter Pro, video-generation app Bespoke Video, 360⁰-image-production app Sphere, and Bespoke Gallery, which renders batches of pre-defined images. In addition, they can produce interactive digital brochures on demand via Bespoke Brochure's API functionalities. As SpotLight is an expanding platform, VW will also have early access to a range of new apps and functionalities as they are developed, including backplate-production app Scene and automated-AR-model-production tools Bespoke AR.

SpotLight will give our teams in every region a new degree of agility in their content and campaign creation. In our increasingly competitive marketplace, additional advantages like this are exceptionally important, so we're excited to deploy the solution and see its impact as it is a key element of our OneHub Web Strategy.

_{Candido Peterlini, Head of Digital Marketing, Volkswagen}

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With a web-based architecture and a multi-user, multi-organisation infrastructure, SpotLight is intrinsically optimised for the scalable production and distribution of content. All assets it produces are rendered in real time in the cloud, enabling users to order content on any laptop or desktop, regardless of its processing power. Because it is built on Amazon Web Services, this process is highly scalable. As a result, the cost of rendering is significantly reduced, making content production a commodity rather than a luxury for each stakeholder. This democratisation and demonetisation of content production means regional stakeholders at VW - from in-house teams and agencies to dealers - can use SpotLight to easily create high-end and high-volume visual content for their sales and marketing needs and experiences.

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Users from each market have access to the same 3D digital master model of each vehicle. To facilitate regional autonomy further, this model is adapted to reflect relevant country-specific variations in trim and accessory options. Removing regional teams' dependencies on head-office-based content production in this way will substantially increase their production speed, giving them a significant degree of agility in their campaign creation and delivery. VW's head office will still maintain consistency in content produced across all markets by setting templates and ensuring that all media uses the right model and is in line with brand guidelines.

With the increasing appetite for scaling personalisation across all customer experiences and touchpoints in the purchase journey, there is now a need for scaling content creation and distribution. SpotLight Suite™ is designed to enable OEMs to meet this demand by enabling them to become advanced and agile media specialists.

_{François de Bodinat, Chief Product Officer, ZeroLight}

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SpotLight also offers a range of APIs that enable each of the platform's functionalities to be directly integrated into third-party tools and solutions. This enables OEMs and their partner agencies to seamlessly incorporate SpotLight content into their existing infrastructure, such as websites, mobile apps, or CRM and CDP platforms. Not only does this give users an additional degree of flexibility, but it also facilitates personalisation at scale by enabling on-demand production and integration of content within front-end solutions, also called the last-mile touch points. This can be used in a wide range of scenarios, from programmatic advertising to personalised marketing collateral such as on-demand creation of digital brochures.

Contact
Jack Nove
Marketing Executive, ZeroLight
T: +44(0) 191 485 0505
E: jack.nove@zerolight.com

About SpotLight Suite
SpotLight Suite is an agile visual content-production platform that uses cloud-based rendering and advanced data analytics to make the production, distribution, and on-demand personalisation of a range of bespoke media assets faster, easier, and cheaper.

About ZeroLight
ZeroLight is a cloud-based 3D visualisation specialist offering car-configuration and content-production solutions to the automotive industry. Designed to enhance touchpoints across the vehicle-shopping journey, these globally scalable solutions deliver competitive advantages to clients by driving engagement, higher specification sales, and lower content-production costs. For more information about ZeroLight, go to  zerolight.com

About the Volkswagen brand:The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is present in more than 150 markets throughout the world and produces vehicles at over 50 locations in 14 countries. In 2019, Volkswagen delivered 6,2 million vehicles including bestselling models such as the Golf, Tiguan, Jetta or Passat. Currently, 195,878 people work for Volkswagen across the globe. The brand also has over 10,000 dealerships with 86,000 employees. Volkswagen is forging ahead consistently with the further development of automobile production. E-mobility, smart mobility and the digital transformation of the brand are the key strategic topics for the future.