Plug Inn (case study) - Renault, Renault Zoe, Renault E-Tech | Clapboard Ad Archive

Renault’s Plug Inn campaign, launched in Year 2023 in partnership with Publicis Conseil, Epsilon, and Sapient Interactive, tackled France’s acute electric vehicle charging paradox: as the national fleet topped 1 million EVs, only 80,000 public charging stations were operational, causing persistent range anxiety and slowing adoption outside major cities. Rather than battling bureaucratic delays or committing to a long-haul construction roadmap, Renault reframed the market access challenge into an opportunity for user participation, building a peer-to-peer platform that turns the untapped capacity of home chargers into Europe’s largest decentralized charging network. The Plug Inn app connects EV drivers with homeowners willing to rent out their private chargers, using seamless booking and payment mechanics to transform isolated charging units into an immediate, collectively accessible infrastructure that expands precisely where traditional networks lag — in rural regions and range-limiting travel corridors. The creative and strategic approach, which Clapboard’s taxonomy places squarely in FORMAT#2—Show the Problem, is unambiguous in its structure: it establishes the scarcity of public charging as the industry’s central barrier, then presents Plug Inn as the direct resolution, with the case study format documenting uptake and business transformation rather than relying on metaphor or story arc. The campaign was not simply a communications overlay but a genuine business model innovation, activating community goodwill while unlocking ancillary income for charger owners, and crowd-sourcing the solution at scale without shifting the overhead to local governments. With 480,000 potential charging spots targeted in France and rapid lift-off achieved — 16,000 users registered within two weeks and the campaign generating upwards of 107 million impressions with over €500,000 in earned media — Renault’s Plug Inn redefined the boundaries of automotive brand service, signaling intent to scale pan-European and bring frictionless EV travel within reach for even the most isolated drivers. The strategy and execution drew critical acclaim, securing the Creative Business Transformation Grand Clio at Clio Awards 2024, a Creative Strategy Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, multiple Eurobest Grand Prix honors, and top-tier recognition from The ANDY Awards, cementing its place as a benchmark in automotive communications and digital product design. The campaign earns 88/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. This campaign matters because it demonstrates that in mobility’s next era, the most powerful brands will invent and orchestrate the networks — not just the vehicles — that make electrification practical for the mainstream.