Submitted by YKONEAgency IPI Score 84/100

Living with R5

Influencer Marketing

YKONE cast six UK ambassadors from sport, entertainment, fashion, and food to launch the Renault R5 E-Tech on Instagram and TikTok through an always-on content series.

2.2MReach
8.7MImpressions
15.5KInteractions

About the campaign

Reviving a heritage nameplate as an electric vehicle carries an obvious risk: landing as nostalgia marketing rather than something relevant to younger buyers. When Renault brought the R5 E-Tech to the United Kingdom, it also had no existing playbook, as this was reportedly the brand's first ambassador-led social campaign in that market.

YKONE's answer was Living with R5, an always-on content series that placed the car inside real, recognisable lives rather than a conventional car advertisement. The agency cast six UK ambassadors from distinct cultural verticals, Olympic diver Tom Daley, radio presenter Greg James, fashion and lifestyle host Laura Jackson, chef Matt Ryle, plus social voices @jonnycarpervert and @darylswalker, each producing Instagram and TikTok content adapted to their own style, with the car present but never foregrounded as the subject of promotion. Three live activations punctuated the series and fed earned media: a heritage-inspired culinary event hosted by Matt Ryle, press rides hosted by Tom Daley, and a media panel with Greg James.

YKONE, which handled casting, production, campaign management, and reporting, states the campaign reached 5.6 million people with 6.4 million impressions, 37,000 interactions, and a 0.5 percent engagement rate, all self-reported figures.

Case in 60 seconds

Renault needed to establish the revived R5 E-Tech electric vehicle among younger, design-conscious UK consumers, with no existing playbook for ambassador-led social activity in that market.

Younger UK audiences engage with culture, sport, and lifestyle content through social platforms, and an electric vehicle associated with a heritage nameplate needed to feel part of real life rather than a conventional car advertisement.

YKONE designed 'Living with R5', an always-on content series in which six ambassadors from distinct cultural verticals (sport, radio, fashion, gastronomy) showed the R5 integrated into their existing routines.

Six ambassadors including Tom Daley, Greg James, Laura Jackson, and Matt Ryle produced ongoing social content across Instagram and TikTok, supplemented by three live events: a heritage culinary event hosted by Matt Ryle, press rides hosted by Tom Daley, and a media panel with Greg James.

According to YKONE's self-reported figures, the campaign reached 2.2M people, generated 8.7M impressions and 15.5K interactions, with additional earned media coverage from the live activations. No independent verification of these figures is available.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Younger UK consumers who engage with cultural, sport, and lifestyle content on Instagram and TikTok, as identified by YKONE's campaign brief. The six ambassadors were selected to reach distinct demographic sub-groups within this broader target: followers of Olympic sport (Tom Daley), national radio and entertainment (Greg James), fashion and lifestyle (Laura Jackson), gastronomy (Matt Ryle), and two further social voices (@jonnycarpervert and @darylswalker).
An electric vehicle revival of a heritage nameplate risks landing as nostalgia marketing or corporate greenwashing rather than something genuinely relevant to younger audiences. To cut through, the R5 E-Tech needed to appear as part of real, recognisable lives rather than as a promotional object.
According to YKONE, this was Renault's first ambassador-led social campaign in the UK, meaning there was no established template. The campaign had to build credibility across multiple audience communities simultaneously without fragmenting the brand message.
The R5 E-Tech was positioned as a companion to an active, culturally engaged life rather than as a product to be evaluated on specification. Each piece of content was adapted to the ambassador's individual style, with the car present but not foregrounded as the explicit subject of promotion.
Always-on content across multiple ambassadors creates repeated, low-pressure exposure across different audience segments throughout the campaign period, reducing dependence on a single launch moment and allowing creative adjustment based on what resonates.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Short-form social video content on Instagram
  • Short-form social video content on TikTok
  • Campaign clips on YKONE's YouTube channel (Tom Daley, Laura Jackson, Matt Ryle)
  • Live event photography and footage fed back into social distribution
  • Press coverage generated by live activations

Partners

  • YKONE (lead agency: casting and booking, content production, campaign management, reporting)

Participation mechanic

  • Ambassadors produced content showing the R5 integrated into their daily lives, adapted to each individual's creative style
  • Three live activations created additional content assets and press coverage: a heritage culinary event (Matt Ryle), press rides (Tom Daley), and a media panel (Greg James)

Creator role

  • Brand ambassadors producing always-on lifestyle content in their established personal style
  • Tom Daley: sport and lifestyle (hosted press rides)
  • Greg James: radio and entertainment (media panel participant)
  • Laura Jackson: fashion and lifestyle (social content)
  • Matt Ryle: gastronomy (hosted heritage culinary event)
  • @jonnycarpervert: social content
  • @darylswalker: social content

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Reach2.2MReachAgency reported
Impressions8.7MImpressionsAgency reported
Interactions15.5KEngagementAgency reported

Why YKONE's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Ambassador diversity can address demographic breadth without requiring a single large-budget macro-influencer. Casting six voices across sport, radio, fashion, and gastronomy allowed the campaign to reach distinct younger audience segments through one coordinated programme, according to YKONE's account of the strategy.

  2. 2

    Building live events into an influencer programme creates a second content layer (press coverage, event photography, video footage) at relatively low incremental cost, provided the events are genuinely newsworthy. The three live activations in this campaign each served a dual purpose: generating content for social distribution and producing press coverage outside of paid and owned channels.

  3. 3

    For a market debut, an always-on structure reduces risk compared with a single launch moment. Content can be adjusted based on what resonates with different ambassador audiences throughout the campaign period, rather than committing all resource to one concentrated activation.

  4. 4

    Integrating the product into ambassadors' real routines, rather than staging conventional product shoots, gives content a degree of plausibility that a purely branded format would not achieve. The 'Living with R5' framing made the car incidental to the ambassador's life rather than the declared subject of an advertisement.

  5. 5

    Combining paid and owned social activity (ambassador posts) with earned media (press coverage from live events) extends the campaign's footprint without proportionally increasing media spend.

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