A campaign that makes thievery OK you say? Not the sort of positive, wholesome marketing that typically gets signed off by the board of a major car manufacturer.

Unfortunately us humble UK folk never got the chance to get involved in this simple, brilliantly executed treasure hunt launched by Volkswagen Canada.

Beginning in October last year, outdoor pop-up galleries started appearing in unexpected places across major cities and Canada. Each gallery consisted of three numbered, limited-edition photos of light paintings created by the movements of the new Volkswagen Jetta GLI.

The photographs were taken as part an integrated campaign to launch the new vehicle called “Driving can be beautiful”. The ad used a combination of traditional and long exposure videography to pain light trails using the headlights and taillights of a Jetta GLI. You can check out how they made it below.

Loosely nailed and positioned slightly eskew, passersby were invited to nab the photographs and messages on the back of each photograph complemented the crooks on their fine taste and invited them to upload photos of their swag to the brand’s Facebook page to share with the world.

Despite stereotypes suggesting Canadians would be too mild mannered to steal, the first lot of photographs were stolen within hours. One sly dog was even filmed walking off with all three paintings in a gallery.

But they appeared equally as fast, and those that weren’t fortunate enough to get their hands on a print first time round were given a second chance. The second stage of the campaign took the hunt online, with wannabe thieves having to follow the brand’s Twitter pages for clues on the location of each of the hand numbered prints.

Unsurprisingly, all this free art prompted lots of chatter online, as people posted and discussed pictures of their new piece of art in its new environment.

I’m a big fan of campaigns that align brands with art authentically (it’s not easily done) and also those that drive real world action and amplify it online. This piece of work fits both of those bills with a clever blend of ambient, experiential and social media activity.