2003 BEST STRATEGIC LAUNCH CAMPAIGN WINNER
WINNING ENTRY - The Fast & The Furious
COMPANY - Carat Australia
CLIENT - Volkswagen
SPONSORED BY
OBJECTIVE
The launch of the new model Polo was critical to Volkswagen achieving its sales volume targets, but the launch faced many issues. Firstly, it had to be careful not to cannibalise sales of the VW Golf, the marque's core volume model. Secondly, there was very little awareness of the Polo, and the three key competitors were outspending it by 10 times, mostly on TV (72% of spend). The Polo had to be launched to a style-conscious young female target against these odds.
CAMPAIGN
VW Polo "owned" outdoor, with a saturated outdoor campaign using multiple formats and high frequency, combined with stunts. A print campaign linked the Polo to "dream access points", what people want their lives to be like, by placing the car in the dream trip environment of the travel section, the dream cuisine environment of the food section, and so on. And ultimately, this was a retail campaign which had to seal the deal. A mini-site enabled the target to sign up for test drives, using search engines, car sites and women's sites.
RESULTS
The online program generated over 400 test drives, more than DM or the dealers. Unprompted awareness of the campaign rose to 15%, above the three main competitors Holden Barina, Toyota Echo and Peugeot 206. The cost per awareness point was the lowest across the four competitors, at $85. There was a 20% increase in sales, above the targets, and the top end models sold out, without any cannibalisation of Golf sales.
JUDGE'S COMMENTS
A courageous break with category convention to launch a car model entirely in outdoor. It would have been a hard sell to both the client and their demanding dealer networks, which ultimately was vindicated in the successful achievement of all their objectives.
