Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
While the Audi A8L had high brand
awareness in China, its market share was low compared with
competitors like the Mercedes Benz S-class and BMW 7 series.
Research revealed that there was a perception of the Audi brand as
old, conservative and government-related - at odds with the Audi
A8L's new positioning: "Progressive Vanguard".
The potential buyers of the Audi A8L
are high-end sophisticated business executives. Our focus groups
gave us an intriguing and counter-intuitive insight: that while
these individuals are highly opinionated, and their success has
given them confidence in their own beliefs and ideas, they also
show a keen interest in learning from other people's success, and
find other business executives' stories a useful source of
inspiration. This insight informed our campaign idea - to select a
few highly recognized and respected entrepreneurs who best
epitomize "progressive Vanguards" in China, and make their stories
the heart of our campaign.
Creative Execution:
To do this we created a platform to
share their stories: a new, regular Audi A8L-branded column in
leading business newspapers and periodicals in which these highly
successful individuals could be interviewed, revealing the secrets
of their success.
Twenty four leading businessmen were
cherry picked to ensure they are perfect reflection of A8L's
"Progressive Vanguards" new product positioning.
An eye-catching "Progressive
Vanguards" banner was placed on the front page of top business
titles in China, drawing the attention of readers to turn to our
tailor-made columns inside.
To maximize our communication impact,
we leveraged the impact of the columns through other media channels
including special events and business conferences (events including
'China Luxury Summit', 'China International Software &
Information Service Fair'), gradually leading the target audience
through to Audi A8L test drives.
Results:
The campaign delivered 45% savings
compared with regular media buy.
Sales of Audi A8L recorded a dramatic
35% increase period-on-period.
Positive feedback has been received
from various parties, including clients, consumers, and even key
competitors, indicating that we have created a powerful and
positive word-of-mouth around the Audi A8L.