Agency/media operation
PALM Publicité Marketing

Client
Volkswagen of America

Brand
Volkswagen

Budget
$500,000 – $750,000

Media used
Television

Timing
February 2002

Media team
Sylvie Chartré, VP media, PALM Publicité
Karine Courtemanche, media strategist, PALM Publicité

The background

Unlike previous years, in 2002 Volkswagen could not count on the launch of a new model to inject dynamism into the brand. Therefore, we had to create advertising campaigns for Quebec that were strong enough to build excitement for the brand on their own.

The campaigns also had to incorporate Volkswagen’s unique selling proposition: that it’s a car that provides an unparalleled driving experience. Specifically, thanks to its exclusive state-of-the-art technology, driving a Volkswagen in the winter is a surprisingly pleasant experience.

We wanted the campaigns to provide a taste of this experience. We hoped that, through these campaigns, consumers could feel the same sensations that Volkswagen drivers feel. In short, we wanted them to have a near-sensory experience with the brand.

Finally, Volkswagen wanted to maintain its current level of unaided brand awareness and continue to be perceived as one of the major players in the field, despite an advertising budget that could not be compared to that of its competitors.

The plan

The answer lay in tying in to the XIX Olympic Winter Games. Sponsoring the broadcast of these games was perfect for three reasons:

* The Games stir up a great deal of excitement and emotion, so sponsoring the broadcast made it possible to project a certain dynamism into the brand.

* Volkswagen cars have characteristics that enabled us to create a parallel with the skills required for several winter sports. In downhill skiing, for example, you need to make accurate manoeuvres and have remarkable control and grip in the turns while going at any speed. Those are also the characteristics you can have with VW’s 4MOTION system.

* Tying into the Olympics coverage was an effective channel for reaching VW’s target, which mainly consists of light TV viewers. The Olympic Games attract consumers with a more upscale profile than regular primetime TV shows’ viewers.

Of course, the problem with Olympic sponsorship is standing out from the crowd. To address this, the PALM media team negotiated the integration of the Volkswagen brand into editorial content through the creation of ‘Volkswagen Adrenaline’ vignettes. This strategy turned out to be a very effective way to distinguish Volkswagen from the many other sponsors.

The execution

First, the media team had to convince the manufacturer (Volkswagen) and its dealerships to combine their advertising budgets to pay for this sponsorship. But despite this combined effort, the media investment was still far below that of our competitors. We therefore decided to bank on perceptual dominance by integrating the brand into the editorial content with the ‘Adrenaline’ vignettes.

The media team negotiated the broadcast of six 45-second vignettes twice a day, presented during non-commercial air time on SRC, RDS and RDI. All the vignettes were introduced by the anchorman.

The ‘Adrenaline’ vignettes consisted of images filmed using a digital camera worn by six different athletes while they trained. Through the vignettes, viewers could feel the adrenaline that these winter sports produce and get a taste of the ‘Volkswagen Experience.’

Each was immediately followed by a 30-second ad showing one of the six star sports: moguls, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, slalom, ski jumping and snowboard giant slalom. This message established a clear link between the skills required for the sport and the distinctive characteristics of Volkswagen cars.

The vignettes also conveyed an authentic image for Volkswagen. Viewers already had a long history of associating Volkswagen with winter sports because of the brand’s sponsorship of major ski resorts.

Still, the campaign’s success was based mainly on the sheer entertainment provided by these vignettes: since the emotional connection between Quebecers and their local athletes is very strong, the vignettes allowed viewers to live the Olympic experience through the athletes.

The results

Following the Games, a study conducted by Info Presse placed Volkswagen second in terms of awareness, even though it generally ranked seventh among the major automotive advertisers in the Quebec market, according to Nielsen.

A survey conducted after the campaign by Léger Marketing indicated that the brand significantly benefited from this sponsorship in three ways:

* Volkswagen was one of the sponsors that made the largest impact on viewers during the Olympic Games; it beat advertisers with much bigger budgets and those that had been associated with the Games for much longer – even though it was Volkswagen’s first association with the sponsorship of this television broadcast.

* The ‘100% Adrenaline’ sponsorship ranked second among all the sponsors for overall awareness.

* 37% of viewers who saw the sponsorship correctly identified Volkswagen as the advertiser, placing it second in this category.

The judges rave…

‘Great creative use of the athletes tying into the product… I liked it.’

‘The best plans are based on entertainment: When the consumer faces an ad that is pure entertainment and enjoys the moment, the job is done.’