It’s time to look at the shortlist for Marketer of the Year, which appears in Marketing’s Nov. 28 issue. We’ll be featuring each one online as a lead-up to our January 2012 issue, where you’ll find out which marketer will reign supreme.
Volkswagen Canada
An abundance of product and new ideas can cause confusing, but VW kept it all on track and in focus
There’s nothing like a ton of new product to give an automotive marketer a chance to shine, and few manufacturers have been as busy as Volkswagen Canada in pushing out new vehicles in the past 12 months. The automaker has unleashed new versions of its Jetta, Jetta GLI, Passat and Beetle models and introduced its Tiguan brand, using a wide variety of media and advertising channels to get the message out.
As excited as VW was to tell the public about its new and updated vehicle lines, the company and its advertising agency, Toronto’s Red Urban, approached their remarkably active year with a sense of caution. According to Bruce Rosen, director of marketing and communications for Volkswagen Canada, the challenge was to meet the objectives of increased awareness, familiarity and consideration—not to mention increased sales—for the VW portfolio without stepping on its own toes with its high volume of marketing initiatives.
“We were cognizant that without discipline it would be easy to have the messaging splinter,” says Rosen.
Steve Carli, president of Red Urban, recalls a similar feeling. “Going into 2011, because we knew there would be more activity, it forced everybody to have some real strategic conversations about how we were going to make sure that, in the midst of all these different models that were going to be introduced, we had the soul of the brand in mind on everything we did.”
After a year of multi-channel marketing activity, consider customers sold on VW’s soul, thanks to a series of diverse and technologically savvy advertising efforts. The automaker and its agency brought out a marketing arsenal that included 3D cinema spots for the Jetta model, a campaign for the Jetta GLI in which consumers were encouraged to steal out-of-home creative, and an ad for the Volkswagen Golf that was scripted, cast and soundtracked by social media users.
If they were worried about message splinter, Rosen and his Volkswagen team clearly weren’t afraid of veering off the well-paved highway or using new media and technology. “Innovation is part of the Volkswagen brand DNA so technology is, by necessity, of paramount importance,” says Rosen. “We start with a big idea and if technology dovetails and can deliver an improved experience or unexpected interaction, we embrace it.”
According to Rosen, Canadian consumers have embraced Volkswagen to the tune of 12 consecutive record-setting sales months and a 42.2% increase in sales over last year. In addition to being on track for the best sales year in its history, Volkswagen Canada has also upped its Facebook likes from 62,000 a year ago to 371,000 as of press time, and witnessed a 119% increase in unique traffic to the VW.ca website from 2010 to 2011.
Rosen and Carli both agree that Volkswagen lovers are especially willing to engage with the brand, one of the key reasons its forays into high-tech and social media marketing have borne so much fruit.
There’s more! Check out the Nov. 28 issue of Marketing for the full profile, and subscribe to find out who will be named the Marketer of the Year for 2011.
