‘Let’s go to work’ wins Best use of advertising for Volkswagen’s commercial vehicles

Although Volkswagen is well-known as a brand of passenger car, less is known about its Commercial Vehicles (VWCV). Operating 68 dedicated van centres VWCV market to all businesses requiring total transport solutions, from small traders to blue chip corporate fleet buying companies.

The product
VWCV makes three marques of commercial vehicle and offers servicing, after-sales support, customisation, finance and business support via its dedicated van centres. The campaign needed to increase awareness of VWCV, raise the brand’s profile and separate it from that of passenger cars.

The sector is populated by market leaders of commercial vehicles and is built on service and quality rather than price deals. Therefore, after-sales and value-added services needed to be emphasised, and the interest and co-operation of the van centres secured by a creative platform that encourages dealer investment in the brand.

Targeting
VWCV’s vehicles are used by a huge variety of trades and businesses including plumbers, electricians, carpenters, florists, caterers, builders, delivery firms, etc. The target audience therefore encompassed everything from sole-traders, who are owner-drivers, through to the professional fleets of large businesses and to shuttle companies such as hotels and taxi firms.

As the target groups were so varied, a wide variety of media – through print, radio and by telephone – needed to be used to be sure of reaching them. These mediums also needed to be specific to reach the needs of each business. For instance, small businesses are trade specific and often on the road so they are less exposed to digital channels and have a local emphasis. White-collar professionals running larger fleets are usually deskbound and so were targeted via the internet, trade and commuter media. The shuttle group requires one-to-one targeting.

The platform that was created communicated business values with a brand call-to-arms. It included all audiences and was designed to zip-up operations at both the national brand and local dealer marketing level.

Communication
It was imperative to establish a distinctive national style for VWCV separate from passenger cars, and which spoke directly to a business audience. Large visual media was used to emphasise the scale of the range, while multiple radio messages informed prospects of support-services and product development in the light of the economic downturn. The tone was authoritative with the message delivered to the multiple audiences quietly and confidently.

At the same time the assets and attributes of different products were emphasised to distinguish each as fit for a particular job. Uniquely in the sector, the communication was tailored to specific trades to reinforce the product message. The styles ranged from heavy construction to clean-hands service companies.

Google Adword and Mapping concentrated on dealer support and complemented the national search programme. This saw visits to van centres increase by 50 per cent over the previous year.

Support for new dealer launches included the use of famous local landmarks and tactical media such as petrol pumps, boss backs and sandwich bags. Established dealers were supported by local radio, print work and banners as well as by the production of bespoke DM, point of sale and website design.

The after-sales programme concentrated on service offers, which were timed to coincide with vehicle ownership, important stages in business development, and seasonal milestones. Vehicle signwriting was also offered to key customers.
As the campaign is working across all sectors, VWCV is much less exposed to radical changes in any one.

Success
Large shifts in brand awareness have been notoriously difficult to achieve across the commercial vehicles market over the last two years with, on aggregate, no brand achieving more than a 2 per cent shift in awareness. VWCV, on the other hand, has achieved a 7 per cent improvement over the year.

The radio campaign was particularly successful. Research conducted one month after the launch of the radio campaign found that 17 per cent of listeners recalled that VW vans were reliable, 17 per cent that they depreciated in value less quickly than rival vans, while 10 per cent remembered details of deals and special offers available when purchasing.

Sales for January-May 2008 indicate that VWCV was the only manufacturer to show significant sales growth within a static market.  In 2008, VWCV sales rose 10.7 per cent as opposed to a market growth of 1.4 per cent, making VWCV the best performing brand in the sector. Ralf Schueler, head of marketing at VWCV, says, “The growth of the brand has been phenomenal.  The effectiveness of “Let’s go to work’ has exceeded all my expectations.”

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