It is not so common to be able to compare Above-The-Line and Below-The-Line campaigns for the same brand. Volkswagen (VW) launched in May 2009 their new Golf GTI in Europe. Let’s have a look on the results of this launch in 4 countries: Belgium, UK, France and Germany. The selected indicator is the level of web volume search (Golf GTI) on Google (last 90 days, 1st 3 pages). Results highlight one of the communication’s fundamentals: Building awareness or Building brand content?
UK and Belgium relied mainly on a viral marketing campaign.
jéékBelgium (Fear tracker)jélkjékélkjjékéUK (GTI Project)
Germany pushed one of their icon through a TV ad.
France focused their support on advertising in press magazine.
I would assume that an important PR campaign was supporting the launch in each country.
You will find additional statistics on page 2 of this post.
Key takeaways
UK: viral campaign is not really visible whilst the impact of PR is important: +30% of volume searches is linked to car reviews (mainly car magazines). Volkswagen UK achieved the second best level of searches directly linked to the new car as 62% of total searches mentioned the new Golf GTI. Viral campaign represents 6% of those searches dedicated to the new Golf GTI.
Belgium: viral campaign was popular amongst marketing professionals but with a limited visibility amongst blogs and forums (Golf GTI fans). Only 33% of total searches were related to the Golf GTI VI. The majority of web search volume was promoting the former generations of Golf GTI. 50% of the search volume connected to the brand new car was generated through the viral campaign..but promoted by marketing blogs!
However, I did not go through the content in Dutch. I would be interested to debate with the agency about the campaign’s results that they are promoting.
France and Germany have relied on a more conventional approach which did pay-off if we consider the high level of results for the new model (respectively 42% and 70%). Car reviews in car magazines (on-line, press and TV) were the main source of content (who says that PR is dead?). It is interesting to notice that 33% of the content highlighting the new car in France was coming from marketing blogs commenting the viral campaigns in Belgium and in the UK!
Food for thoughts
Pertinence for the final consumer
When I work on Buzz marketing, I try to focus on the pertinence of the content, how it is going to be handled by the final target(s). I prefer fostering the qualitative WoM rather than quantity only because it supports better the visibility of the brand over time.
I would not consider blogs of marketing professionals as a legitimate source of buzz for final consumer.
Not sexy as an Advergame but perhaps more effective
An alternative approach could have been to start by targeting real GTI fans (opinion leaders) with “something” really outstanding and special for them. Then the buzz generated could have been an opportunity for deploying a second phase to a larger audience with a more connected emotional content (from the 1st phase)…Snow bowl effect!
I have published recently an analysis about the Doritos advergame (Hotel 626) which could be considered as a reference.
Connecting the dots
Germany would present interesting learnings where advertising combined with PR and a strong asset amongst on-line communities (+300 000 blogs and forums related to Golf GTI) generated a massive level of searches connected to the new model.
It demonstrates that creating buzz is relevant if it is part of an overall strategy which is aiming at building a momentum over time. Viral campaign is not necessarily the only tool to generate Word of Mouth. At the end of the day, it would be great to know the traffic generated at POS and the level of sales for this New Golf GTI during the 3 months following the launch
You may be interested in an in-depth analysis of a very efficient 360° marketing initiative which supported the launch of the latest album of the band Metallica (10 Tips for 360° Marketing: Metallica vs Yael Naim).
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Stefan Sarvas // Jul 22, 2009 at 11:13 am
Like it a lot. It’s amazing how much we like sexy things often forgetting basics. Viral needs to be part of a wider strategy. Including those fundamental basics like POS impact, PR, trial etc., not strategy in itself. Very often it’s vice versa. I asked myself few times the question: Are consumers prepared trade real product experience for virtual? I am not sure, they might be influenced in the virtual space, but real & authentic experience is difficult to replace. Lat, but not least I am amazed how much of real buzz is created by professionals, hoping the consumer will jump on the train. Unfortunately, it really happens.
2 admin // Jul 23, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Thanks Stefan for your comment.
I share wour point of view and that’s why I am a believer of not forgetting the basics in marketing:
- Who is my target?
- How do they build their decision making process?
- What is the added value of my product?
- How can I best interact with them?
If Twitter is not relevant but a event at retail is more effective…let’s go to retail
Have a nice day
Frederic
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