Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2015 | |

Uber VW Charity Drive

Advertiser: Volkswagen
Brand: Volkswagen
Creative Agency: -
Credits: -

The Challenge
Given the strength of Japanese brands in 2014, Volkswagen volumes declined – 7% vs YAG. The challenge was to grow volumes by addressing the Consideration to Purchase gap. We need to put value back in to the brand by dialing up brand value triggers in a captivating way.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
Despite having a substantially higher household income than the average consumer (80% higher), the premium mass audience are careful shoppers, always looking at VALUE. Hence, QUALITY is an important factor of the value equation. We also found that the touchpoints with the biggest impact are experiential in nature. This is because quality is measured when a driver gets behind the wheel. Therefore, we aimed to use a driving experience as our content by putting people into the cockpit of a Volkswagen.

Media Execution
Our campaign was Uber x Volkswagen Charity Drive. We got 53 celebrities to take the road as Uber fleet drivers for a day, then shares their experiences from being behind the wheel of a Volkswagen. We incited interest with teasers on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube videos featuring A-list celebrities like JinnyBoy. To evoke an emotional pull, we centered the experience on a charitable cause. All fares earned by celebrities would be matched by Volkswagen and Uber, donated to a charity of their choice. At the end of each ride, passengers were offered a test drive to experience the Volkswagen themselves at their closest Volkswagen dealership.

Results and Effectiveness
At the media cost less than RM10000, we generated RM924800 from Social media postings: Instagram Uploads:189 Instagram Likes: 121,802 Facebook Picture Uploads: 96 Facebook Picture Likes: 120,366 Tweets: 320 Brand uniqueness increased +12pts, brand sympathy increased +4pts, brand commitment +7pts. This led to Volkswagen experiencing first positive sales growth (79%) after declining 6 months. Sales have been a steadily growing an average+21.5% in Q1 2015.