Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenges
Automotive is dominated by local and Japanese players. Volkswagen is overshadowed and worse off not within main consideration set amongst auto seekers.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
To win, we needed to be unconventional in our approach to gain shares since Volkswagen is not within consumers’ consideration. We saw this as a huge opportunity to partner key automotive sites and hijack these ‘research’ moments. Idea: Mission Hijack – partnering Mudah, Carlist and Carbase; we blended the power of data intelligence with innovative creatives to surround our audience throughout their research journey on site. The approach was tailored for strong relevance in messaging and advertising formats in a subtle, organic manner.

Media Execution
In partnership with the 3 publishers, from their data we found the following insights: • Mudah: VW models were not within audience assessments; hence, we needed to intercede with focus on price as it is main factor motivating audiences on Mudah. • Carbase: Usage was focused on researching car features and reviews given Paul Tan’s content availability. The approach was to ensure VW was present during the research stage. • Carlist: Being the first portal car seekers start their research journey, VW focused on brand visibility across the site to drive interest. We used innovative creative formats that were first-in-market; native and seamless in experience on-site. On Carbase, we hijacked the car comparison feature to highlight a VW model relevant to user’s search; VW models were subtly featured on the search bar on Carlist to prompt brand recall; while native ad formats on Mudah featured VW’s latest offers to trigger test drive bookings.

Results and Effectiveness
Interactions on brand were doubled of previous campaigns on the same site! 4X conversion rate on booking test drive vs. industry benchmark and a total of 25% growth in sales during campaign period! Campaign has become the blueprint approach and an always-on strategy in 2018.