TALKING NEWSPAPER

TitleTALKING NEWSPAPER
BrandVOLKSWAGEN
Product / ServiceVW VENTO
CategoryA05. Best Launch or Re-Launch
EntrantMUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company:MUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA
PR/Advertising Agency:MUDRA COMMUNICATIONS Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Bobby Pawar Mudra Communications Chief Creative Officer
Rajeev Raja Mudra Communications National Creative Director
Anshumani Khanna Mudra Communications Associate Creative Director
Timsy Gupta Mudra Communications Associate Creative Director
Trishna Parkash Mudra Communications Art Director
Anshumani Khanna Mudra Communications Copywriter

The Campaign

The Challenge: To launch and sell 2000 units of the Volkswagen Vento. The Idea: Talking Newspaper Ad. The execution: Pre-recorded photosensitive chip placed in the newspaper which begins to talk every time the newspaper is unfolded. It was a mammoth task to accomplish. The innovation was run in the leading English dailies like The Times of India and The Hindu across the country. The photosensitive device that was placed in the newspaper was created in millions and then transported to the printing press of these English dailies across the country. Each piece was manually stuck onto the newspaper. These newspapers were very carefully delivered to millions of homes. The collective effort of hundreds of people spoke to the entire nation in one voice. The Result: 2000 Volkswagen Ventos sold.

The Brief

We focused on users who comprised of males between the age-group of 30-35 years, businessmen or salaried employees. The target audience wasn’t aware of the brand’s attributes. This lack of knowledge had the possibility of holding people back from choosing Vento over other cars in this segment. The biggest insight that helped us navigate our strategy was the immense and rapid growth of the Indian economy, providing purchasing power to the young and educated lot. The language of communication was based on these passionate people who would go to any lengths to achieve what they desire.

Results

The Results: a) Create Talk value about the Vento: Vento was the hottest topic in media across the world (The Washington Post, The New York Times, etc., apart from CNBC India, NDTV and others in the Indian media). Volkswagen Vento was the 3rd most searched topic on Google on 21st September 2010 - The day of the launch. (Source: Volkswagen India website) b) Achieve sales sufficient to meet the capacity of the newly built Volkswagen plant at Pune: Such was the effectiveness of our campaign that we sold 7002 Ventos between September and December 2010, easily meeting the capacity of the Volkswagen factory in Pune and 250% more than expected. The Volkswagen Vento turned out to be one of the most successful launches ever in the Indian auto industry; proven beyond doubt when it outsold the Honda City in March 2011 (Volkswagen sales tracking).

Execution

‘The medium is the message’ Understanding Media: The Extension of Man; Marshall McLuhan We partnered with India’s largest daily, The Times of India (4mn readership) to create a path-breaking innovation for the brand. As readers opened their morning newspaper, a light-sensitive chip attached to the page announced the arrival of “a perfectly engineered car” – the Vento. A photo-sensitive audio chip pasted in the newspaper began playing the pre-recorded voice of a Volkswagen Vento engineer, who spoke about the love with which he built the car, echoing the campaign theme of ‘Crafted with so much passion, it’s hard to let it go’. When the reader turned the page, the audio device stopped playing automatically. This was the first time that such an idea was created and executed on such a large scale in India and perhaps anywhere in the world, underlying Volkswagen’s credentials.

The Situation

Volkswagen, a world leader in automotives was new to India and was introducing the Vento to the Indian sedan market. Honda City was the undisputed leader (market share-43% (Source : SIAM). We had to sell a product that people hardly knew in an extremely cluttered market dominated by Honda City. For the launch, our objective was to create massive talk value for the Volkswagen Vento and achieve a sales volume of 2000 units in the first 4 months of the launch.

The Strategy

Emotions connected people to the brand instantly. Indians are very passionate and extremely emotional people. It’s observed specially on cultural events like weddings where they wouldn’t hesitate before shedding tears of joy. We brought the same emotions alive in the communication, where the engineers who created the car with utmost passion are crying at the time of its departure. The brand staying true to its core strategy and philosophy of innovations created the most unique form of communication. The talking newspaper print-advertisement, the first of its kind in the world. It was highly innovative and engaging, prompting people to interact and share it with others. It created a lot of talk value for the brand, literally.