The Brief

Volkswagen Australia’s principal marketing objective is to become more relevant to more Australians, with the key deliverables being increased brand awareness and familiarity. The path to relevance with the Australian public comes through meeting them where they are most passionate. Volkswagen identified an opportunity for a Major Partner sponsorship with the Sydney Swans, one of the leading teams in Australia’s most popular sport and a sport that is uniquely Australian. Volkswagen’s positioning with the Sydney Swans is to establish the brand as a passionate supporter of the club – by being a fan we can create fans ourselves.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

The leverage plan aims to provide fans as many touch points with the brand as possible. One major element of the strategy is experiential marketing to provide opportunities for fans to experience the Volkswagen range of vehicles on a match day through fun and engaging activations. The Volkswagen Fan Zone was created to bring ground-breaking experiential marketing to Sydney Swans home games and far exceeded the scope of any previous sponsor activation. The activations were created to provide sharable content for fans along with taking key elements of the Sydney Swans and AFL in order to strengthen Volkswagen's association.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

A Sydney Swans fan is 12% more likely to consider purchasing a Volkswagen than the general population of Australia according to Repucom research after just one year of sponsorship of the club. The Volkswagen Fan Zone has created in excess of 15,000 direct impressions with the brand through various activities inside and outside the stadium. Additional recent research by Repucom of fans at Sydney Swans home matches shows that Volkswagen are now the most recognized sponsor of the Swans on a match day with 96% of fans recognizing the brand as having a presence at a Swans match.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The Sydney Swans have a series of well established, long term sponsors so as a new brand in this space Volkswagen needed to create and emotional connection with fans. The Volkswagen Fan Zone and all other elements of the leverage plan enhance the match day experience for fans and allow Volkswagen to 'experience' a live Sydney Swans match day with the fans. Through activations such as the Volkswagen Club Song fans not only get to engage in a fun activation but this has visibility online and on the stadium big screen provided extremely high direct and indirect impressions.