A CUT ABOVE THE REST
| Client | VOLKSWAGEN |
| Product | VOLKSWAGEN POLO |
| Entrant | MEDIACOM COMMUNICATIONS INDIA Mumbai, INDIA |
| Type of Entry | Use of Media |
| Category | Best Use of Magazines/Newspapers |
| Title | A CUT ABOVE THE REST |
| Product/Service | VOLKSWAGEN POLO |
| Entrant Company: | MEDIACOM COMMUNICATIONS INDIA Mumbai, INDIA |
| Media Agency: | MEDIACOM COMMUNICATIONS INDIA Mumbai, INDIA |
| Credits |
| Ashwini Kamat |
Mediacom India |
General Manager |
| Girish Vyas |
Mediacom India |
Investment Director |
| Deepa Jatkar |
Mediacom India |
Senior Business Director |
| Yogesh Pawar |
Mediacom India |
Business Group Head |
| Padamaraj Krishnakutty |
Mediacom India |
Implementation Head |
| Sridhar Survey |
Mediacom India |
Implementation Manager |
| Zarius Captain |
Mediacom India |
Business Manager |
Results and Effectiveness:
• 8th March 2010; Volkswagen Polo showed a huge spike in India Google Trends (Source: Google).
• Huge PR value with leading media DISCUSSING the innovation; was the most talked about topic.
• 37% sales target was achieved through this innovation (regular multimedia campaign was aired a month later).
Creative Execution:
Our solution was something that would be impossible for consumers to miss. Their newspaper with a hole!
We got India’s largest newspaper The Times of India (TOI) with 6.8Mn readers to punch a hole right through the newspaper in the shape of the Polo. There was no way a reader could miss this. The entire operation of manually cutting the hole using a die-cut across 2.7mn copies of TOI was a logistical nightmare. But the ensuing impact was phenomenal.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
Volkswagen, a relatively unknown brand in India with 13% awareness was launching a small car ‘Polo’. Polo competed with big boys like Hyundai, Tata, Maruti,... all with TOM in excess of 80%. To deliver an aggressive sales target, Volkswagen needed quick saliency & high buzz around the brand.
There are atleast 6 aggressive car launches in India every year. Full-page & half page ads were the category norm. Every day, newspapers carried atleast 3-4 car ads. For Polo, the challenge was to stand apart, be noticed & grab mind-space quickly with the consumer.
