This is an Aussie story of heart over head every time...

92.5% of Australians were not considering Volkswagen, and with the incredible amount of competition in the market its little wonder why. 101 model launches. 64 brands. Laundry lists of features and benefits all promising Australian car buyers the best deal. With increasing momentum, manufacturers pushed product faster and harder. This frenzy is part and parcel of ‘launching cars’ and was in full effect in the 2011 Australian automotive category. How could Volkswagen cut through this smorgasbord of choice to ultimately earn the Aussie purchase decision?

We found the solution in the problem. Product and price advertising was taking place at the expense of brand affinity. Understanding that brand affinity drives brand consideration and brand consideration is the key to unlocking sales, helped us set a clear vision for 2011. We changed tack to address our brand consideration problem and focused on telling our brand story through everything we did in 2011. Every model campaign built upon the last to tell an ongoing brand story of how Volkswagen cars fit seamlessly and aspirationally into modern Australian life.

It worked. Brand consideration rose to nearly 10%, moving us from the 7th to 5th most considered car brand in Australia. As a result we climbed the sales charts and achieved an incredible 13% growth without discounting in a saturated and declining category.

We can be sure that the advertising should get the credit for this commercial result, because data modelling shows that it accounted for 56% of brand consideration, which in turn drives sales.

By changing our advertising we changed our commercial fate.