• VW wanted to increase the top of mind awareness and consideration of the Passat amongst the B Class Sector of car buyers.
• VW sponsored the Channel 4 documentary strand '4Docs'.
• The campaign was highly successful in driving spontaneous awareness of the VW Passat and as a result viewers were significantly more likely to buy a Passat.

The Challenge

The VW's B-Class Passat was positioned in-between the premium car market and the mass car market. This sector has an extremely tough business model. Consumers in this market were taking ever-longer time to consider their next car acquisition. This was a high purchase value category with only a small amount of people considering buying a car at any one time.

VW wanted to increase the top of mind awareness and consideration amongst the B-Class Sector consumers. These people were notoriously difficult to reach through conventional media channels.
VW aimed to create a campaign that delivered longevity, that reached the right audience and that was also iconic.

An additional objective was to demonstrate to their dealers the commitment behind the brand

The TV Solution

VW decided to gain a deeper insight into their target audience in order to gain a better picture of their media consumption. The 'Passat man' is family-focused and most likely to be a middle-manager. When he gets home from work he rarely gets a chance to choose what is on the TV. However, once the kids are in bed, he gets his chance to watch some intelligent and thought-provoking programming. The 'Passat man' was defined as a light TV viewer who enjoys factual programming.

VW wanted align itself with the intelligent thinking of the Passat consumer and so developed a strategic platform of "Better Thinking".

TV sponsorship was chosen as media vehicle for the VW Passat because of its ability to drive awareness and also closely align the personalities of the brand and the sponsored programme.  However, VW needed to find the perfect sponsorship to fit the brand. A light-hearted entertainment programme would not have been appropriate for VW's platform of "Better Thinking". They needed to identify 'thought-provoking' and challenging content to align with the Passat brand. It was decided that Channel 4 was the ideal partner to deliver against the objectives.

Previously, Channel 4 had found it difficult to sell their documentaries in a sponsorship package because of strict Ofcom regulations on the sponsorship of current affairs and news items. However, by excluding the current affairs series 'Dispatches' and monitoring the content of every single documentary, they were allowed to create a sponsorship strand called '4Docs'.

VW created numerous executions that were able to cater to the different audience for each of the different documentaries. Each ident portrayed the car with style and a factual tone that matched the content of the documentary. The idents were accompanied by the advertising line "The beautifully engineered Passat"; devised as a memorable audio sign-off.

In addition, this year long sponsorship on terrestrial TV was a simple yet highly visible means of demonstrating to VW dealerships the company's commitment to the Passat brand.

Results

The sponsorship was hugely successful in driving spontaneous awareness of the VW Passat. Both viewers of Channel 4 docs and viewers aware of the Passat sponsorship were significantly more likely to buy a Passat.

The TV sponsorship and association with the strand was extremely beneficial for the VW Passat brand. Statements increased wave-on-wave against metrics such as creativity, open-mindedness, innovation and responsibility. Furthermore, the TV sponsorship provided longevity for the brand. During the course of the 4Docs sponsorship, Passat's long term trajectory of consideration exceeded that of the sector average for the first time.

"Channel 4 and Mediacom helped to formulate a unique property with Passat's sponsorship of Four Docs. A piece of activity that has been instrumental in differentiating Passat from the competition and one that Volkswagen have invested in again for 2009."

Daniel Hill - Volkswagen Communications Manager