Audi Owns The Day That Changed America 06/09

Audi’s Equity Leveraged by Historic Event

Challenge
Audi doesn’t have the dollars to out-shout their competition and has been historically viewed as a niche brand. The car company wanted to make a bold statement via its media choices and grow share against its key competitors – Mercedes, BMW and Lexus.

MediaCom’s Strategy
The concept of progressive luxury is key to Audi’s brand DNA. We wanted to identify media and events that embody the larger concept of progress. Though associating with American politics can be tricky for marketers, Inauguration Day 2008 was apolitical in its historical importance: a new chapter in American history with the election of the country’s first African American president.

By inculcating Audi to major initiatives on this historic date, Audi presented itself as a true progressive leader. From the morning’s first telecasts, Audi’s message of progress was there. Audi used every medium in a ubiquitous way, with signature eight-page inserts in major newspapers; exclusive, unheralded roadblocks on ABC, CBS and NBC Evening News; and online roadblocks on ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, MSNBC.com, Washington Post.com, Slate.com and TheAtlantic.com. The message of progress was inextricably linked by the Obama moment and the Audi equity.

Results
Such a huge effort produced huge results. The one-day campaign delivered off the chart media impressions and generated PR coverage in over 150 news outlets. Visitors to Audi’s website jumped over 500%, and e-brochure requests jumped over 60%. Ad Age declared Audi “one of the day’s biggest winners.”

The campaign was shortlisted for the Award for Media Bravery at the 2010 Festival of Media Awards.