Audi "Garage Banner"

Following its Canadian releasy early this summer, the Audi R8 5.2 V10 sold out immediately. With fans clamoring to own of these groundbreaking vehicles, they pioneered an equally groundbreaking advertising solution - one that gives every person the chance to get an R* for their garage. Available at "Audi.ca", this 1:1 scale, photo realistic banner, conforms to garages and mirrors everything exept the vehicle's price.

Agency: Lowe Roche Toronto, Canada.

Fiat 500 C "Tree Planters"

From August 5 to September 30, the cutely nostalgic Fiat 500 C, unveiled in February, appears on Milan’s world-famous fashion street, Montenapoleone, in an unexpected role. Exactly 20 fiberglass replicas, precisely the same size and shape as the little Fiat, have become planters for real trees of various shapes. The happening, called “Per fare un albero” (Create a tree), is a cooperative effort between the City of Milan, Fiat, and artist-designer Fabio Novembre. In Novembre’s words, his solution to merge into one object trees and cars, two elements always vying for urban space, is a “symbol of a new way of living.” According to Fiat’s spokespeople, Fiat 500 C’s cheerful, friendly, innovative and eco-friendly character is a perfect fit for such an undertaking. - Tuija Seipell.

Artist-Designer: Fabio Novembre, Italy.

Suzuki Hayabusa "L Plates"

In Australia for the first 12 months newly licensed riders are restricted to embarrassingly low-powered motorcycles (250cc) and must display a bright yellow L-plate at all times. So when the owners of extremely high-powered bikes (650-1000cc) returned to their vehicles to find an L-plate, they immediately felt the embarrassment of being a learner again. On removing the offending material they discovered a message implying they lacked the experience and nerve to take on the world's fastest street bike, the Suzuki Hayabusa.

Agency: Leo Burnett Melbourne, Australia.

Volkswagen "Park Assist"

They wanted to promote the launch of the new Golf 6, with Park assist, in an unexpected and cost effective way. So they hired local car guards, a very common and familiar sight in South Africa, and made special bibs that were based on their generic and highly recognised parking attendant bibs. The car guards then popped up in seemingly obscure places, such as cinemas, cafes, at the beach, etc. Then leisurely took a break as the New Golf's Park Assist feature did their job for them. For the price of a movie ticket and a car guard’s daily rate, the brand got to have a presence in a cinema.

Agency: Ogilvy Cape Town, South Africa.

Mitsubishi L200 "Postcards"

Postcards sent to thousands of men through Costa Rican Mail Services. "Mitsubishi L200. You will go as far as you want to".

Agency: Leo Burnett, Costa Rica.

Kia "Spend Less"

Times are tough, and everyone is looking for easy ways to save money. To remind people that Kia is a brand built around exceptional value, they created this campaign that takes a decidedly low-cost approach to typical marketing tactics. A scale-model plane towing a scale-model banner along the beach and a tiny tear-off flyer tacked to a street post deliver full-size results at a miniature cost, and illustrates Kia’s commitment to helping everyone “Spend Less.”

Agency: David & Goliath Los Angeles, USA.

Smart "Half Price"

Their challenge was to launch the smart in São Paulo - a city dominated by cars, with a huge public transportation deficit - on a very modest budget. There were no minicars in Brazil, therefore, smart was bringing a new concept in space usage. Their target was people who are deeply interested in cultural and social life and for this reason prefer to live in large cities even if they have to face an everyday battle for parking spaces. For either work or leisure activities, finding a parking space is tough, and people usually park their cars on expensive parking lots scattered throughout the city. Their insight came from one of smart’s major benefits, occupying little space and showing that this is a major advantage by appealing to the consumer’s most sensitive side: the wallet. Without a budget large enough for traditional media, how could we communicate the car’s main attribute, its space usage, to a great number of drivers? In Brazil, students, seniors and special card holders pay half-price tickets for cultural events. Following this trend, they created “smart half-price.” More than a promotion, the idea was to create a buzz and give visibility to the car’s greatest attribute: it occupies half the space of other cars. A partnership with a large chain of parking garages was established, and they placed signs at the entrances informing: “smart pays half-price.” Parking spaces were split in half to show the exact dimensions of the car. In doing so, they created an alternative form of street communication disguised as a promotion. The concept of “smart pays half price” was later extended to toll booths, car washes, ferry boats and even to unregulated curbside valets. Their results could not be calculated by the number of people that effectively took advantage of the promotion, but by the number of people impacted by the signs. The overall cost was low, even considering the subsided discounts, because there were very few smart cars on the streets when the campaign was launched. Not everybody took advantage of the promotion, but everyone saw the signs! They managed to communicate that smart occupies half the space of a regular car in 106 spots around Sao Paulo. An average of 25,000 clients was directly impacted per day in a moment when parking costs were a relevant issue. Traditional media would not offer the same impact and the same coverage with the same budget. Bronze Cannes Lions Media Winner.

Agency: Ponto De Criaçao São Paulo, Brazil.

Honda "Honda Live Ad"

In May 2008, Honda launched the new Accord, the spearhead of their premium challenge to Audi’s A4 and BMW’s 3 series. From proprietary Honda research, they knew that desirability, rather than rationality, was the most influential factor on sales in this specific automotive sector. Unfortunately, Honda’s are known for being reliable, well built and efficient, NOT desirable. To drive sales in this sector, they had to make the Accord appeal to the heart, not just the head. The target audience is a late 30s VW Golf/Audi A3 owner. They are ambitiously aspirational, with the emphasis on ambitious. Rather than fantasizing about their goals in life, they are not afraid of hard work and effort to get their desired results. They need to be challenged and rewarded for their hard work and effort. The Honda philosophy is ‘Difficult is Worth Doing’ (DIWD), therefore the media strategy had to deliver the brand philosophy in two ways: 1. Challenge the Audience – seed DIWD concept several weeks before the car was available in dealerships. 2. Reward the Audience – through an emotional pay-off for their hard work in the seeding stage. They kicked off with a series of unbranded communications to launch the concept of DIWD though large format outdoor, cryptic TV spots and optimised search driving the audience to the DIWD blog with a diary of a skydive. Unbranded print and TV ads, with skydiving cues, alluded to an event taking place on TV at 8.10pm, during the week of the event. The reward came with the world’s first ever 3-minute live ad featuring an 18 strong skydive team spelling H,O,N,D and A, in sequence, demonstrating the philosophy behind the new Accord - 'Difficult is Worth Doing’. Desire for Accord – on Honda’s brand tracker, ‘desire’ leapt by a massive 38 points, more than double the client’s target. Desire to view – 200,000 extra people tuned in purely to watch the ad! Desire to talk about - over £2m of PR was generated during the campaign. Desire to find out more – Honda had over 39,000 unique visitors to the DIWD blog prior to the event, with over 4,000 prospects generated. Post event, traffic to Honda’s UK website was an enormous 400% higher than average! Desire to buy – over £1m of new Accord sales were generated in a single weekend. Silver Cannes Lions Media Winner.

Agency: 4 Creative London United Kingdom.

Nissan "Be the news"

They had the largest response for a newspaper promotion in Brazilian history, even among those that give away cars and TV sets. They doubled Brand Familiarity. Nissan made it to the front page two Sundays in a row. Also that day, thousands won the lottery, went on honeymoon, families got together again, children won olympic medals. People showed it to friends and family and will keep it with them for years to come. For the first time in its history, O Estado de Sao Paulo ran a blank front page. It invited readers to shift and come up with their own front-page stories. On the newspaper’s website, they could write their headlines and upload their photos. The next Sunday, every subscriber was front page news. On their doorstep, they got their paper with the cover they had made themselves. Nissan arrived late in Brazil and is still a small player there. They had to jump-start the brand’s relationship with Brazilian drivers and introduce the worldwide brand belief: SHIFT. For that we chose O Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil’s largest papers, and the most important source for people buying cars. Their idea was to shift the way people relate to newspapers, making them be the news, instead of reading it and making them keep the paper instead of throwing it away. Gold Cannes Lions Media Winner.

Agency: Lew'Lara\TBWA Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Suzuki "Gas Station"

In a time with all time high prices on fuel and an emerging financial crisis, Suzuki wanted to put focus on the very fuel efficient part of their portfolio. The communication objective was to get people to understand how much money they could save on fuel if they replaced their old car with a more fuel-efficient Suzuki, thereby putting the Suzuki brand at the consumer’s top of mind. Ultimately, the goal was to clearly position Suzuki as the major brand in the segment for smaller, more cost-efficient cars and also increase sales of 3 particular models. To demonstrate how cheap it is to drive one of these 3 Suzuki models, overnight, they transformed a regular fuel station in a congested area into a branded Suzuki gas station, where they sold the fuel at a 30 percent reduced price, which is how much longer these Suzuki models drive per litre compared to the average car in Denmark. During that one day of the event, more than 2.000 paying customers bought 14,925 litres of fuel and they experienced personally how much money they could save driving a fuel-efficient Suzuki. The event gained broad media coverage online, from the tv-stations, on radio and in national newspapers. One month later, sales for the 3 models had increased by 12,5%. This especially imopressive, given that the overall car market in Denmark at the time was in decline. Market share for Suzuki increased with 27% from August to the end of September 2008. This promotion event was extremely relevant for Suzuki because it made Suzuki’s proposition for these 3 models very tangible to the consumers. Instead of being just another claim from a car brand, we made it very real and gave the consumers a chance to experience personally how their expenses on fuel would feel if they were driving a Suzuki. Bronze Cannes Lions Promo Winner.

Agency: Robert/Boisen & Like-Minded Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dodge "Baby made on board"

In 2007 they launched Dodge on the Belgian market as THE macho car brand. In 2008, the dare was even more exciting: sell the first Dodge family wagon to their audience, while strengthening the macho image of the brand at the same time! Family cars usually have ‘Baby on board’ stickers on the back. The typical macho on the other hand rather has 'fun' in the back of the car. The conception became the concept: Baby Made On Board. The campaign invited their prospects to test the backseat of the Dodge Journey, and make a baby during the ‘test drive’! Baby made on board stickers were handed out, e-mails were sent and posters were put out, all leading to the website. Here the action was communicated, and visitors were invited to spread the message, by sending an interactive, baby tickling e-card to their girlfriend, or making fun of their friends with an e-card highlighting the importance of ‘coming’ together. Virtual ‘training’ in baby-making was equally possible. And the campaign was supported with funny radio commercials. Gorgeous Dodge girls playing in the wet drew attention to the showrooms. Predictors were given to every couple that went for a backseat 'test drive'. The campaign was more than fruitful: a total of 72 babies speaks for itself! The action became the talk of the day on many blogs around the world, from Brazil to Russia. It was picked-up by national and international media (press, radio), national and international, and no less than 137.000 articles were published online. On the 10th of March, baby David was born, and a Dodge Journey was handed over to the proud parents. Family cars usually have ‘Baby on board’ stickers on the back. The typical macho on the other hand rather has fun in the back of the car. The conception became the concept. Gold & Silver Cannes Lions Promo Winner.

Agency: Proximity BBDO Brussels, Belgium.

Daimler "Flickr"

A campaign that strengthens customer loyalty by stage-setting the brand in a fascinating new way. The Flickr-Book shows a selection of the best Mercedes-photos made by Mercedes-fans and customers. The pictures reflect the enthusiasm of the brand Mercedes-Benz. On the photo website flickr.com, there are well over 100,000 images taken by amateur photographers from all over the world that portray Mercedes automobiles au naturel, in an often spontaneous but always affectionate way. To compile the most off-beat Flickr photos in a coffee-table book. To this end, they asked selected photographers to send us their image and to tell us how it came about. They used both the image and the story without any additional editing. The Flickr book was sent out to existing customers of Mercedes-Benz. A response card was added to the mailing. With the response card the customers got the opportunity to order additional informations and were invited to register for the online portal "My Mercedes" to upload there own photos and share them with others Mercedes-Benz customers. A response card gave customers the opportunity to request additional information and encouraged them to register for the “My Mercedes” Mercedes-Benz online photo album. Many customers took up the invitation and submitted their own Mercedes photographs. And the photo album just keeps on growing, although precise response rates are not yet available. And there’s another pleasing development, albeit an unexpected one: The response from the Flickr community. Here, the book itself became a hot topic – in groups, maps, discussion forums and a host of links and images. The result: Contrary to the initial plan, a second edition of the Flickr book is to be published in 2009. Bronze Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Agency: Jung von Matt Hamburg, Germany.

Volkswagen "Bluemotion Petrol Receipt"

Raising the profile of Volkswagen's BlueMotion models. Positioning them as exceptionally economical and environmentally friendly vehicles. Assisting sales. They make use of a medium at BFT filling stations that does not cost anything and still precisely places their message in the hands of every motorist: The receipt for the petrol. The cashier system automatically divides the number of litres put in the tank by the average consumption of a Polo BlueMotion. The statement is simple: With a BlueMotion model from Volkswagen you would now drive considerably further than with your own vehicle. Driving is particularly not much fun for motorists at one point in time: When they pay the bill at the filling station. They make use of this regularly recurring event with a high potential for frustration into their idea to score for their message. - 12,459 hits on the site; - 237 online dealer contact enquiries; - 262 orders for BlueMotion brochures initiated via the petrol receipt. 2x Bronze Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Agency: DDB Hamburg, Germany.

Komatsu "Xtreme precision"

Komatsu, a major player in construction machinery and vehicles, has a huge reputation for its powerful, huge construction machines, but is less known for its compact and precision machines. In Belgium there are only five companies big enough to be key prospects. So, what kind of mail can you do to only five companies? There is no better way to demonstrate extreme precision than an extreme precision product demonstration. They hired the Komatsu stunt team and send their prospects a direct mail. No tricks or effects were used. How does it work? 1) Prospect receives an envelope with nothing but a web link with his company’s name inside: www.komatsu.eu/thenameoftheprospectscompany. 2) Prospect types this into his browser, a movie opens. 3) In this online movie he can see how the envelope is carried by a big Komatsu construction machine. The machine drives to his - clearly recognizable - company and drops the envelope in his mailbox. 4) Pay off ‘Dear Mr. Prospect, if you need extreme precision, just give us a call.’ All five key prospects are now good Komatsu clients. That’s a 100% score. Bronze Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Agency: Duval Guillaume Antwerp, Belgium.

Mercedes-Benz "Folder Mailing"

The goal was to develop a tool to arouse the interest of existing customers in the new Mercedes Benz Sprinter Transporter and to encourage them to take a test drive. The strategy was to provide every Mercedes-Benz dealer with a tool, with which he could e-mail to his clientele in a completely new way. Thereby, small business owners, that already had an old Sprinter, were encouraged to experience the features of the new Sprinter and, eventually, buy one. The comparison between a Sprinter and a computer folder is immediately evident for every small business owner, since he works with both on a daily basis. But also Mercedes-Benz could benefit from this completely new way of communication and strengthen its position as a technologically innovative brand. The idea was to parallel the similarities of the Sprinter transporter and a computer folder. Why? Because both can contain more than one would imagine. Therefore, they created a special "Sprinter Folder", loaded with multiple subfolders, whose titles and icons made up a story about the Sprinter. They communicated this to where small business owners spend a lot of their daily time: in the Windows-Explorer of their computer. So, the desired, average response quota was met and exceeded. Another strength of the idea was the cost-response-ratio. Using a computer folder as a vehicle does not cost a thing and "drives“ through the Internet to his recipients for free. They reached a response quota of 18%. Additionally, 50% of the people who responded to their dealer's mail did a test drive in the new Sprinter, which was the goal of the campaign: to make the new Sprinter an experience. Silver Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Agency: Lukas Lindemann Rosinski Hamburg, Germany.

Volkswagen "The Navigationletter"

Show in a smart way the reliability of Volkswagen Navigation Systems to all Volkswagen drivers still driving without Navigation System. On each envelope they printed the exact route from sender (Volkswagen) to recipient (Volkswagen client). With this visualization we proofed that you always get to your destination with Volkswagen Navigation System. Every route was calculated by a special software based on Google Maps which they installed at the Volkswagen Dialog Center. Every day hundreds of Volkswagen mailings are sent out to the clients – and reach their destination. Just as car drivers who certainly reach their destination thanks to Volkswagen Navigation Systems. They decided to turn each mailing envelope into a unique, personalized advertising space for free. It became a simple and clever method to show the reliability of Volkswagen Navigation Systems. During the promotion period 27,350 envelopes with personalized routes reached their destinations. The imprinted website www.volkswagen.de/navigation invited the recipients for getting more information. The click rate increased by 12%. Volkswagen Service sold 4.2% more Navigation Systems in the following months. Silver & Bronze Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Agency: DDB Berlin, Germany.

Toyota Prius "Driving license"

Because Prius vehicles are brought into the country in very limited numbers, Toyota felt it was implausible to promote the new generation Prius in mass media. They were therefore asked to target a very specific group of people who already own the previous generation Prius. They decided this would be best achieved through the use of a hand couriered direct mailer. The new generation Prius has a very unique feature called intelligent park assist. The system allows the car to quite literally park itself, without any human intervention. In short, when it comes to parking, the car is in the driving seat. To promote this revolutionary feature, they produced driving licence's that were issued to the new Prius, and sent them to the existing Toyota database of Prius owners. Altough the next generation Prius is only arriving on their shores towards the latter part of the year, the majority of current Prius owners who received the licence cards have already placed their names on the test drive register for the new Prius.

Agency: DraftFCB Johannesburg, South Africa.

Fiat 500C "Happy Drive"

Fiat 500 was lounched yesterday in France with an unnusual test-drive: using Google Street View, it's possible to drive it around Paris, London, NY an other cities.

Check the site here:
Fiat 500C Test Drive

Via

Nissan "Cinema Ceiling"

Nissan required a regional tool in order to increase the numbers of testdrives for its Nissan Micra C+C Convertible and by doing so increase the sales volume as well. In order to get the right feeling of driving a convertible they went to a place where their audience was highly concentrated and in the right mood for an unseen commercial. A commercial that wasn't just shown on the cinema screen but un the cinema ceiling. By doing so they were certain to deliver the right message at the right moment: "convertible-feeling for everyone!" An increase in Nissan Micra C+C test drives by 19.2%

Agency: TBWA\Dusseldorf, Germany.

Volvo XC60 "Ski Boots"

Volvo Norway sponsors Norway's premier Alpine resorts. They are constantly looking for new ways of communicating their sponsorship. To create buzz and awareness around their premium SUV model Volvo XC60, ski boots were redecorated and turned into the car itself.

Agency: TBWA\ Oslo, Norway.