2011 Silver Automotive

Client Volvo Cars UK

What is wonderful about this work? A two-pronged strategy helped dealers sell winter tyres to their warmest prospects using broadcast and direct materials, while a national DM campaign mopped up Volvo drivers who weren’t on databases. We dramatised the product’s main benefit (an 11m reduction in stopping distance), using each channel’s strength. It took just four weeks to sell 2,000 tyres, with an additional 50% in under four more; we generated £728,000 revenue (£240,000 over target).

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Our campaign went out in October as the temperature started to drop and memories of the previous year’s appalling winter weather started to come flooding back. We set about developing a communication toolkit for dealers, knowing that the best way to encourage them to use campaign toolkits was flexibility. Dealers could choose their preferred choice of channels, be it email, press or DM. For even more flexibility, we ensured they could personalise the toolkit with their own contact details, and even developed a flexible press ad format they could vary in size and shape. We chose DM as a national channel, as it provided the greatest and deepest reach. We uploaded all the assets to our Dealer Marketing Store to make it as simple as possible, then emailed dealers to tell them more.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? We knew we had to focus on a strong product benefit, then dramatise it using each channel’s strength. The benefit is pretty compelling: winter tyres can dramatically cut braking distance (by up to 11 metres at 20 mph on a snowy road). So we brought our lead message (When everything else slips, you won’t) to life for different channels. Our dealer DM showed what could happen if the copy slipped off the side of the paper – then compared the impact if your car, rather than your copy, didn’t stop in time. Our national DM showed the extra braking distance of normal tyres with an extra-long roll-fold leaflet, as did our 11m long email. For press we created fake ads next to our winter tyres ad, into which a car had skidded.

Results It took just four weeks to hit our target of 2,000 tyres. Less than four weeks later we had sold an additional 1,000. Volvo couldn’t keep up with demand, selling out its entire UK stock, making this Volvo Aftersales’ best-ever performing campaign. This year, Volvo’s going to order 10,000 winter tyres: looks like we’ll have our work cut out!

Team Frazer Howard, Tim Waltho, Emma Rogers, Dan Hanks, Phil Hall, Phil Moore, Other contributor: Tarik Ali - Illustration.