The road to Advocacy

Skoda had big ambitions for the Australian market, but after three years market share stood at an unimpressive 0.2% Aggressive growth targets demanded expansion, Skoda needed to bring fresh thinking to the brand.

To gauge insight into the Australian market, the company spoke to 64 Skoda owners and 200 new car buyers. The research revealed two very different attitudes; firstly new car buyers knew nothing about Skoda. Secondly, those who had adopted the brand became strong advocates. Skoda owners adored their cars. This small group of people felt smart, well-informed and as though they were onto a well kept secret. These owners loved talking about their cars; they spoke simply, openly and honestly. They spoke in a grounded rational way about the brand. This openness and directness was to be reflected through a campaign called 'Road to Advocacy'. This would provide a simple and original way of amplifying the great things Skoda owners were saying to each other.

Four key passions

Further research highlighted four key passions that aligned with the appeal of Skoda cars: family, outdoor lifestyle, winter sports and cycling. A monitoring dashboard allowed Skoda to find the perfect advocates within each of the collectives. Based on research collected Skoda created a custom pack for each advocate telling the advocate in simple terms why Skoda was perfect for their lifestyle. In the glove box they found a fuel card and flip-cam to power and record their adventures the cars were delivered and the Road to Advocacy was open.

The response was immediate. The campaign wasn't prescriptive with what people did with the cars, Skoda had created a space for natural experiences with the brand to happen: Chantelle took a road trip with her family; Stevie and Rohan stumbled across each other online then went surfing together; Frank shared video of his off-roading exploits in rural Victoria.

Results

The five chosen advocates had a combined 13 100 Twitter followers which exposed 105 000 authentic content views (3000 views per post 25% of which retweeted)

Advocate blogs delivered an estimated value of US$122 800

72 900 new-to-brand Australians were exposed to the campaign

Car sales up 35% by the end of the campaign.

For more go to http://www.rohannowell.com/blog/skoda-octavia-scout.html.